4th Symposium on Space Educational Activities

Barcelona, April 2022

Design and optimization of a rocket structure following the requirements

for the European Rocketry Challenge (EUROC) to be fabricated using
additive manufacturing
Jordi Grau Rifà, ESEIAAT UPCSP Spain

__________________________________________________________________________

Abstract

Amateur rocket structures are usually made of composite materials, wood or aluminium, their internal
geometries and interfaces are usually restricted by the available manufacturing techniques. However,
with the appearance of the additive manufacturing sector new possibilities arise for the design of the
structures and its complexity.

In this paper a PA-12 and glass fibre composite structure for the Phobos rocket is designed which the
UPC Space Program aims to use to participate in the European Rocketry challenge. The Phobos rocket
structure is designed and optimized to be fabricated using additive manufacturing by Hewlett-Packard.
The structure is designed using a lattice approach to obtain a PA-12 skeleton which is then reinforced
with a skin of glass fibre composite.

Moreover, to obtain the desired structure an optimization methodology is set using a design loop in
which the critical section of the rocket is parametrically optimized to reach the equivalent traditional
structure performance. The structure is optimized in the size of the lattice geometry and in the thickness
of the skin as parameters. To do so, the critical load during the flight of the rocket is identified and
translated to the Nastran environment to run a parametric optimization of the structural model. The
optimized geometry is then extended to the rest of the rocket to obtain the overall optimized structure.
In addition, several analyses are conducted to validate the structure behaviour for the different load
cases. Finally, both the optimized critical case and the overall optimized structure are compared to
traditional design structures to obtain conclusive results about the use and limitations of the available
additive technology and its materials.

Keywords
Rocketry, Students, Design, Optimization, Structure
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4th Symposium on Space Educational Activities
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Nomenclature
T Glass fiber thickness
N Number of triangles per perimeter
BF Buckling factor (number of times
over the critical buckling load)
Acronyms/Abbreviations
EuRoC European Rocketry Challenge
ESEIAAT UPC Escola Superior d’Enginyeries
Industrial, Aeroespacial i -
Audiovisual de Terrassa
UPCSP UPC Space Program
HP Hewlett-Packard
1. Introduction
This paper is based on the final master’s thesis
which has the objective to design an optimized
rocket structure which aligns with the
requirements of the Ares mission inside the
UPCSP [1] (UPC Space Program) frame. The
Ares mission aims to participate in the EuRoC
[2] (European Rocketry Challenge) competition,
which takes place in Portugal using a new
rocket called Phobos. The Phobos rocket
design might use additive manufacturing
technologies to improve several aspects of the
rocket structure. The final master’s thesis aims
to optimize the rocket structure minimizing
weight and comparing it to a traditional design
giving justification for the use of additive
manufacture techniques in the final rocket.
2. State-of-the-art
ESEIAAT [3] (UPC Escola Superior
d’Enginyeries Industrial, Aeroespacial i two seconds) no thermal loads are considered
Audiovisual de Terrassa) has always been
involved in amateur rocketry with different
student associations. UPCSP has been
developing several amateur rockets since 2016.
Traditionally, these rockets are made of glass
fibre, aluminium, carbon fibre and wood, with
either self-made engines or commercial ones.
However, with new technologies such as
additive manufacturing those designs may be
able to be improved.
Moreover, a lattice structure is sought to be
used in the solution explained in this paper,
several solutions can be found in the industry
such as the ATG Europe [4], which provides
composite structure solutions for rockets or
satellites or the United Launch Alliance [5]
which uses a lattice structure milled from
aluminium sheets for its fairings.
3. Methodology
3.1. Work structure
The workflow for the thesis is the following:
- First a critical case with a critical section
of the rocket will be set.
A traditional critical section will be
analysed and used as target for the
optimized critical section.
- The optimization process will be
conducted to reach the performance of
the traditional design critical section.
- Both designs will be extended to the
whole rocket.
- Several analyses will be conducted and
both rocket designs will be compared.
3.2. Critical load case
The critical load case used for the dimensioning
of the design is the buckling failure mechanism.
A thin-walled elongated cylindrical rocket
structure could collapse under the loads
provided by the simulation department of the
Ares mission inside the UPCSP. According to
their simulations, the maximum loads occur
during the ignition stage of the launch which
correspond to an axial load of 3000 N. This
value will be the dimensioning loads of the
design.
It is worth to mention that due to the small
engine and short burn time of the rocket (around
in this study. The thermal isolation of the engine
paired with the thick aluminium wall of its mount
are enough to not let heat reach the structure
considering the short burning time.
3.3. Critical section of the rocket
To size the structure and optimize correctly the
most critical section of the rocket structure is
selected to be the payload bay, which
corresponds to a cylinder of 14 cm in diameter
and 90 cm of longitude. Is the most critical
section due to:
- Being the longest empty section of the
rocket.
- Being the section needing more empty
space inside for the payload.
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3.4. Design and Analysis methodology
Two design methodologies will be followed. The
traditional design with typical materials already
used by the UPCSP and the optimized design
which incorporates additive manufacturing and
its corresponding materials.
3.4.1. Traditional design
The traditional design has the characteristic of
having a thick skin on the walls of the rocket.
This skin typically withstands all loads on the
rocket structure, and it is often oversized for
manufacturing purposes. The typical values
from past UPCSP rockets are:
- Three layers or two of glass fibre with a
1:1 ratio in mass to epoxy resin. Applied
by hand lay-up.
- Interior parts made of wood or 3D
printed PLA polymer.
- Interfaces between skin and interior
geometries glued or joined by bolts.
3.4.2. Optimized design
The optimized design will be built of one skin of
glass fibre and an internal structure based on a
lattice distribution made of triangles. The
internal structure will be additive manufactured.
The optimization procedure for the structure will
be the following:
- Model with N triangles.
- Parametric optimization of the
thickness of the glass fibre skin, the
width, and the height of the beams of
the triangles.
- Linear buckling analysis on the
optimized structure.
- Comparison with the traditional design.
- Iteration loop to match the performance
of the traditional design.
- Final N triangle optimized critical
section model.
The triangles in which the structure is formed
are the following:
Figure 2. Base triangle of the structure, in purple
the width of the beam and in black its height.
Several examples of similar functioning
structures can be found in the references such
as the Lattice structure of a satellite designed
by ATG Europe [4].
Once the critical optimized section design is
obtained the lattice structure will be extended to
the whole rocket to obtain the optimized rocket
design. Additionally, a thin skin wall joined to the
lattice structure on its exterior will be designed
to facilitate the hand-layup of the composite
material.
3.4.3. Analysis methodology
The analysis is conducted using Beta Cae
Systems Ansa [5] as a pre-processor, MSC
Nastran [6] as a solver and Beta Cae Systems
Meta [7] as a post-processor.
Two sets of analysis will be conducted for the
designs:
- Analysis for the critical section and
optimization of the critical section.
- Analysis for the general traditional
rocket design and the optimized rocket
design.
The different analysis under which both rocket
designs will be submitted are:
- Strength analysis: In which the static-
strength failure mechanism is
simulated.
- Modal analysis: In which the dynamic
failure mechanism is simulated.
- Linear buckling: To simulate part of the
buckling failure mechanism.
- Non-Linear buckling: To simulate the
non-linear part of the buckling failure
mechanism.
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For the optimized design to be considered
usable all the analyses results must be on par
with the traditional ones, which will be used as
a target for the performance of the optimized
structure.
Moreover, a local deformation will be introduced
into both critical section models to understand
the structural behaviour in front of possible
irregularities in the hand lay-up or
manufacturing process, this deformation will be
induced into the model displacing the mesh
elements.
3.5. Materials
There are two types of materials used in this
design.
3.5.1. Composite materials
The composite materials used in this analysis
are a glass fibre and epoxy composite. For its
modelling the rule of mixtures [8] is applied.
𝐸𝑐 = 𝑓𝐸𝑓 + (1 − 𝑓)𝐸𝑚 (1)
Where:
𝑉𝑓
𝑓= (2)
𝑉𝑓 +𝑉𝑚
In Eq. 2. 𝑉𝑓 and 𝑉𝑚 are the volume fraction of
fibre and matrix respectively. In Eq. 1. The
Young Modulus is calculated using the Young
modulus of both materials and the volume
fraction 𝑓 of Eq. 2. In a similar way the density,
compressible and tensile strength and poisson
number are also calculated.
The glass fibre used by UPCSP is a E-glass V-
twill of 165 grams per square meter [9] and the
Epoxy resin for hand-layup laminates [10]. The
volume fraction used for the design is of 67% of
fibre and 33% of matrix.
3.5.2. Other materials
For the traditional design the other materials to
be modelled are:
- Aluminium 3003 with its mechanical
properties [11].
- PA12 with its mechanical properties
provided by HP (Hewlett-Packard) [12].
- PLA, used for common 3D printing [13].
4. Results and Discussion
The results will comprise of the most relevant
results and comparisons between the following
analysis:
- Traditional two-layered critical section
and different N triangle optimized
critical sections to obtain the best
optimized critical section.
- General comparison between the
traditional and optimized final critical
sections.
- 4 mm deep local deformation at half
length of the critical section between
both cases.
- Traditional design rocket and optimized
design rocket linear buckling, non-
linear buckling, modal analysis, static
analysis, and masses comparison.
The optimization process was set with a target
critical lineal buckling load of 30 KN, which
corresponds to the critical load of the traditional
design for two glass fibre layers (Factor of
security of 10 over the design load).
When comparing the results to the traditional
section for a linear buckling analysis is
obtained:
Traditional and Optimized critical sections
34000
32000
Critical load (N)
30000
28000
26000
24000
22000
20000
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Weight (kg)
Figure 3. Comparison between the two-layers
traditional design and the optimization process
of the critical section.
For the critical section in Figure 2 the
optimization process shows a reduction of mass
maintaining the same critical load ending up on
the 24-triangle configuration with a total mass of
0.32 Kg which will be the used configuration for
the general optimized rocket.
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Figure 4. N=24 triangle configurations for the

optimized design.

4.1.1. Traditional and optimized critical

section comparison Figure 6. CAD model of the optimized rocket
design

For both the traditional two-layer design and the 4.2.1. Linear buckling analysis
24 triangles optimized design are compared. Table 3. Comparison between traditional and
optimized rocket designs under linear buckling
Table 1. Comparison between final optimized analysis.
critical section and two-layer traditional critical Traditional Optimized
section design design
T (mm) Triangles Mass (Kg) Max. BF (Buckling 6,744 13,076
(Width x Lineal factor)
height, mm) Load (N)
Traditional 0.50 - 0.17 3.18E+04
Optimized 0.25 3.1x1 0.32 3.03E+04 4.2.2. Non-Linear buckling analysis
Table 4. Comparison between traditional and
4.1.2. Global and local deformations optimized rocket designs under non-linear
buckling analysis.
The 4 mm deformation is induced in the model Traditional Optimized
design design
at half length of the critical section displacing Max. Von Misses 11.9 0.7
mesh elements: stress (MPa)
Max. Disp. (mm) 0.2431 0.0121

4.2.3. Modal analysis

Table 5. Comparison between traditional and
optimized rocket designs under modal analysis.
Traditional Optimized
design design
First mode (Hz) 50.00 32.63

Figure 5. Displaced elements on the mesh with a

depth of 4 mm. 4.2.4. Static analysis
For both cases a non-lineal buckling analysis is Table 6. Comparison between traditional and
launched obtaining: optimized rocket designs under static analysis.
Traditional Optimized
Table 2. Comparison between Traditional and design design
Optimized critical sections with a 4 mm deep Max. Von Misses 25.7 21.0
deformation under non-linear buckling analysis. stress (MPa)
Model Max. Non-lineal load (N) Max. Disp. (mm) 0.3428 0.3276
Traditional Crit. Sect. 13200
Opt. Crit. Sect. 17400
4.2.5. Masses
Table 7. Comparison between traditional and
4.2. General rocket model
optimized rocket designs masses.
Traditional Optimized
The two-layer traditional design rocket and a design design
N=24 Optimized design are compared under Total mass (Kg) 11.13 11.96
several analysis.
5. Conclusions

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4th Symposium on Space Educational Activities
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There are several sets of conclusions which can
be extracted from the design of the rocket
discussed in this paper.
The optimized critical section did not reach the
performance of the traditional one. Weighting
more and making it unfeasible to reach due to
the low Young modulus of the PA12. The
optimized design however is better at
withstanding local deformations, making it less
prone to failure under irregularities even though
that both designs struggle to withstand them as
expected.
From both final rocket designs several points
must be raised. First the optimized rocket
behaves with a much higher BF than the
traditional one, this could be explained due to
the increased thickness of the wall because of
the beams of PA12.
The non-linear buckling analysis results are not
conclusive enough to extract significant
conclusions. However, both designs withstand
the maximum load.
The modal analysis shows a variation in the
values. These values will be used for the
UPCSP team to ensure that no excitation
frequency matches the first mode of the design.
The static analysis is similar in both designs,
showing that both could withstand the maximum
loads. Additionally, the optimized design has
lower deformations.
Finally, the mass difference is greatly reduced
in the context of the whole rocket, making it
almost similar for both designs.
Besides the analysis the conclusions can be
extended to the Ares mission inside the
UPCSP. It must be considered that several
manufacturing issues arise from the hand-layup
of the composite material. The already existing
strength of the skeleton of the optimized design
creates an easier work environment. It is not
possible to hand-layup one single layer of glass
fibre properly, thus making all designs
oversized.
The additive manufacturing approach allows for
complex geometries to appear in the design.
When updating the optimized rocket with the
interior interfaces for the payload, electronics,
etc. the additive manufacturing allows for much
convenient solutions. A standardized
manufacturing procedure allow the rocket to
reach higher quality standards than hand made
parts, which increase the reliability and safety of
the mission.
References
[1] UPC Space Program. Visited 18 Mar.
2022, from https://upcprogram.space/
[2] European Rocketry Challenge. Visited
18 Mar. 2022, from https://euroc.pt/
[3] UPC Escola Superior d’Enginyeries
Industrial, Aeroespacial i Audiovisual de
Terrassa. Visited 18 Mar. 2022, from
https://eseiaat.upc.edu/en
[4] ATG Europe. Visited 18 Mar. 2022, from
https://www.atg-europe.com/solutions/
[5] Beta CAE systems ANSA. Visited 18
Mar. 2022, from https://www.beta-
cae.com/ansa.htm
[6] MSC Nastran, Visited 18 Mar. 2022,
https://www.mscsoftware.com/fr/product/
msc-nastran
[7] Beta CAE systems META. Visited 18
Mar. 2022, from https://www.beta-
cae.com/meta.htm
[8] Science Direct. Visited 18 Mar. 2022,
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gineering/rule-of-mixture-equation
[9] V-Twill 165 Gr SARGA. Visited 18 Mar.
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https://www.resineco.com/es/fibras-de-
vidrio-o-carbono/tejidos-siliones/v-twill-
165-gr-sarga-100cm.html
[10] Resina Epoxi. Visited 18 Mar. 2022, from
https://www.resineco.com/es/resina-
epoxi/resina-epoxi-estandar/
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https://www.aalco.co.uk/datasheets/Alu
minium-Alloy-3003-0-Sheet_59.ashx
[12] HP 3D printing materials. Visited 18 Mar.
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https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPD
F.aspx/4AA7-7085EEW.pdf
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knowledge/faqs/what-is-pla#Properties
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