Dynamic Stability Analysis of the Orion Crew Module through Computational Fluid Dynamics

摘要

The dynamic stability of the Orion capsule was analyzed at two different subsonic Mach numbers (0.45 and 0.70) and a range of angles of attack (0° -60°). The "damping-in-pitch" coefficients, which are indicative of the dynamic stability of the capsule, were determined by applying the forced-oscillation method through Computational Fluid Dynamics techniques. The results from this analysis were then compared with an experimental dataset, gathered in a wind-tunnel using the forced-oscillation method. The predicted damping coefficients match well with those from the experiments, both in terms of magnitudes of the damping coefficients and the range of angles of attack for which the capsule is dynamically unstable. Also, at the Mach number of 0.45, the influence of the lateral sting on the dynamic stability was analyzed through simulations performed with and without the sting in place. The predicted results suggest that the influence of the sting on the dynamic stability is significant.