1. University of Florida Hybrid Rocket Team’s Mile High Club
PDR Presentation
Brought to you by
Sam, Chris, Travis, Alex, Ty, and Josh

2. Major Change Since Proposal
Change of Material: Only basalt fiber and epoxy will be used to construct the body tube of the rocket, instead of the four different types of composite materials mentioned in the proposal.
Consequentially Only strain measurements of a basalt body tube will be measured.
Notes on Basalt:
Limited use in U.S. aerospace applications
Slightly higher elastic modulus than fiberglass
Much higher operating temperature than fiberglass
Slightly denser than fiberglass
About the same cost as fiberglass

3. Vehicle Design

4. Vehicle Dimensions

5. Flight Plan (Vehicle Perspective)
Launch to Apogee
Chute Deployment to Ground
Apogee to Chute Deployment

6. Motor
Primary motor J1999
Possible Alternates K1100, J800

7. Thrust Curve

8. Vehicle Materials/Manufacturing
Airframe Construction

9. Vehicle Materials/Manufacturing
Fins
Tip to Tip Reinforcement
1:05

10. Recovery System Design Layout
Ejection Charges
Recovery wadding
Parachute
Parachute Chords

11. Specifics Pyrodex based ejection charges
Recovery wadding: to be determined through testing
Parachute chord: to be determined through testing
Parachute: 27” X-Form for deployed terminal velocity of about 10 mph

12. Mission Performance Predictions
Used RockSim to determine the weight of the rocket to reach slightly above 5,280 and also stay underneath Mach 1.
Simulations: Apogee at 5,870 feet. Max Velocity at 670 ft/sec
More simulations will be run before and after test launches to optimize performance

13. Vehicle Safety and Stability
Stability Margin is 1.37
Testing Dates:
January 6th-13th : Initial Recovery System Testing
January 16th: Subscale Launch Test
March 6th: Full scale Launch Test

14. Initial Recovery System Testing
Ejection Charge
Initial estimate of powder needed made using charge calculator
Charge made to estimated specs testing in test rig.
Observe and record results.
Repeat as necessary until desired ejection is acheived.

15. Subscale and Full scale Tests
The Subscale Launch Test will test a half scale model of the full scale rocket. It will use a G125 motor from Aerotech.
Primary objectives: to assess the functionality of the recovery system, the accelerometers and pressure system, and the stability of the rocket design.
The Full scale Launch Test will test the actual rocket to be used in the competition.
Primary objectives: To check that all systems are correctly functioning, and if necessary, which systems need to be altered to achieve the desired function. To check if redesigning parameters of the rocket, such as the weight, is necessary.

16. Payload Drag Force Drag Force Payload test section Thrust Thrust
20 strain gages located in the payload section of the rocket
Will measure both the lateral strain and axial strain of the basalt fiber body tube as a function of distance along the body tube and time of experiment.
Hopefully the data acquired from this experiment will help in the optimization of rocket airframe design.
Drag Force
Drag Force
Payload test section
Thrust
Thrust

17. Payload RockSim simulation of drag force versus time
We expect our strain measurements to mirror the shape of the drag force graph below

18. Payload Integration
The strain gages will be located in the payload section of the body tube
They will be isolated from both ejection charges with solid couplers
Inner tube contains altimeters, data logger, accelerometers, and other electronics
Strain gages located on the inside of the body tube

19. Payload Testing Omega corner rosettes By February 20, 2010
Elastic behavior of basalt fiber will be analyzed with load cells and strain gages in the Mechanics of Materials Laboratory at UF.
A small test section of basalt fiber will be constructed and brought into the lab to measure the strain experienced under axial compressive loading.
Omega corner rosettes

20. Goals
Implement strain gauges
Build data logger
Fly Rocket

21. Proposed Rocket Layout
Removable electronics module
Survivable at high g's during launch 

22. Onboard Controller

23. Prelaunch Rocket will talk with computer and verify link
Rocket will wait impatiently for the launch
Rocket will record to SD card all channels to SD card at 1Hz
Rocket will send all data to base station at 1Hz

24. Launch to Apogee
Rocket will record all channels to SD card at high data rate 100Hz
Rocket will send data to the base station at 1 Hz
Rocket may turn yellow

25. Apogee
Rocket will sense apogee to deploy chutes according to preset altitude/time constraints
Rocket will continue to log data

26. Landing If still intact and in range the rocket will log data at 1Hz
Rocket will continually send GPS location
Rocket will transmit flight log to ground station for processing

27. Conclusion
More analysis to be done on strain calculations and how our data can benefit the design of rocket airframes
Parts for initial recovery system testing and subscale rocket construction need to be ordered as soon as possible