Uncertainty analysis and probabilistic design optimization of hybrid rocket motors for manned lunar landing

To obtain a conceptual design for a hybrid rocket motor(HRM)to be used as the Ascent Propulsion System in the Apollo lunar module,the deterministic design optimization(DDO)method is applied to the HRM design.Based on the results of an uncertainty analysis of HRMs,an uncertainty-based design optimization(UDO)method is also adopted to improve the design reliability.The HRM design process,which is a multidisciplinary system,is analyzed,and a mathematical model for the system design is established to compute the motor performance from the input parameters,including the input variables and model parameters.The input parameter uncertainties are quantified,and a sensitivity analysis of the model parameter uncertainties is conducted to identify the most important model parameter uncertainties for HRMs.The DDO and probabilistic UDO methods are applied to conceptual designs for an HRM to be used as a substitute for the liquid rocket motor(LRM)of the Ascent Propulsion System.The conceptual design results show that HRMs have several advantages as an alternative to the LRM of the Ascent Propulsion System,including nontoxic propellant combination,small motor volume,and comparable functions,such as restarting and throating.Comparisons of the DDO and UDO results indicate that the UDO method achieves more robust and reliable optimal designs than the DDO method.The probabilistic UDO method can be used to develop better conceptual designs for HRMs.

Characteristic analysis and design of near moon abort trajectory for manned lunar landing mission

The safety of astronauts would be severely threatened if the lunar-landing spacecraft were under an emergency during the near moon phase of flight, which was far from the Earth. For the problem of mission abort caused by the main engine (service propulsion system, SPS) failure during lunar orbit insertion, firstly, the family of trajectories resulted from SPS premature shutdown and corresponding abort trajectories were analyzed; then an algorithm that can be applied to the near moon abort trajectories was proposed using patched-conic technique. The characteristics of the abort trajectory, such as energy consumption and return time of flight, were analyzed and presented. Finally, simulation examples were given to demonstrate various cases of near moon SPS failure. The results of the simulation have validated the approach proposed.

Hybrid uncertainty-based design optimization and its application to hybrid rocket motors for manned lunar landing

Design reliability and robustness are getting increasingly important for the general design of aerospace systems with many inherently uncertain design parameters.This paper presents a hybrid uncertainty-based design optimization（UDO） method developed from probability theory and interval theory.Most of the uncertain design parameters which have sufficient information or experimental data are classified as random variables using probability theory,while the others are defined as interval variables with interval theory.Then a hybrid uncertainty analysis method based on Monte Carlo simulation and Taylor series interval analysis is developed to obtain the uncertainty propagation from the design parameters to system responses.Three design optimization strategies,including deterministic design optimization（DDO）,probabilistic UDO and hybrid UDO,are applied to the conceptual design of a hybrid rocket motor（HRM） used as the ascent propulsion system in Apollo lunar module.By comparison,the hybrid UDO is a feasible method and can be effectively applied to the general design of aerospace systems.