A Study of Launch-Vehicle Responses to Detailed Characteristics of the Wind Profile

Abstract

This paper examines the significance of the detailed variations in the vertical wind profile to launch-vehicle responses. Appreciable advances in the accuracy and the degree of detail obtainable in measurements of the winds experienced by vertically rising vehicles have been achieved by smoke-trail rocket sounding techniques and the wind measurements now available from these soundings are being applied to simulated in-flight load studies. The analytical procedure and computer program employed in solving for the motions and bending moments experienced by a representative launch vehicle are discussed. The interaction of the vehicle's structure with the details of the wind profile is illustrated by a comparison of the structural bending moments with the features of the smoke-rocket measured profiles.