Preliminary Assessment of a Pendulum Analogy to Model Low-Gravity Liquid Sloshing
Author(s)
Feneche, Mathilde
Advisor(s)
Romero-Calvo, Álvaro
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Abstract
The Apollo Command and Service Module is, along with the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo Lunar Module, one of the three major components of the Apollo program developed by the American space agency, NASA, which took place between 1961 and 1975 and which allowed the United States to send men to the Moon for the first time. The dynamics of the spacecraft’s rigid body and the motion of the propellant, or sloshing, in an ellipsoid tank, are coupled due to the large amount of liquid propellant. The interaction between the spacecraft’s rigid-body dynamics resulting with the sloshing motion leads to an anomalous flight path of the Service Module. This paper seeks to replicate the dynamics of the Service and Command Module separation. It also aims to present a simplified model of the fluid motion in the tank, as a simple pendulum. This analogy provides satisfying results for a certain range of propellant mass values. As the mass increases, model becomes more chaotic and results differ from what should be expected.
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Date
2024-05
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Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Masters Project
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