Engine Test Site Update

A quick update on our progress with the engine test stand.

Basically, we are trying to build a 15' x 15' concrete blockhouse on campus in order to test the engine. Sponsors have already agreed to donate most of the materials for the blockhouse, so now it's just a matter of getting the appropriate permissions.

The general steps are:

1) Make a proposal (includes things like purpose, drawings, environmental impact, proposed location, possible alternatives, etc). For the test site, this is roughly 20 pages.

2) Have the proposal reviewed by the Campus & Community (C&C) Planning Review Board for viability. They raise a bunch of concerns that have to be addressed, then if you can convince them that you're taking care of these concerns, they will pass you on to the next step. Concepts like sustainability, noise, aesthetics, and spill containment come to mind. Generally they're there to make sure you've thought of everything.

3) Have the proposal reviewed by the Development people and get a Development Permit.

4) Apply for and get a building permit. This is done with the Permits & Inspections Department of C&C Planning.

To date:

First meeting with the Review Board. Am working on addressing their concerns, next meeting March 29, when I hope to get their approval to move on to step 3.

I am currently working with Rick from Fire Prevention Services and Eddie from C&C Planning (he's the chief building official) to make sure that we satisfy the requirements for getting our building permit. This includes a Fire Safety Plan, as well as ensuring that the building meets the appropriate codes. The overall design will have to be reviewed and approved by a P.Eng with experience in these matters; I am hoping to find an appropriate P.Eng amongst our campus professors.

My goal is to have the C&C Planning Review Board approve the concept on March 29, then move through steps 3 & 4 during April. This includes getting a Development permit, getting proper drawings made, gettinga P.Eng to review them and approve, creating a fire safety plan and having it reviewed by Fire Prevention Services, then get a building permit. My hope is that all this can be done by the end of April, with construction starting in May. All this will mean that we will be about 3 months behind what I had predicted - but I had no idea that a block house would take 3 months to get approved!

Should we fail to get the block house approved, we will be looking at other sites off campus. Powertech Labs has facilities for blowing up compressed natural gas cylinders - the structures they use are also, in essence, concrete bunkers. These facilities are pretty far from campus, but might be a suitable backup option if we can't build our own.

Launch Systems Update

The 3/10th (previously ~1/4th) scale model is complete and mounted in the large boundary layer wind tunnel. Final model checking, sensor setup, and wind tunnel calibration will be done on Thursday. We expect to use test data to determine the rocket's aerodynamic stability margin, used primarily to size the fins and size the launch rail. If the test reveals that our rocket is unstable beyond a certain point we will start planning for the construction of a thrust control system.
Pictures of the scale model wind tunnel tests will (hopefully) be posted Friday.

Aero-Structural Update

The aero-structural team has been keeping quite busy recently as the whole design comes together. We are near the end of our design phase, transitioning into procurement and manufacturing. Here are a few of the main projects we are working on.

Cross-Braced Frames
The main structural components of the rocket are these 1' or 2' long frame sections. Modularity in the design makes it easier to manufacture, store, and transport. With the limited storage space we have available, this is an important concern. Currently we have all the material we need for the ring parts and cross braces (refer to the picture below). The picture does not show the array of holes for fastening or the fillet welds. We hit a snag with the c-channel parts when it became apparent that our supplier did not carry that stock. Currently, lighter c-channels are being analyzed using methods described in "Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures" by E. F. Bruhn. We did not even know of this book before and it has proved to be quite useful. Future revisions of the rocket could be more efficient, load bearing wise. Back to the present, we will get new c-channel in and get these frames machined and welded.



Nose Cone
The nose cone design is currently being looked after by Tom. Back in the day we had decided upon an ogive shaped nose cone, based on what we knew. Tom has been looking at different shapes and how they impact our performance.

One of the main unknowns that we had not addressed before was heating of the nose. We have always wanted a composite nose cone and we do not want it "melting" in flight. Temperature distribution over the nose cone is different depending on which shape we use and over the last week, temperatures have been estimated. Next week we plan to settle on a shape. The tip of the nose cone has always been an area of concern due to the fact that it will experience the highest temperature. There is also the problem of laying-up the nose cone by hand. None of us are carbon fibre experts so the quality of the composite at the tip may be sketchy at best. To rectify this problem, we plan on having a metal tip that threads into the rest of the nose cone. This should help with the temperature issue and should make manufacturing easier.

What has yet to be completed is a design for the internal structure of the nose cone. I imagine a simple frame that will help keep the shape of the cone and will make mounting to the rocket easier. Some of the recovery system will be located in the nose cone and mounting points are required for that as well. Insulation is important in the nose cone especially if we have a parachute packed neatly inside it. I like the spec's I see at the Aerogel website.

Fins
We have had a general shape and size for a while. We like the clipped delta configuration, slightly swept back, with a short span. We also have a nice stack of books, articles, etc. to look through regarding fins in supersonic flow, etc. Arash is working on completing the aerodynamic and structural design. For the fins we will also have an internal structure with a skin over top. Tom's heating analysis will determine whether we can use composite skin for the fins or not.

Other projects the aero-structural team is involved with include the fuel system and the rocket skin. The fuel system components have been spec'd and a BOM has been completed. Swagelok® is being contacted for most of our plumbing needs. Fuel system testing can be integrated with engine testing. The skin has been temporarily left on the back burner as the other major aspects are being completed. Several solutions have been proposed for attaching the skin to the entire rocket frame. This is next on the to-do list.

Ignition Update

Last week, Leigh helped me run some tests on the spark plugs that we got from NGK. The spark plugs that we tested are: R0045J-9, B7S, BM6F and BPR6EGP. It turns out that the B7S and BM6F work best. The next step would be to see how well they light up kerosene and liquid oxygen.

I recently finished drawing the augmented spark chamber with SolidWorks, and I hope to get it machined soon.

This is the augmented spark chamber that will be mounted on top of the main combustion chamber. The spark plug will be threaded into the spark chamber at the top, and small amount of fuel will be supplied from the side.

Launch System Update

The Launch Team is currently constructing a ~1/4th scale model of the rocket in order to test certain aerodynamic factors. We acquired materials last weekend and plan to start construction Thursday, with the goal of being finished next Saturday. The model has the same surface materials and shapes as Aurora 1, and will be used to find the aerodynamic stability margin by using the wind tunnel.

The Launch Platform design and construction is on hold so that people on the launch team can work on finishing the rocket. I believe this is necessary due to the launch system's dependence on rocket characteristics and performance.

I bought a small utility trailer and intend to use it to bring components from the Fraser Valley to UBC. This will be used to get the hydraulic system from Grecon, and possibly other components.

Recovery System Update

Our previous recovery systems manager, Guan-Lu, let Vitali take over this role. So, first the new work plan was composed to include tasks that need to be done by the end of spring and the deadlines for each of the tasks.

All the previous work done by the recovery systems team was organized and documented. Also the air brake design was finished. In particular, lug analysis was carried out for the joints on the air brake supports. What is left is to prepare the bill of materials for the air brakes and find an appropriate electro-magnetic actuator for the air brake release mechanism.

This Friday, Vitali and Angela had a meeting to discuss parachute design. We've formulated objectives to be accomplished by next week. We are going to keep researching parachute design and performance analysis. We will rely heavily on the book that Guan-Lu purchased for our team "Parachute Recovery Systems" by T. W. Knacke. This is an excellent book by the way, that provides us with very useful information. Also, the parachute design criteria list was composed. This list is to be used to add relevant information about the parachute design. Lastly, we found it necessary to try to find information on how cargo parachutes are deployed (this is not an easy task as the information of this kind is very scarce).

Meetings, Sparkplugs

A quick post as I am studying for a composites midterm.

Yesterday at our weekly team meeting, Winnie presented the sparkplugs that just came in. They are NGK models of various types (4 in all) ranging from cheap to high performance. We were planning on trying out all 4 with the igniter we've designed to see how they work, but we now realize they have different threads. Not sure how Winnie will decide to deal with that yet.


I've continued to work on the test site application - the form is filled out, and I've been talking every couple of days with the campus planning office. They pushed back our review meeting till March 8, which is next week, so not too bad. Provided they approve our application I think we can have the site erected by the end of March, which should coincide nicely with the procurement of other items needed for testing.

Finally, here's a photo of our meeting. We book the Dean's meeting room - it's got a nicer table and chairs than the other meeting rooms, although we have to bring our own projector.

Left-to-right: Winnie, Joel, Anna, Kirsty, Jon, Marco, Sebastian, Trian, Tom