Rocket Geometry Sep 30

Go over the parts of a rocket

Just to make the rocket more aerodynamic
Nosecones have different shapes, their shapes
Haack Series are used for the best nosecone shape (old nazi scientist from the 30s)
For example, almost all nosecone are haack because theyre optimized.
The nosecone, if you kinda look at it, will have a huge impact on your center of pressure.

Body Tubes, The external of the rocket
Couplers,
Nosecone, endtubes, etc. Other extraneous tubes
The motor Mount Tube, holds the motor
Switchbands sits on the outside, and helps if there are two body tubes that need to detatch.

Separate parts of the rocket, good for segmentation.
Can be used as support, especially if you have large payloads
For smaller rockets, the forces are fine, but the bigger rockets, you need some structural calculations to make sure the bulkhead stays inside the tube.
There are multiple ways, to attach
- having bolts on the outside of the rocket, it doesnt look nice, but it works well and is very removable.
- adding fillets of epoxy is what we do.

Other kind of bulkhead.
if you have a path of force for the rocket, and you have a cross section
when you ignite the motor, thrust comes out of the motor first, so you wanna hold it in place.
this is the motor mount tube.
its smaller than the body tube, so it has a little area
so we use the fins as well.
- the fin tab will rest on top of the body.
- with the centering ring resting directly on the top and bottom of the fin tabs
- the load will first be applied to the motor mount tube, which transfers it to the rest of the rocket through the motor mount tube.
you motor mount tube doesnt need to carry the whole motor.
its meant to encapsulate the motor, and transfer the thrust to the whole thing.
dont use fins too thin, because you want to avoid "cold flutter"

calculate rocket stabilt