Fairing Separation-Attitude Control Coupling Simulation Based on the Self-controlled Multi-body Dynamics Software Tianxing

Abstract

The fairing protects the launch vehicle payload from aerodynamic, thermal and other environmental factors during flight. After flying out of the atmosphere, the fairing completes its task and needs to separate from the rocket. The multibody dynamics simulation of the separation process provides an important design tool for the fairing separation, and attracts a lot of attention in the field of multibody dynamics. In this work, the coupling simulation of fairing separation-attitude control under large overload and strong interference is studied, where the entire separation simulation model including the control loop is established and solved in the self-controlled multibody dynamics software, named TIANXING. In the model, the two halves of the fairing rotate around the rotating hinges on both sides of the rocket under the spring force, separating from the rocket when the hinge is uncoupled. The uncoupling time and the angular velocity of the rocket are solved. The results show that TIANXING can achieve highly flexible control of the constraint failure, which break through the limitation that the commercial software needs to predict the failure order in advance. The initial interference of the rocket gradually converges under the feedback of the control system.