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Title:

Using Numerical Modeling to Simulate Space Capsule Ground Landings

Accession Number:

01122360

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

Experimental work is being conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) to investigate ground-landing capabilities of the Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV). The Orion capsule is NASA’s replacement for the Space Shuttle. The Orion capsule will service the International Space Station and be used for future space missions to the Moon and to Mars. To evaluate the feasibility of Orion ground landings, a series of capsule impact tests are being performed at the NASA Langley Landing and Impact Research Facility (LandIR). The experimental results derived at LandIR provide means to validate and calibrate nonlinear dynamic finite element models, which are also being developed during this study. Because of the high cost and time involvement intrinsic to full-scale testing, numerical simulations are favored over experimental work. Subsequent to a numerical model validated by actual test responses, impact simulations will be conducted to study multiple impact scenarios not practical to test. Twenty-one swing tests using the LandIR gantry were conducted during the June 07 through October 07 time period to evaluate the Orion’s impact response. Results for two capsule initial pitch angles, 0º and -15º, along with their computer simulations using LS-DYNA are presented in this article. A soil-vehicle friction coefficient of 0.45 was determined by comparing the test stopping distance with computer simulations. In addition, soil modeling accuracy is presented by comparing vertical penetrometer impact tests with computer simulations for the soil model used during the swing tests.

Monograph Accession #:

01120148

Report/Paper Numbers:

09-1261

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Heymsfield, Ernest
Fasanella, Edwin L

Pagination:

15p

Publication Date:

2009

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2009-1-11 to 2009-1-15
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

DVD

Features:

Figures; Photos; References (9) ; Tables (2)

Subject Areas:

Aviation; Data and Information Technology; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2009 Paper #09-1261

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Jan 30 2009 5:28PM