Efficient Thrust Distribution with Adaptive Pressure Control for Multinozzle Solid Propulsion System

Abstract

An integrated approach for chamber pressure control and thrust distribution for multiple nozzles of a solid propulsion system is presented. In this study, a solid propulsion system with variable nozzle throat area controlled by a pintle actuator is considered. To keep the hardware configuration simple and lightweight, multiple nozzles share a combustion chamber. Consequently, changing the throat area of one nozzle results in an unintended change of chamber pressure and thrust from other nozzles. Therefore, pressure stabilization and thrust distribution for multiple nozzles should be conducted simultaneously to achieve the desired performance. For the inner control loop, an adaptive sliding mode controller with feedback linearization is used for pressure stabilization. With the pressure control loop working properly, a thrust distribution algorithm into 10 nozzles for translation and attitude maneuver is developed as an outer control loop.