Abstract
Reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) are a solution for effective and economic transportation in future aerospace exploration. However, RLVs are limited to being used under simple landing conditions (small landing velocity and angle) due to their poor adaptability and the high rocket acceleration of current landing systems. In this paper, an adaptive RLV landing system with semi-active control is proposed. The proposed landing system can adjust the damping forces of primary strut dampers through semi-actively controlled currents in accordance with practical landing conditions. A landing dynamic model of the proposed landing system is built. According to the dynamic model, an light and effective RLV landing system is parametrically designed based on the response surface methodology. Dynamic simulations validate the proposed landing system under landing conditions including the highest rocket acceleration and the greatest damper compressions. The simulation results show that the proposed landing system with semi-active control has better landing performance than current landing systems that use passive liquid or liquid–honeycomb dampers. Additionally, the flexibility and friction of the structure are discussed in the simulations. Compared to rigid models, flexible models decrease rocket acceleration by 51% and 54% at the touch down moments under these two landing conditions, respectively. The friction increases rocket acceleration by less than 1%. However, both flexibility and friction have little influence on the distance between the rocket and ground, or the compression strokes of the dampers.
Highlights
As one of the most important technologies for aerospace exploration, advances in launch vehicles have greatly promoted aerospace developments [1]
The controllable parts are related to the yield stress of magnetorheological fluid (MRF), which are controlled according to the acceleration, jerk, pitch angle, and roll angle of the rocket [20]
A landing system for reusable launch vehicles with semi-active control was proposed in this paper
Summary
As one of the most important technologies for aerospace exploration, advances in launch vehicles have greatly promoted aerospace developments [1]. Callisto uses four landing legs to absorb the impact energy, which is similar to the Falcon-series rocket [10,11] The current landing systems employed by RLVs use passive liquid or liquid–honeycomb dampers to absorb impact energy. These two kinds of passive dampers have complex structures, as well as greater mass and rocket accelerations. They are not able to adjust damping forces in order to meet practical landing conditions, which require a low landing velocity and angle, making the recycling of rockets more difficult.
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