The Similarity Research for Flight Test of Towed Cable System

Abstract

The similarity research for exterior ballistics of towed cable system instructs the design of a scale system flight test. According to the 3rd similarity theory, the similarity relation of the tensile force behavior in towed cable between the full size model and the scale one has been analyzed in this paper. By the way of adjusting the parameters include rocket propellant's mass mp, density of towed cable and rocket towing time, the similarity criterion has been built based on the research of the similarity relation. Based on the centroid movement equation set of towed cable system, the authors analyze the simulation results of exterior ballistics of towed cable system in MATLAB. Moreover, a flight test result was compared with the scale model simulation. In conclusion, there has been similarity on the tensile force behavior in towed cable between the towed cable system and its scale model. And the scale modelling method can be used for flight test design.