Vibrations of launch vehicle fairings with conical shape

Abstract

Vibrations of launch vehicle conical fairings are investigated. Fairings are simulated using thin conic shells. The modal analysis of a thin elastic shell is based on the use of the developed finite element model of an inhomogeneous shell. In general, the technique makes it possible to investigate the geometrically nonlinear deformation, stability, and post-buckling behavior of a wide class of thin elastic shells. The modal analysis of the structure is implemented at each step of the static thermomechanical load. The subspace iteration method is used to determine the spectrum of the lowest vibration frequencies of shells of an inhomogeneous structure. The shell behavior analysis method is based on the relations of the three-dimensional theory of thermoelasticity and uses the finite element moment scheme. A thin elastic shell is simulated by a universal solid isoparametric finite element. The parameters of natural vibrations of conical shells of revolution with different thicknesses are investigated. Comparison of the calculation results obtained by the finite element moment scheme with the data of other authors shows a fairly good agreement between the solutions.