Modeling and Hot Fire Test Validation of Space Launch System Thrust Vector Control Friction Effects
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Colter Russell↗
Engineering topics
Colter Russell
Publications and source records attributed to Colter Russell.
Gimbal Bearing Friction in the SLS Core Stage Thrust Vector Control System
The Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system is comprised of eight mechanical feedback Shuttle heritage Type III TVC actuators that vector the four Shuttle heritage RS-25 engines about a Shuttle heritage gimbal block/bearing. The MSFC Controls community has long regarded gimbal friction to be a negligible effect on the overall control of gimbaled RS-25 engines. This is corroborated by Space Shuttle test and flight data that does not appear to show degraded effects, nor limit cycling at the end of the shuttle flight. For this reason, friction was not expected to be a driving factor of performance and control of the reused RS-25 engines aboard the SLS. However, after test data showed a large shift in frequency behavior and a highly damped step-response in the time series, there was further investigation into what could have caused this behavior. Heritage friction models used in previous gimbal and ball bearings were evaluated such as Coulomb, Dahl and LuGre, but the single degree of freedom friction models alone were not enough to explain the behavior and shifts seen in the test data. This paper presents the additional findings and modeling efforts regarding friction on the RS-25 engines. Using the Two Actuator Operational Simulation (TAOS), the difference from modeling separate friction degrees of freedom to coupled degrees of freedom was investigated to deduce the effects of one axis’s movement on the other. Next, due to the vibration environment, a modified LuGre model has been proposed that adds an additional term to decrease the friction coefficient at low engine velocity amplitudes. Lastly, the addition of the stiffness in each half of the gimbal bearing has increased modeling fidelity by also adding the effect on the gimbal bearing bending in compliance to both the friction torque on the surface of the gimbal bearing and the actuator force that is forcing the engine in a specified direction. Through these effects, the time and frequency domain behavior seen in test can be characterized accurately.
Friction↗
Structural Dynamics Observations in Space Launch System Green Run Hot Fire Testing
The Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage (CS) Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system is comprised of eight mechanical feedback Shuttle heritage Type III TVC actuators and four RS-25 engines, each attached to a Shuttle heritage gimbal block/bearing. Two actuators are used to move each engine in two planes perpendicular to one another (i.e., pitch and yaw). The TVC system design leverages hardware from the Space Shuttle program as well as new hardware designed specifically for the Core Stage. The Green Run Hot Fire (GRHF) of the SLS Core Stage provided a flight-like ground test environment for verification of integrated vehicle TVC performance. A TVC model coupled to a vehicle structural dynamic model has been developed previously and incrementally validated in subsystem tests and simulations. Still, some aspects of TVC performance in GRHF were not anticipated. The ensuing investigation demonstrated the need for well-instrumented test environments, various levels of modeling fidelity, test-representative structural models, and caution in reuse of legacy components. This paper is the sixth installment in a seven-paper series surveying the design, engineering, test validation, and flight performance of the Core Stage Thrust Vector Control system. It introduces the salient structural dynamic phenomena uncovered in ambient and hot fire testing. During the Green Run test campaign, a comparison of ambient and hot fire step responses showed a significant change in apparent damping due to the presence of friction, challenging long standing assumptions that friction could be neglected. Additionally, the characteristic response of the engine and thrust structure during GRHF proved to be more complex than anticipated, as evidenced by the available actuator, thrust structure, and engine measurements. While the string-potentiometer based test instrumentation was intended to allow for reconstruction of the engine angles along the two control axes, the geometric placement, location uncertainty, and responses in overlapping frequency spectra revealed additional phenomena requiring further analysis and post-processing. The observations from both modal and frequency response testing during the Green Run ambient and hot fire configurations led to Engine and Core Stage FEM (finite element model) updates. When evidence of unexpected engine motion was found in engine section accelerometer data, the authors pursued additional structural analysis leading to FEM updates associated with the TVC gimbal and thrust structure. Through collaboration between structures, TVC, and flight control disciplines, the test-informed models and root-cause analysis led to confident flight rationale for the first flight of the SLS launch vehicle.
Richard Moore↗