Static Firing Tests of Solid Propellant Rocket Motors: Uncertainty Levels of Thrust Measurements

Authors

  • Fernando Augusto Catalano Fernandes Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial – Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências e Tecnologias Espaciais – São José dos Campos/SP – Brazil.
  • Carlos d’Andrade Souto Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial – Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências e Tecnologias Espaciais – São José dos Campos/SP – Brazil | Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial – Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço – Divisão de Integração e Ensaios – São José dos Campos/SP – Brazil.
  • Rogerio Pirk Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial – Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências e Tecnologias Espaciais – São José dos Campos/SP – Brazil| Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial – Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço – Divisão de Integração e Ensaios – São José dos Campos/SP – Brazil.

Abstract

Static firing tests of solid propelled rocket motors (SRMs) are important tests in aerospace industry during the development of new motors as well as to assure the quality of a motor batch. This type of test allows the operator to obtain the measured “thrust versus time of burning” graphic yielded by the motor during burning to verify whether the motor performance matches the project requirements. Laboratory Quality Certificates and good measurement practices make necessary the evaluation of the typical uncertainty of these test results, which demand a wide number of instruments, called measurement chain. This work aims to present the uncertainty levels expressed to the thrust values gathered during a SRM static firing test for two differently configured measurement chains. In order to estimate the uncertainty of a complete measurement chain, the theories of expanded and combined uncertainties are employed. It was possible to verify that in the analyzed case the use of signal amplifiers increased the measurement uncertainty of the chain.


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Published

2022-09-12 — Updated on 2022-10-10

Versions

Issue

Vol 14 (2022)

Section

Original Papers

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Copyright (c) 2022 Fernando Augusto Catalano Fernandes , Carlos d’Andrade Souto , Rogerio Pirk

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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