Journal of Aeronautics & Aerospace Engineering
Open Access

Abstract

Dynamics of a Flexible Body with Rapid Mass Loss

Arun Banerjee and Mark Lemak

Equations of motion of an elastic rocket are given using an extension of Kane’s method with an efficient choice of generalized speeds. The modal integrals are updated for the time-time-varying mass of the rocket by Hermite interpolation. The formulation includes geometric softening due to thrust and is suitable for nonlinear control design of a flexible booster vehicle.