DYNAMIC STABILITY OF FLEXIBLE MISSILES

AS YET UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICAL MECHANISMS HAVE CAUSED ABRUPT CHANGES IN THE FLIGHT PATHS OF HIGH-SPEED MISSILES WHICH HAVE LARGE LENGTHTO-DIAMETER RATIOS AND ARE RELATIVELY FLEXIBLE. THESE FLIGHT INSTABILITIES ARE PROBABLY CAUSED BY THE NONLINEAR INTERACTION OF MISSILE VIBRATION AND ROTATION, AERODYNAMIC FORCES AND THE MISSILE'S PROPULSION SYSTEM. TO REAP THE BENEFITS OF THE HIGHER AERODYNAMIC EFFICIENCIES OF MISSILES WITH LARGE LENGTH-TO-DIAMENTER RATIOS THEREFORE REQUIRES THAT THE DYNAMIC STABILITY OF FLEXIBLE MISSILES BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD. A RESEARCH PLAN IS PROPOSED WITH THE OBJECTIVES OF IDENTIFYING MECHANISMS WHICH COULD CAUSE MOTION LIKE THAT OBSERVED, MODELING THE MECHANISMS MATHEMATICALLY AND CORRELATING THE RESULTS OF ANALYSES AND SIMULATIONS BASED ON THE MATHEMATICAL MODELS WITH FLIGHT TEST DATA TO DETERMINE WHICH MECHANISM(S) IS (ARE) THE MOST PROBABLY CAUSE(S) OF THE OBSERVED DYNAMIC INSTABILITIES.