Automated Hypersonic Launch Vehicle Design Using ModelCenter®

Abstract

Over the course of the last two years and with funding from the AFRL, SEI has been performing the conceptual design of two Military Space Plane concepts called Quicksat and Sentinel. Quicksat is a Two Stage to Orbit Military Space Plane that uses Turbine-Based Combined Cycle (TBCC) and dual-mode scramjet (DMSJ) propulsion systems and H2O2/JP-7 propellants. Sentinel is a Two Stage to Orbit Military Space Plane that uses Rocket Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) propulsion and LOX/JP-7 propellants. These vehicles were designed in a multidisciplinary environment using Phoenix Integration’s ModelCenter® and Analysis Server software products to establish an automated vehicle closure model. The engineering toolset consisted of industry-standard and in-house codes spanning propulsion, trajectory, aerodynamics, aeroheating/TPS, and weights and sizing. Once established, the vehicle closure models were used to quickly perform a number of trade studies and sensitivity analysis. The construction of the ROSETTA meta-model was facilitated by the use of Pi Blue’s ProbWorks suite and subsequently used to perform a probabilistic sensitivity analysis on the Sentinel vehicle concept.