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Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (23): 628299-628299.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2023.28299

• Special Topic: Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Prospects for fatigue durability and reliability of reusable launch vehicle structures

Mengqi GU1, Jiacai ZHU2, Wanlin GUO1,2(), Song XUE2   

  1. 1.School of Mechanical Engineering,Tsinghua University,Beijing 100084,China
    2.College of Aerospace Engineering,Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics,Nanjing 210016,China
  • Received:2022-11-23 Revised:2022-12-07 Accepted:2023-02-27 Online:2023-12-15 Published:2023-03-17
  • Contact: Wanlin GUO E-mail:wlguo@nuaa.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Key Research and Development Program of China(2019YFA0705400);Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province(BK20212008);State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures(MCMS-I-0421K01);Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(NJ2022002)

Abstract:

Reusable launch vehicle is an important development direction of the carrier rocket technology in the present world. Traditional disposable rockets only need to complete a single launch mission and usually use a high static strength safety factor to ensure their structural reliability. For reusable launch vehicle that need to perform as many launch missions as possible to increase economic efficiency, structural fatigue durability and reliability are difficult to be covered by static strength design. This review analyzes the key factors which determine the fatigue life of rockets under the existing technology conditions and points out the development direction for improving the durability and reliability of reusable launch vehicle. Vibration loading is the main driving force of fatigue crack propagation in complex environment, and it is vital to suppress structural vibration. The fatigue problems of welding structures and metal additive manufacturing structures commonly used in launch vehicles are specifically analyzed. The current status of the durability and reliability of launch vehicle structures is then reviewed. Finally, a unified method of three-dimensional fatigue fracture is proposed to study the fatigue durability and reliability of reusable launch vehicle. This method can consider all the factors affecting the fatigue life, correlate the initial fatigue quality of the structure and the driving force of crack growth indicated by the detection signal with the fatigue life, and give reliability.

Key words: reusable launch vehicle, reliability, vibration fatigue, welding, metal additive manufacturing

CLC Number: