HAMMERHEAD WAKE EFFECTS ON ELASTIC VEHICLE DYNAMICS

An analysis has been performed of existing static and dynamic experime ntal results for hammerhead launch vehicles. The analysis shows that t he always present Bow phenomenon of hammerhead wake reattachment on th e adjacent booster at high-subsonic speeds could generate aeroelastic instability powerful enough to endanger the structural integrity of th e launch vehicle. The reason that this problem has not been discovered earlier is that it occurs only for a certain combination of vehicle g eometry and elastic bending mode shape.