TSM Rocket Fins

As aerodynamic and software engineer at the Michigan Aeronautical Science Association, I designed and tested the rocket fins for Tangerine Space Machine. Being creative is a great part of this project, since I am constantly facing ambiguous problems with an unscontrained path to solutions. Designing the rocket fins helped me to be persistent, as I had to do more research when the simulations failed and, to learn about systems thinking, specially on how this part fits in the entire project.

Rocket fins are aerodynamic structures intended to provide stability during flight and assure that the rocket goes straight up. During the design process, several factors must be taken into account:

• Aerodynamic effects of fin shape
• Stiffness of strcture to prevent flutter
• Structural material to sustain temperatures and stress during flight
• Structrural mass

I have worked with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to simulate stress at hypersonic conditions and Structural simulations to identify the deformation in the Fins due to aerodynamic stresses. A complex project was merging both Fluid and Structural simulations in a Two-Way Fluid Structure Interface to investigate in-flight oscillations to optimize design against the “flutter condition”, unstable oscillations that result in structural failure.