Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
The motion of liquid in the containers of a vehicle may have severe influence upon the stability of the vehicle. For this reason many authors have investigated the behaviour of liquid with a free surface due to various modes of excitation. In the earlier development of small vehicles, the frequencies of the elastic structures were relatively high compared to the propellant frequencies and the effect of their interaction could be neglected. With the increase of modern space vehicles this interaction of the propellant with the elastic structure is becoming a pronounced influence upon the design of the vehicle and its control system. This has some influence upon the stability and response behaviour of a large space vehicle, since the close grouping of propellant sloshing and structural frequencies around the control frequency of the vehicle creates continuous interaction during flight.
Professors, School of Engineering Science and Mechanics.
Formerly Research Assistant, School of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Georgia Institute of Technology; presently Senior Research Engineer, Babcock and Wilcox, Alliance, Ohio.