Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Christopher Griffin

Committee Co-Chair

Patrick Browning

Committee Member

Patrick Browning

Committee Member

Wade Huebsch

Abstract

Collegiate engineering competitions have played a foundational role in the educational outcomes of university students for as long as they have existed. Among these competitions is the Spaceport America Cup, which challenges students to design, build, and launch high-power rockets with the incentive to fly as close as possible to a pre-established target apogee. Many teams competing in this competition have chosen to approach the challenge by incorporating deployable air brakes into their rocket designs. This approach comes with many uncertainties, both in controls and aerodynamics. For teams just starting out, aerodynamic performance is often one of the most challenging metrics to hone down, especially for teams lacking robust experimental and computational testing capabilities. This thesis aimed to alleviate some of these uncertainties with an aerodynamics-focused investigation of this design challenge. At the center of this investigation was the question of whether air brakes can functionally govern the apogee of a sub-orbital rocket platform. Additional interest was placed in evaluating the impact that air brakes have on the aerodynamic stability of a rocket platform and whether the drag characteristics of air brakes upheld any predictable consistencies. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and numerical simulations were used to carry out this investigation by way of aerodynamic and flight trajectory analyses on a generic rocket platform and four unique air brake configurations. The findings of this research showed a compelling ability for air brakes to successfully govern apogee and corroborated the findings and incentives of teams actively integrating this solution. It was also shown in review that aerodynamic stability was largely upheld for air brakes positioned aft of the center-of-gravity location. Finally, an evaluation of air brake performance proved to yield a drag force parameter that held consistent across brake designs and Mach number, and it is hoped that the consistency of this parameter will greatly assist teams in garnering a preliminary understanding of their designs’ aerodynamic performance.

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