Experimental Fin Tips For Reusable Launch Vehicles (ExFiT) Flight Data Validation

Through a joint effort between the Air Force Institute of Technology and The United States Air Force Academy, experimental fin tips for reusable launch vehicles were modeled and tested to support the Air Force Research Laboratory Air Vehicles Directorate’s Future responsive Access to Space Technologies program through supersonic flight testing of a novel airfoil. Both a computational fluid dynamics model and a finite element model of the experimental airfoils were created. The ExFiT fins were then tested on a sounding rocket designed, built, and launched by USAFA through the FalconLAUNCH program. The sounding rocket flight returned strain gauge and thermistor data which allowed evaluation of the accuracy of the CFD and FE models. The model evaluation and flight data analysis process involved both computational and laboratory testing. The goal was to first validate the finite element model and then apply the flight loads generated by CFD analysis to the FE model which yielded results that were then compared to flight data. Successful validation of the two models allows for further design and testing in new areas of aeroelasticity.