Dynamic Response of a Hypersonic Rocket Sled Considering Friction and Wear

The dynamic response of a hypersonic rocket sled was studied by considering the time-varying friction coefficient and the gap caused by wear between the slipper and track. A multibody dynamic model for a hypersonic rocket sled system was established by considering the time-varying mass and moment of inertia, nonlinear aerodynamic loads, engine thrust, track irregularity, and nonlinear contact force. As for the wear calculation, the ductile and shear criteria were used as the material damage criteria, and slipper wear was determined by the number of damaged elements. A rocket sled test was also carried out, and the dynamic response of the sled was measured. The results showed that the computational sliding displacement and velocity of the third-stage sled matched well with the test values. The computational root mean square (RMS) values of the vertical acceleration of the third-stage sled front slipper considering friction and wear matched better with the test values than with the case without considering friction and wear, which underestimated the RMS value by approximately 20.1% at Mach 5. The importance of considering friction and wear and the correctness of the computational method were validated. It is also found that the kinetic friction coefficient decreased with an increase in the product of the pressure and velocity. The wear height of the slipper increased almost linearly with the sliding displacement. The test results showed that the vertical acceleration power spectral density of the third-stage sled front slipper increased with time in the full frequency band below 2000 Hz. This study will guide the design and optimization of hypersonic rocket sleds.