Engineering in UC’s College of
Engineering, is working to prevent
the effects of fuel slosh in rockets
using mathematical algorithms, by
predicting movement and adjusting
the flight movement before fuel
slosh becomes a problem.
“It’s about performing the right
movement at the right time,”
Philipp says.
He has observed slosh and rocket
motion behaviours
using a vertical
wind tunnel on campus at UC and
real-life launches conducted in
partnership with Rocket Lab. After
collecting enough data to accurately
predict fuel slosh under different
movements, Philipp will ‘on board’
the algorithm into the flight control
computer.
At that stage real-life launches
will be used to gather data and
record how the algorithm could
influence the flight strategy and
compare these findings to
what was observed
during testing in the wind tunnel
to prove the effectiveness of the
algorithm. If successful, this could
reduce or completely remove the
need for baffles in fuel tanks. Philipp
recommends slowly introducing the
algorithm into real flight to reduce
risk.
“Making the move into real flight
means fully converting the algorithm
into a flight version that takes
into account elements, including
acceleration, that are not present
in the wind tunnel. The algorithm is
very flexible and easily scalable.”
Philipp is enthusiastic about the
algorithm’s future prospects with
direct application to providing better
control of liquid fuel orbital rockets
including removing the need for
heavy baffles and allowing launches
in a greater range of weather
conditions. It also has application
for ship-to-ship docking in the ocean
and potentially developing better
control systems that handle seaice
interactions for ships in polar
regions.