Observation on TPS damage on Orbiter (Post 2431)
The initial acceleration (actually deceleration) of the foam is 1329.0 m/s2, applied in the opposite direction to the boosting acceleration of the launcher and orbiter. The deceleration due to drag decreases rapidly as the foam slows down: Drag is proportional to the airspeed squared, assuming a constant drag coefficient (in this case 0.65).
program test
data dx0 / 0.0 / ! m
data rho / 0.08823 / ! kg/m^3
data press / 7345.4 / ! N/m2
data xmass / 1.211 / ! kg
data sref / 0.120492 / ! m^2
data g / 9.80665 / ! m/s^2
data v0 / 682.5 / ! m/s
data deltat / 0.00001 / ! s
data tfinal / 0.5 / ! s
data dtout / 0.030 / ! s
data dteps / 0.000001 / ! s
data cd / 0.65 / ! non-dimensional
vmag = v0
dx = dx0
nsteps = nint ( tfinal / deltat )
do i = 0 , nsteps
time = deltat*float ( i )
! compute drag force
Q = 0.5*rho*vmag**2
drag = cd*Q*sref
! integrate relative deceleration, including drag +
! gravity + powered boost
acc_new = - drag/xmass - g - 12.14
if ( i.ne.0 ) then
vmag = vmag + 0.5*deltat*( acc_new + acc_old )
end if
! integrate relative velocity
vrel = v0 - vmag
if ( i.ne.0 ) then
dx = dx + 0.5*deltat*( vrel + vrel_old )
end if
! save old states for trapezoidal integration
acc_old = acc_new
vrel_old = vrel_new
! check cumulative displacement, exit when threshold is met
if ( dx/0.3048.ge.53.37 ) then
write(*,1) time,vrel/0.447028,dx/0.3048,Cd
write(8,1) time,vrel/0.447028,dx/0.3048,Cd
exit
end if
! output the relative velocity and translation at scheduled intervals
test = time - dtout*anint ( time/dtout )
if ( abs(test).le.dteps ) then
write(*,1) time,vrel/0.447028,dx/0.3048
write(8,1) time,vrel/0.447028,dx/0.3048
1 format(f9.6,3f9.2)
end if
end do
pause 'end of sim'
end