Common Bulkhead Tank Design for Cryogenic Stage of an Indian Launch Vehicle

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been advancing in space technology with its cost-effective techniques. Currently, ISRO, in its cryogenic stages, uses truss type intertank structure, which induces large concentrated loads at the truss interfaces. As a remedial measure, works on closed intertank are being carried out by them, but this configuration will considerably increase the launch vehicle mass compared to truss type. Therefore, after a thorough literature survey, a Common bulkhead (CBH) tank seemed to be the best solution to the aforementioned problem. Detailed research on sandwich-type CBH has been carried out in this paper with the motivation of saving mass and height in launch vehicles. Suitable core and facesheet material were selected. A novel foam-filled honeycomb core is suggested in this work. Several comparisons in various CBH dome designs were carried out to reach for the best possible configuration and composition that can be used. MATLAB®, SolidWorks®, and ANSYS® were used in parallel for all computations dealing with design and analysis. A mass saving of approximately upto 490 kgs and a height reduction of upto 1.755 m was obtained with the final selected configuration with respect to the current GSLV configuration. These savings can add extra payload capacity to ISRO launch vehicles in their future missions.

Design Coverage Optimization Based on Position of Constellations and Cost of the Launch Vehicle

This research will analyze the tradeoffs between coverage optimization based on Position dilution of precision (PDOP) and cost of the launch vehicle. It adopts MATLAB and STK tools along with multiple objective genetic algorithms (MOGA) to explore the trade space for the constellation designs at different orbital altitudes. The objective of optimal design solutions is inferred to determine the economic and efficient LEO, MEO, HEO or hybrid constellations and simulation results are presented to optimize the design of satellite constellations. The benefits of this research are the optimization of satellite constellation design, which reduces costs and increases regional and global coverage with the least number of satellites. The result of this project is the optimization of the number of constellation satellites in several orbital planes in LEO orbit. Validations are based on reviewing the results of several simulations. The results of graphs and tables are presented in the last two sections and are taken from the results of several simulations.