TPS Design, Development and Verification Approach for IXV Program

TPS Design, Development and
Verification Approach for IXV Program
Elena Brach Prever, Maria Teresa Signorelli, Flavio Camarri, Angelo Denaro (TAS)
83230913-DOC-TAS-EN-001
Gandolfo Di Vita (ESA)
7th European Workshop on TPS&HS
Apr. 8-10, 2013
ESA/ESTEC – Noordwijk, The Netherlands
IXV Program
2
The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) is an atmospheric re-entry
demonstrator, launched by Vega from CSG, conceived to perform a suborbital flight and re-enter the atmosphere experiencing the typical LEO reentry thermal loads, while performing a certain number of experiments
related to TPS, AED, ATD and GNC, and validating engineering approach,
margin policy and tools used to design and develop the demonstrator and
to plan the mission.
Among the various technological challenges of the IXV Project, the
demonstration of the feasibility of using HS for re-entry vehicles and the
acquisition of information on the in-flight behaviour of TPS materials like
ceramic and ablative ones, insulations, attachments and seals are the main
objectives.
7th European Workshop on TPS&HS
Apr. 8-10, 2013
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to any third party without the prior written permission of Thales Alenia Space -  2012, Thales Alenia Space
IXV Mission Breakdown
3
The main IXV objective is to verify that the TPS&HS architecture is able to
sustain the environments encountered during the entire mission
Nose Heat Fluxes
800
N4
N5
N6
2
ORBITAL ARC
320 km
1
N2
600
heat flux [kW/m2]
Altitude
N1
700
max. altitude 412 km
NSK4
500
NSK5
NSK6
400
N10
N4S
300
N6S
NSK6S
200
Separation
N10S
100
0
0
3
ASCENT
200
400
600
time [s]
AVUM fallout
4
120 km entry interface
point
2
Reference Trajectory 3D view
RE-ENTRY
1
LIBREVILLE
P80
Z23 fallout
MALINDI
fallout
5
3
4
[Altitude scale: 10X]
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Apr. 8-10, 2013
25,7 km
Z9A fallout
Mobile
station
DESCENT
Recovery ship
Downrange
Re-entry & descent = ~7700 km
Total downrange = ~32800 km
Reference Timeline
1 – Lift off
2 – Separation
3 – Entry gate
4 – Descent gate
5 – Splashdown
T = 0 [s]
T = 966 [s]
T = 3857 [s]
T = 5180 [s]
T = 6061 [s]
5
Ascent segment
966 [s]
Orbital segment
2891 [s]
Re-entry segment 1323 [s]
Descent segment
881 [s]
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800
1000
1200
TPS Architecture
4
The TPS&HS S/S consists of the following assemblies:
Nose Assembly (developed by Herakles)
Windward Assembly (developed by Herakles)
Body Flap Assembly (developed by MT Aerospace)
Leeward, Lateral and Base Assemblies (developed by AVIO)
All the interfaces between different TPS&HS assemblies and between
TPS&HS assemblies and different IXV sub-systems are designed and
developed by Thales Alenia Space
7th European Workshop on TPS&HS
Apr. 8-10, 2013
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Nose Assembly
5
The Nose Assembly HS consists of a Nose Cap made of HKS Sepcarbinox®
L6® CMC material filled with internal insulation (Zircar AB, Pyrogel) held in
place by an Aluminum Nose Dome
The Nose Assembly is linked to an Aluminum Ring that transmits all loads
from the Nose and the Dome via the attachment brackets to the bulkhead
7th European Workshop on TPS&HS
Apr. 8-10, 2013
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Nose Assembly
6
7th European Workshop on TPS&HS
Apr. 8-10, 2013
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Windward Assembly
7
The Windward C/SiC Assembly is characterized by the innovative shingle
technology, which is able to dissociate mechanical and thermal insulation
functions
Each shingle is composed of CMC panel with peripheral stiffeners and
internal stiffeners; attachment system, ceramic fiber internal insulation
stack-up (Zircar AB, Aeroguard, Pyrogel) and ceramic fiber seal (Zircar AB
enveloped by Nextel) are placed around the peripheral stiffeners of the
C/SiC panel
7th European Workshop on TPS&HS
Apr. 8-10, 2013
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to any third party without the prior written permission of Thales Alenia Space -  2012, Thales Alenia Space
Ablative TPS Assembly
8
The Ablative TPS consists of different materials, each fulfilling a dedicated
function:
an external insulating material providing the heat absorption and removal by means
of thermo-ablative phenomena: P50 cork on the majority of the IXV surface and a
silicone elastomer based material SV2-A on antennas
an antistatic paint coating on the external ablative surface, avoiding electrostatic
charge accumulation and providing known thermo-optical properties to the outer
insulator surface, as well as avoiding moisture absorption
an adhesive layer that provides the bonding of the insulating material on IXV cold
structure (EA9394 for P50, siliconic adhesive for SV2-A)
a filler (based on EA9394 and P50 for P50, siliconic for SV2-A) that provides a
continuum insulating mean in correspondence of gaps present between the insulating
material tiles
7th European Workshop on TPS&HS
Apr. 8-10, 2013
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to any third party without the prior written permission of Thales Alenia Space -  2012, Thales Alenia Space
Body Flap Assembly
9
The Body Flap Assembly (Keraman®), designed to contribute to
aerodynamics and manoeuvrability of IXV, comprises the following main
constituents:
a pair of control surfaces
a rod-like to deflect the flap for flight control
ceramic bearings installed at the attachment points
flexible Nextel-Saffil hinge seals
Hinge TPS forming the TPS interface between the Body Flap and the TPS elements
Electro-Mechanical Actuator (EMA) TPS, that provides the interface with bulkhead,
hinge TPS and flap rod
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Body Flap Assembly
10
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Apr. 8-10, 2013
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TPS Assemblies Interfaces
11
Each single TPS assembly is designed to properly interface with the vehicle
cold structure, the adjacent TPS assemblies, the launcher adapter, the inflight experimentation sensors and the MGSE
Examples of adjacent TPS I/Fs are shown in the following figures
Ablative
Nose Skin
Ablative
Cold Structure
Cold structure
Seal
Hinge TPS seal
Seal
Hinge TPS skin
Leeward ablative TPS / Nose Interface
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Lateral ablative TPS / Hinge TPS
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Development Tests
12
Nose and Windward Assembly
CMC samples:
CMC characterization: mechanical tests (tensile, compression, shear), thermal
properties (thermal diffusivity, thermal expansion, specific heat)
CMC oxidation (in VKI Plasmatron)
CMC catalycity (in VKI Plasmatron)
CMC behaviour in sea environment
Insulation:
thermal properties and modal characterization
Attachments:
mechanical strength on nose and shingle attachments
static test on shingle attachments: compressive and shear test on ceramic washers,
tensile test on screws, static/buckling test on complete attachment
fatigue test on shingle attachments
mechanical test on nose attachments
thermal characterization
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Development Tests
13
Nose and Windward Assembly (cont’d)
Singularities:
mechanical strength, dynamic and thermal test on pressure port
Seal:
permeability
venting
sneak-flow
Assembly test:
verification of components mountability/dismountability
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Development Tests
14
Ablative TPS – SV2A
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Development Tests
15
Ablative TPS – P50
Thermo-physical tests: specific heat, enthalpy of formation (for both virgin
and charred material), thermal conductivity, TGA, mass spectrometry, CTE
Mechanical characterization: ultimate elongation, Young modulus,
hardness, density, ultimate pull and shear strength, peeling
Interface bonding shear tests
Humidity tests
Ageing tests
Outgassing tests
Torch tests
Technological tests: full scale application (22 mm)
Thermo-ablative tests (in VKI Plasmatron)
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Development Tests
16
Body Flaps Assembly
Considering the sufficient high TRL (≥5) of the Body Flap reached during X38 and EXPERT Programs, no development tests were performed in phase
C2; the same applies to Hinge TPS
For EMA TPS, the increase of the development status by means of ground
tests has been considered unfeasible and therefore the development has
been carried out only by analysis
Catalycity and emissivity tests have been carried out on Keraman® samples
at VKI
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Assembly Qualification Tests
17
 PWT test with singularities in Scirocco
 Thermo-mechanical test
 Dynamic test
 Shock, sine and random tests [performed]
 Manufacturing, integration and verification test (full
scale validation test)
 Thermal and thermo-mechanical behaviour verified
through TPS&HS S/S PWT test in Scirocco




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Body Flap + EMA TPS dynamic test [performed]
EMA TPS thermal test [performed]
Hinge TPS dynamic test [performed]
Body Flap + Hinge TPS pressure testing
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Assembly Qualification: Ablative TPS Shock, Sine & Random Tests
18
Configuration for sinusoidal and random tests
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Configuration for shock test
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Assembly Qualification: Ablative TPS Full Scale Validation Tests
19
P50 bonding process with vacuum bag already qualified in the frame
of Vega program
Different bonding strategies tested: vacuum bag, bladder, weights,
adhesive tape
Additional tests objectives
SV2-A bonding qualification
mortar cap bonding
unglued area
Bonding strength evaluated by means of pull test
PARTIALLY
UNGLUED TILE
SV2-A
TILE
MORTAR CAP
GLUING TEST
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Assembly Qualification: Body Flap Assembly Dynamic Test
20
MT-Aerospace performed Body Flap+EMA TPS qualification tests
Vibration test at IABG (1/2012)
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Shock test at IABG (11/2012)
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S/S PWT Test
21
Design Interface Verification
PWT tests at TPS&HS S/S level are planned in CIRA Scirocco facility to
verify in “hot conditions” the design of the interfaces between the
adjacent TPS assemblies in terms of capability to comply with the
requirements relevant to sneak-flow (overheating) and step&gap
Leeward Ablative
Nose
Shingle
Windward Assembly
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Hinge TPS
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System Qualification Tests
22
Body Flap Assembly Chain
A joint test to verify the complete Flaps Control System, i.e. the combined
EMA / Body Flap Assembly performances, will be performed
aim of the test is to validate and calibrate the multi-body model of the Body Flap
Chain, and to run a final set of cases to predict the Body Flap Chain behaviour during
flight
Ablative tests
Ablative TPS tiles are made available by AVIO and implemented into the IXV
test model to be utilized for the following tests:
DRS drop test
In Flight Experimentation tests
Antenna + Fiberglass + Ablative TPS compatibility test
Full-scale bridle extraction test
7th European Workshop on TPS&HS
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