An integrated development of the equations of motion for elastic hypersonic flight vehicles

An integrated, consistent analytical framework is developed for modeling the dynamics of elastic hypersonic flight vehicles. A Lagrangian approach is used in order to capture the dynamics of rigid-body motion, elastic deformation, fluid flow, rotating machinery, wind, and a spherical rotating earth model, and to account for their interactions with each other. A vector form of the force, moment and elastic-deformation equations is developed from Lagrange's equation; a useable scalar form of these equations is also presented. The appropriate kinematic equations are developed, and are presented in a useable form. A preliminary study of the significance of selected terms in the equations of motion is conducted. Using generic data for a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle, it was found that the Coriolis force can reach values of up to 6 percent of the vehicle weight, and that the forces and moments attributable to fluid-flow terms can be significant.