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Department of the Air Force Report, 1996

U.S. Department of War · 1996-09-10 · 181 pages · text from the file's own layer

This final report, dated September 10, 1996, was prepared by the Research Triangle Institute for the Department of the Air Force's 45th and 30th Space Wing safety offices. Titled Modeling Unlikely Space-Booster Failures in Risk Calculations, it shows how rare Mode-5 failures, in which a rocket veers well off its intended flight line, are modeled in the DAMP risk-analysis program. An appendix lists Atlas, Delta, Titan and Thor launch and failure histories through August 1996.

From the source:Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 9/10/96, N/A. This report describes the Modeling of Unlikely Space-Booster Failures in Risk Calculations, documenting historical launch failure modes and recommending corrective actions to address them using novel modelling techniques.

  • p. 5 …64 6.4 Shaping Constants for Titan IV................................................................................ 65 6.5 Shaping Constants for LLVl .................................................................................... 69…
  • p. 74 …6.4 Shaping Constants for Titan IV Mode-5 shaping constants for Titan IV were developed…
  • p. 77 …Shaping Constants for Titan IV TB (sec) Breakupqa (deg-lb/ft2) B A II 300 none…
  • p. 109 …Titan IIIC and later configurations to include IIIB, IIID, IIIE, 34B, 34D, III/CT, IV, II…
  • p. 155 …Titan II SLV was developed from refurbished Titan II ICBMs incorporating technology and hardware from the…
  • p. 156 …Summa of Titan Vehicle Confi rations Descri Titan II ICBM converted to a man-rated vehicle…
  • p. 159 …2 0 54 WS (first Titan II) 03/16/62 II (N-2) ER 0 55…
  • p. 160 …08/13/64 II (8-7) WR 0 104 SV (first Titan Ill) 09/01/64…
  • p. 166 D.4.2 Titan Failure Narratives The following narratives provide available details about each Titan failure…
  • p. 168 …Stage II engine shut down prematurely due to oxidizer bootstrap-line failure. 76. Titan I (Mares…
  • p. 169 …Titan II (Thread Needle), 20 June 63, Response Mode 5, Flight Phase 2: Flight appeared normal…
  • p. 170 …Titan II (Bold Guy), 21 Sep 65, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 2: After a normal…
  • p. 172 …Following a successful Titan-II second-stage burn and after payload separation, the apogee- kick motor…
The best-fit values of B and A from Figure 30 and Figure 31 have been listed for
convenient reference in Table 25. It is interesting to note that, for all breakup
conditions, the currently-used value of B = 1,000 provided a better data fit than any
other B that was investigated.
Table 25. Shaping Constants for LLVl
TB Breakup qa
(sec) (deg-lb/£t2) B A
290 none 1,000 1.85
20,000 2.60
10,000 2.70
5,000 2.75
290 none 10,000 2.45
20,000 1,000 2.60
10,000 1,000 2.70
5,000 1,000 2.75
No launch-area risk calculations were made for LLVl.
6.6 Shaping Constants for Other Launch Vehicles
Procedures for developing Mode-5 shaping constants A and B are fully· described in
this report. For Atlas, Delta, Titan, and LLVl, best-fit values of A were derived for four
breakup conditions (1) for the currently-used value of B = 1,000, and (2) for optimum-fit
values of B. For any new launch vehicle requiring risk calculations, the same
procedures should be followed to obtain suitable values for A and B.
As an alternative and less time-consuming process, values of A and B can be estimated
by comparing the new vehicle with one of the four vehicles referred to above and listed
in Table 26. If the configuration and trajectory of the new vehicle and one of the listed
vehicles are similar, values of A and B shown in the table for that vehicle and the
assumed breakup condition can be used. There may, of course, be no similarity
between the new vehicle and any of the listed vehicles. In that event and depending on
assumed breakup conditions, one of the mean values shown in the last row of the table
can be selected until better values can be developed.
Table 26. Summary of A Values for B = 1,000
Vehicle
IP Range (nm)
at 30 sec
Breakup qa (deg-lb/ ft2)
5,000 10,000 20,000 None
Atlas HAS
Delta-GEM
Titan IV
CLVl
0.3
5.2
1.9
33.4
3.45
4.30
3.50
2.75
3.20 2.75
3.10 2.90
3.25 2.95
2.70 2.60
1.90
1.90
2.00
1.85
Other vehicles 3.5 3.1 2.8 1.9
9/10/96 72 RTI

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Report, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 181 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.