Free-body Modeling of the Dynamics of a Fin-Stabilized Ballistics Missile in Nonspinnning Vertical Trajectories

Part 1 of an experimental and analytical investigation of the behavior in free flight of inertia-propelled bodies that are fin-stabilized is presented. The dynamic response in vertical trajectories starting from rest has been found for two sizes of a single configuration of the Basic Finner Research Missile with a variety of model parameters and initial conditions. A relatively simple formulation of the drag function for longitudinally accelerated motion in the laminar flow regime is found to give excellent agreement between predicted and experimental behavior. Time-position histories of test trajectories are presented in tabular form.