Vibration Analysis of Static Test System

Static testing of a Solid Rocket Motor which is the work horse of any Missile is carried out to qualify its design and evaluate its ballistic performance. The thrust produced by the rocket motor gives the missile the required velocity in order to travel the distance to reach the desired target. Hence, dynamic responses of the various subsystems of the test stand system should not interact with each other affecting the accurate measurement of the thrust produced by the motor during static testing. In this paper, the vibration analyses carried out on the static test system of DS1 Solid Rocket Motor are presented. Vibration analyses carried out on three major subsystems of the static test system, namely the test bed, test stand and thrust measurement elements are explained. The results of the vibration analyses are compared with the desired values that prevent interaction of dynamic behavior of each subsystem during static testing. Based on the results of vibration analyses, it is concluded that there is no interaction of dynamic responses of major subsystems of static test system that affect the accurate measurement of thrust produced by the rocket motor.