The SLS succeeds the Space Station as NASA\u2019s first exploration-class vehicle in nearly 50 years. (The last was the Saturn V that took American astronauts to the moon.) Its first flight departs in 2017, and it will take astronauts beyond Earth\u2019s orbit and eventually to Mars.<\/P><\/p>\n
ATK\u2019s work involves the solid rocket boosters (SRBs), which are the twin structures that flank the outside of the ship and provide extra thrust for the first two minutes of flight. ATK performs design and analysis of the SRBs with an integrated NX and Teamcenter solution.<\/P><\/p>\n
Early SLS missions will use ATK designs that modify existing space shuttle boosters, but to make the trip to Mars they\u2019ll need advanced boosters with an increased nozzle size. This offers better motor performance, but poses the risk of collision during takeoff with the launch mounts that hold the rocket in place.<\/P><\/p>\n
To combat this, ATK is designing retractable mounts\u2014a first for the company. Their engineers modeled the booster and mounts in NX, then used that geometry to perform FEA and motion analysis.<\/P><\/p>\n
ATK engineers used FEA in part to ensure the launch mounts could handle their loads, but their main concern was the aft skirt that not only supports the rocket\u2019s weight, but also must withstand hurricane force winds during takeoff.<\/P><\/p>\n Besides the ease-of-use and time savings they saw with NX\u2019s seamlessly integrated process, ATK got a confidence boost that their model was accurate. Eliminating translation between software solutions greatly reduces the chance for errors. Teamcenter also helps by storing CAE models, results, and reports. This keeps engineers and analysts in sync with the project and any changes.<\/P><\/p>\n For more information on ATK\u2019s use of NX CAE for the Space Launch System, read the NASA Tech Briefs article<\/A> and full Siemens PLM Software Case Study<\/A>.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FEA results can mean the difference between success and failure. A rocket launch\u2019s most critical point occurs before the craft ever leaves Earth\u2019s atmosphere\u2014during lift-off. The stakes are hig…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53799,"featured_media":7342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[174,1],"tags":[5],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-7339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-success-story","category-news","tag-cae-simulation"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/09\/FEA-Results-ATK-Space-Launch-System-2-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53799"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7343,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7339\/revisions\/7343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7339"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=7339"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=7339"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/simcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/span>NX Motion let them simulate the launch mount movement during lift-off until they got the retraction just right. Then came FEA. The team prepared the finite element model in NX CAE, which let them maintain associativity and any changes to the assembly model in the FEM. They were able to model bolts quickly, tie together free floating parts using surfaces or edges, and automatically create beam elements.<\/P><\/p>\n