Common Bulkhead Tank Design for Cryogenic Stage of an Indian Launch Vehicle

Yogesh Pratap Singh; Harjit Singh; Prahlad Kumar Sahu; Muthukumar R

doi:10.14429/dsj.72.17239

Yogesh Pratap Singh Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru - 560 012, India https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6582-6004
Harjit Singh Liquid Propulsion System Center, Indian Space Research Organisation, Trivandrum - 695 547, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6590-1016
Prahlad Kumar Sahu Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Raipur - 492 001, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8894-4668
Muthukumar R Liquid Propulsion System Center, Indian Space Research Organisation, Trivandrum - 695 547, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14429/dsj.72.17239

Keywords: Common bulkhead, Intertank, Inner wetted thermal insulation, Sandwich common bulkhead, Cryogenic

Abstract

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been advancing in space technology with its cost-effective techniques. Currently, ISRO, in its cryogenic stages, uses truss type intertank structure, which induces large concentrated loads at the truss interfaces. As a remedial measure, works on closed intertank are being carried out by them, but this configuration will considerably increase the launch vehicle mass compared to truss type. Therefore, after a thorough literature survey, a Common bulkhead (CBH) tank seemed to be the best solution to the aforementioned problem. Detailed research on sandwich-type CBH has been carried out in this paper with the motivation of saving mass and height in launch vehicles. Suitable core and facesheet material were selected. A novel foam-filled honeycomb core is suggested in this work. Several comparisons in various CBH dome designs were carried out to reach for the best possible configuration and composition that can be used. MATLAB®, SolidWorks®, and ANSYS® were used in parallel for all computations dealing with design and analysis. A mass saving of approximately upto 490 kgs and a height reduction of upto 1.755 m was obtained with the final selected configuration with respect to the current GSLV configuration. These savings can add extra payload capacity to ISRO launch vehicles in their future missions.