MODELING SLBM UNDERWATER LAUNCH TRAJECTORIES

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS TO DEVELOP A METHOD TO PREDICT THE TRAJECTORY OF A SUBMARINE LAUNCHED BALLISTIC MISSILE (SLBM) BETWEEN LAUNCH AND BROACH. THE METHOD WILL CONSIDER SUCH EFFECTS AS THE UNSTEADY MOTION OF THE SUBMARINE DURING LAUNCH, SUBMARINE WAKE-INDUCED EFFECTS, AND USER-SPECIFIED CURRENTS, WAVE, AND WIND EFFECTS. THE METHOD WILL INCLUDE THE PREDICTION OF THE NONLINEAR, UNSTEADY HYDRODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MISSILE THROUGHOUT THE TRAJECTORY, INCLUDING LEE SIDE SEPARATION EFFECTS. THE MISSILE HYDRODYNAMIC PREDICTION METHOD WILL BE COUPLED WITH A SIX-DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM EQUATION-OF-MOTION SOLVER FOR TRAJECTORY PREDICTIONS. THE BASIS FOR THE PROPOSED METHOD IS AN EXISTING CODE FOR PREDICTING THE NONLINEAR, UNSTEADY HYDRODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF A SUBMARINE UNDERGOING ARBITRARY MANEUVERS.