What can go wrong with a rocket

[Kaito]

So, for Xyon and I's latest project, I want to do an AMSO-like failure simulation, but have many more possibilities for what can go wrong. However, I'm stuck.

So, my request to you guys is to come up with as many different failures that can happen in a staged rocket as you can. Post any idea's you like, some may give ideas to others.

 

[Urwumpe]

ice forming at the pump blades
stuck valves
disconnected pneumatic lines
oxidizer turbopump explosions
Gerhard Zucker.

 

[jwcornish]

Launch vehicle failures historically have fallen into the following categories

- Engine Failure

- Avionics Failure

- Staging failure

Engine Failure modes
-propellant supply problems (engine starves of fuel)
-engine failure


Avionics Failure modes
-software bugs
-attitude sensor problems
-control failure

Staging Failure modes
-failed staging event (stages still attached)
-post staging failure (discarded stage impacts upper stage)

 

[willy88]

An 'anomaly':

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62-L-_3tdG8"]YouTube- Delta 2 explosion[/ame]

 

[jinglesassy]

An 'anomaly':

Id pay for an addon with that kind of realism

 

[tblaxland]

Leaks:
- hydraulic (loss of control of thrust vectoring)
- propellant (fuel or oxidiser runs out before achieving orbital target)
- pressurant (engine fail to start)
EPS failure/tripped bus
Engine failure
One from recent memory: Fairing fail to separate (could be classed as a staging failure)
This one could be interesting to simulate: Telemetry failure/dropout - should at least blank the HUD and power down MFDs so you are "flying blind"

 

[Sar]

An 'anomaly':

What anomaly? That was the perfect launch of the first artificial satellite -North Korean Goverment

Back to the topic. I bet you could just take ten to twenty of the most common reasons rockets go oopsies and go with that, it'd still be exciting enough. More so if you make the addon so that it's the players fault if it goes bad.

But for that you'd need to program a whole lot more ie. a go-nogo table with a lot of numbers.

 

[Urwumpe]

This one could be interesting to simulate: Telemetry failure/dropout - should at least blank the HUD and power down MFDs so you are "flying blind"

Sensor failures like getting wrong thrust or propellant level readings would also be nice, if these have effect on the flying - like, instead of reading the Orbiter functions directly, wrap them in a sensor layer that can fail.

 

[tblaxland]

Sensor failures like getting wrong thrust or propellant level readings would also be nice, if these have effect on the flying - like, instead of reading the Orbiter functions directly, wrap them in a sensor layer that can fail.

Yes, could be a applied to many things. Attitude and air data come to mind.

 

[Kaito]

More so if you make the addon so that it's the players fault if it goes bad.

That's one thing I had in mind. I was thinking of having an engine failure of the players throttles up and down very rapidly, or if they are spinning very rapidly when the engines fire.

 

[earthorbit]

Leaks in the Fuel Tanks. With 2 - Component Fuel... BOOOOOOOM
Software which leads the Rocket in the next Building.
Bad Engine holders, so the Engine flys up in the rocket and destroys the inner parts of the Rocket.
Blocked Fuel Supply Lines. After a little Time, the whole thing will go BOOOM
Failures at Seperation of the 1./2. Stage. The Stage just hangs at the Rocket; the Engine of the next Stage starts... BOOOOM

cool. i used BOOOOM 3 times in this post

 

[unknown_orbiter]

I'd also say "partial" engine failure, so only 1 or 2 of the engines fail, causing the rocket to spin over. Also, how about failure of the RCS systems... that would suck.

 

[Urwumpe]

Leaks in the Fuel Tanks. With 2 - Component Fuel... BOOOOOOOM

Even hypergolic fuels do not cause instant explosions when they mix by small leaks. Complete tank destruction, like by firing a second stage rocket engine earlier is another topic.

Bad Engine holders, so the Engine flys up in the rocket and destroys the inner parts of the Rocket.

How much thrust does a rocket engine produce after it disconnected itself from its propellant lines? The proper term is also either "engine mount" or "thrust structure" or "engine gimbal".

Blocked Fuel Supply Lines. After a little Time, the whole thing will go BOOOM

No. The only way to cause an explosion that way is making a turbopump pump gas while being under full power - this causes especially for LOX pumps a terrible local explosion, when a few Megawatt of power are unleashed the wrong way.

Blocked fuel lines have maximal tank head pressure + dynamic pressure by propellant flow, if the fuel line got closed during operation. If you have bad quality assurance, this is enough for bursting the propellant line and cause a fire. Happened on a N1 launch, the prevalves of the center engines closed too fast when the first stage throttled down for reducing acceleration. The resulting pressure transient caused by tons of fuel abruptly stopping made at least one fuel line burst.

Failures at Seperation of the 1./2. Stage. The Stage just hangs at the Rocket; the Engine of the next Stage starts... BOOOOM

Was already mentioned. Does not cause Boom. The April five anomaly (a manned Soyuz launch with exactly this failure) resulted in trajectory deviation and abort. No explosion at all. Empty fuel tanks don't explode, they can just burn.

 

[Kyle]

An explosion seems like a pretty serious defect.

 

[Ghostrider]

An explosion seems like a pretty serious defect.

Well I guess...

(sunglasses)

... It may be a little blown off proportions.