NASA/TM-2008-215411, Malone, T.W. and Jones, C.S. and Honeycutt Sr., J.H., The Repair and Return to Flight of Solid Rocket Booster Forward Skirt Serial Number 20022, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Washington, DC 20546–0001 , June 2008, pp. 36, Format(s): PDF 2235k |
On April 5, 1991, a solid rocket booster (SRB) forward skirt serial number (S/N) 20022 sustained buckling damage during water impact after the launch of Space Transportation System Flight 37 (STS–37). As of that date, five forward skirts had been lost during water impact. Repair attempts began with the least damaged skirt available
(S/N 20022). Special hydraulic tooling was used to remove buckled areas of the skirt. Afterwards, its aft clevis pinholes were found to be out of alignment with the redesigned solid rocket motor (RSRM) check gauge, but weld passes were used to correct this condition. Meanwhile, USA Analytics generated mechanical property data for buckled and subsequently debuckled material. Their analysis suggested that structural integrity might be improved by adding stringer reinforcements, stiffeners, to the aft bay section of the skirt. This improvement was recommended as a fleet modification to be implemented on a case-by-case basis.
| Keywords: | flight vehicles, space shuttle boosters, skirts, welded structures, stringers, aluminum alloys, aging (metallurgy), heat-treatment, mechanical properties, tensile properties, materials tests, and materials science. |
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| Subjects: | Chemistry and Materials: Metals and Metallic Materials: Metallurgy Chemistry and Materials: Metals and Metallic Materials: Aluminum |
| ID Code: | 783 |
| Deposited On: | 25 July 2008 |