3D Printed Rocket Science

Overview

Objectives/Goals I wanted to see how different 3-D printed rockets would fly in linear distance. I also was trying to see why the rockets we use today fly so well. My hypothesis is that the 4 finned rockets with the normal fin design and a longer nose cone would fly the furthest out of the 8 rockets that I had designed. Methods/Materials I used my dads 3-D printer to print out 8 rockets we designed using CAD software. We had two nose cone designs and 3 fin designs, each using either 3 or 4 fins. I then went to a park and launched each rocket 3 times using a launcher that my dad and I built. Then I found the center of pressure and center of gravity for each rocket before adding a 0.8 gram weight to the tip of the nose cone. After which I launched each rocket 3 times again and found the center of pressure and center of gravity for each one of the rockets. We recorded each launch using a high speed camera and scale to calculate release velocities. Results The rockets with longer nose cones went 30% further than the blunt nose cone rockets. The rocket with the 3 long bodied fins went about a quarter of the length compared to its 4 fin design and the rockets with other fin designs. The wide finned rockets flew about the same as the normal shaped fins. Once I added weight to the rockets, the long nose cones rockets still went about 30% further and all the fin designs showed significant improvement. Even the long bodied 3 fin rocket flew about the same as the others. The high speed camera showed that all of rockets launched at an average of 41m/s with or without the added weight. Conclusions/Discussion I learned a lot about the factors that make a rocket fly the best. I learned how the center of gravity has to be ahead of the center of pressure in order for a rocket to remain stable while flying. I also learned how rockets with a more aerodynamic design can cut through the air better.

Competition history

• CSEF 2017 Aerodynamics/ Hydrodynamics (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0106

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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