Overview

The nose cone tip is an important feature of the rocket because of the high temperatures that the rocket

experiences at Mach 3. First, we started by making a plastic proof-of-concept tip (machined by Dayna

Erdmann, pictures below) in preparation for the final nose cone tip, which will be made of titanium, which can

withstand the temperatures reached at the high speeds we are expecting. The structural and thermal considerations

used to dimension the nose cone tip are included in the next section.

Below are the dimensions for the plastic nose cone tip. For simplicity, we decided to use a linear cone. 

The plastic nose cone tip is shown below. The radius of the tip was too large (as seen in the picture, there is a mismatch between the radial tip and where the tip becomes linear).

For our flight nose cone tip, we decreased the tip radius so that it was not as blunt as the plastic tip. The flight nose cone tip is shown below. 

Analysis

Structural Analysis

Thermal Analysis

Thermal analysis of the nose cone tip was conducted in Solidworks. The length of the nose cone tip was determined by

thermal analysis of the entire nosecone; a temperature profile was generated by setting the temperature at the very tip to 

the expected stagnation temperature (INSERT TEMP) and inputting the material properties of the titanium we chose (INSERT TYPE).

The length of the nose cone tip was then chosen for maximum coverage of the hottest part of the nose cone, while minimizing mass.