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The Staging Cone is designed to be able to attach by way of shear pins to the booster airframe and to the sustainer by a geometrical fit. The upper cone (henceforth the cone section) of the Staging Cone is to be the exact geometry of the sustainer nozzle (expansion section) so that it sits properly with no tilt and such that the entire wall area inside the nozzle is in contact with the cone. This calls for fine, and currently unspecified, tolerances. If manufactured correctly, the top lip of the base section of the cone Staging Cone should also be in contact with the bottom of the sustainer nozzle, dividing the weight of the sustainer between the base and cone sections of the Staging Cone. The number of bolts being used to attach the cone and base sections was derived assuming worst case tolerances and all of the sustainer's weight is on the cone section. In the alternate extreme case where weight is only on the base lip, there is no force on the bolts.
Hand Calculation Analysis:
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