Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
This was my thought:
A stowable rigid lower difusser panel, fiberglass ribs and a ripstop nylon sock over it. At the time I thought it could be inflated with scoops along the front edge. More lately I'd go with a multicellular construction with internal transverse walls.
Edit: Actually, here's a sketch I made in the 1980's that shows something similar:
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The diffuser panel would get you most of the way there.It would kill any pitching,kill any yawing at the bottom.Any tension of the envelope would stabilize the top.
Werner von Braun's V-2 underwent aeroelastic deformation which he fixed with sheet metal reinforcments.
It might have been the Redstone Missile which suffered similar aeroelastic deformation.They ended up inflating it's body with compressed gas to achieve the rigidity without any real weight gain.
Bruce Ruefer (I think it is) in Lubbock,Texas has an inflatable boat tail he was developing,which just used scoops to harvest ram-air for inflation and tensioning.Texas Tech,who was helping him didn't say a lot about it.