Integrated dynamic modeling of a shipborne multiple rocket launcher considering actuation torques
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https://doi.org/10.54939/1859-1043.j.mst.FMC.2026.61-69Keywords:
Multiple rocket launcher; Rocket projectile; Floating platform; Integrated dynamics; Vessel-launcher coupling; Numerical simulation.Abstract
This paper develops an integrated dynamic model for a multiple rocket launcher (MRL) mounted on a floating platform (FP) and evaluates the model's structural consistency and computational feasibility through numerical simulations. The system is represented by five rigid bodies with a total of 11 degrees of freedom (DOFs). The 6-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) dynamics of the FP are formulated using the Newton-Euler equations in a body-fixed reference frame, while the launcher subsystem, with five DOFs, is described by Lagrange's equations of the second kind in terms of generalized coordinates. The two formulations are coupled through the kinematic relations at the launcher mounting location and the corresponding interaction force-moment system. This hybrid formulation preserves the hydrodynamic structure of the FP model while providing a convenient representation of the launcher as a multibody chain. The model incorporates elastic-damping connections, environmental loads, launch loads, azimuth and elevation actuation torques, and an equivalent rocket package whose mass and inertia properties are updated according to firing events. The model is implemented in MATLAB, numerically integrated using the ode15s solver, and evaluated according to a PASS1-PASS2-PASS3 computational scheme. For the representative VH6-MTW7-KC4-DK4 scenario, the maximum roll angle of the FP decreases from 2.604° in PASS1 to 2.519° in PASS3, while the azimuth and elevation tracking errors remain bounded within the prescribed ±1° limit. The calculations involving the actuation torques, rocket-package updates, and sea-state variation are employed only to verify the functionality of the corresponding model components rather than to investigate in detail the individual influence of each factor. The results demonstrate that the proposed model is structurally consistent and computationally feasible. Parameter calibration and validation against experimental measurement data are identified as the next steps of the study.
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