I'm not sure where this thread should go, so I hope the moderators will either move it or approve of its being located here.
I'll admit up front that I've never gone through the Barrowman stability calculations by hand, but here's my question:
What effect does the magnitude of the restoring force centered at the CP have on the stability margin?
I can imagine a relatively long rocket with small fins having a nice large stability margin but having a small restoring force centered at the CP. So even though it might be overstable as calculated by Barrowman, it might act more like a marginally or even neutrally stable rocket.
Does this make sense? Or am I missing something?
Thanks in advance.
I'll admit up front that I've never gone through the Barrowman stability calculations by hand, but here's my question:
What effect does the magnitude of the restoring force centered at the CP have on the stability margin?
I can imagine a relatively long rocket with small fins having a nice large stability margin but having a small restoring force centered at the CP. So even though it might be overstable as calculated by Barrowman, it might act more like a marginally or even neutrally stable rocket.
Does this make sense? Or am I missing something?
Thanks in advance.