(page excerpted from http://my.execpc.com/~culp/rockets/Barrowman.html, c/o Randy Culp )
In March, 1967, James S. Barrowman of the NASA's Sounding Rocket Branch submitted a
document entitled 'The Practical Calculation of the Aerodynamic
Characteristics of Slender Finned Vehicles' as his Master's thesis
to the School of Engineering and Architecture of the Catholic University
of America. The document included, among other things, the simple
algebraic method for calculating the center
of pressure of a rocket flying subsonically at small angles
of attack.
| LN | = | length of nose |
| d | = | diameter at base of nose |
| dF | = | diameter at front of transition |
| dR | = | diameter at rear of transition |
| LT | = | length of transition |
| XP | = | distance from tip of nose to front of transition |
| CR | = | fin root chord |
| CT | = | fin tip chord |
| S | = | fin semispan |
| LF | = | length of fin mid-chord line |
| R | = | radius of body at aft end |
| XR | = | distance between fin root leading edge and fin tip leading edge parallel to body |
| XB | = | distance from nose tip to fin root chord leading edge |
| N | = | number of fins |
(CN)R = (CN)N + (CN)T + (CN)F
