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Selected References for Fin Design

(Another good link on this topic: http://rocketsforschools.com/teachers/stability.html )

• James S. Barrowman & Judith A. Barrowman,
  "THE THEORETICAL PREDICTION OF THE CENTER OF PRESSURE"
  NARAM-8 R&D Project, August 18, 1966
  Available here: http://www.apogeerockets.com/education/downloads/Barrowman_report.pdf
  This is the seminal paper on model rocket stability. The derivation is fairly clear. The methods presented are based on linearized subsonic flow theory.

• James S. Barrowman
  CALCULATING THE CENTER OF PRESSURE OF A MODEL ROCKET
  Centuri Engineering Company, TECHNICAL INFORMATION REPORT 33 (TIR-33)
  Available from several sources on the web. Here as a pdf file: tir-33.zip (4.3M)
  Contains worked numerical examples of the Barrowman equations.

Fin rigidity is also important:

• Duncan McDonald
  "Fin Flutter"
  Submitted to "Rocketry Online"
  http://www.info-central.org/design_finflutter.shtml
  

Here are a few papers commenting on the original Barrowman theory:

• Tom McAtee
  "Comparison of Barrowman Stability Analysis with Wind Tunnel Data"
  NAR 21412, Submitted at NARAM-40, August 10, 1998
  http://www.apogeerockets.com/education/downloads/McAtee.pdf
  The basic conclusion is that the Barrowman method is accurate to within a few percent up until the transonic regime.

• Robert Galejs
  "Wind Instability, WHAT BARROWMAN LEFT OUT"
  Sentinel 39
  http://www.argoshpr.ch/PDF/sentinel39-galejs.pdf
  Adds terms to the Barrowman equations to account for body lift.

• Max Feil
  "Center of Gravity & Pitch Stability"
  "From The Aeronautics File" Topic #2
  http://www.mat.uc.pt/~pedro/ncientificos/artigos/aeronauticsfile2.ps
  Also available as a pdf: aeronauticsfile2.pdf (22k)
  Presents a few basics. Gives a fairly good explanation of the "Center of Pressure" concept.

The Barrowman equations start to break down around Mach 0.7 . To accurately model higher speeds requires a more laborious approach. Here is a starting point:

• Sidney M. Harmon & Margaret D. Swanson
  "CALCULATIONS OF THE SUPERSONIC WAVE DRAG OF NONLIFTING WINGS WITH ARBITRARY SWEEPBACK AND ASPECT RATIO, WINGS SWEPT BEHIND THE MACH LINES"
  NACA TN 1319, May 1947
  http://naca.larc.nasa.gov/reports/1947/naca-tn-1319/naca-tn-1319.pdf