Research on the Safety Boundary of Wet Steam Accumulator of a Steam-Powered Catapult

The safety boundary problem of aircraft carrier steam-powered catapult plays a very important role in the field of carrier aircraft take-off, because it directly affects the safety of aircraft carrier deck operation and the formulation of launch plan. In order to improve the safety of catapult launch process for carrier-based aircraft, a novel solution algorithm for safety boundary problem of wet steam accumulator is proposed based on mathematical model of the steam catapult launch for aircraft. The above mathematical model was verified by experimental data includes accumulator pressure, cylinder pressure, catapult force and so on. The proposed algorithm uses a large number of steam catapult simulation tests of carrier-based aircraft to obtain safety boundary and safety envelope of wet steam accumulator. The study results can give a theoretical reference for designing and testing the steam-powered catapult's wet steam accumulator. It can also provide technical support for enhancing launch efficiency of the carrier-aircraft system.