A good grasp of systems that utilize pyrotechnic and/or pneumatic devices are achieved not only through understanding each component in a system, but also through understanding how the overall system performance is intimately tied to the inter-relatedness of the components. For example, a propellant cartridge and an actuator cannot properly be designed without the detailed understanding of its relationship to other components in the system. As shown in the section, Essential Physics in CAD/PAD and ECS, the propellant burning, thus, the actuator’s performance is closely tied to what goes on in the other components – flow passage, external load such as aerodynamic forces, the mass of structure that is to be moved, etc. SIBAC and other tools can be effectively used to analyze the system level effects a single component can have; thus providing valuable insight to how a pyrotechnic/pneumatic system should be best designed. |