Expert: Mark Janus - 2/19/2010

Question
Dear Sir;

what is the difference between Gimbal Control and Thrust Vectoring Nozzle? and what is the advantages and disadvantages in using Gimbal and Thrust Vectoring?

Answer
Hi Vincent,

The action of directing the jet exhaust gases (of a jet or rocket) off axis by some angle (usually relatively small for a rocket) is the basic operation of a thrust vectoring nozzle.  For a nozzle with gimbaled control, basically the entire nozzle can move (pivot).  Thrust vectoring can also be accomplished by fluidic control....  basically the exhaust jet can be directed off-axis by injecting the exhaust stream with another fluid jet (at specific points along the edge of the nozzle).  Gimbaling requires fairly complicated mechanisms yet could achieve fairly large off-axis angles while fluidic is generally less complicated (and potentially lighter) yet is somewhat limited in how far off-axis the jet can be deflected...

thanks for the question and hope this helps..
mj