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ENH: Improve Stability Margin #823

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Description

@MateusStano

Currently we use the rocket's total center of pressure to compute the stability margin of the Flight class.

Since this center of pressure is defined based on the normal force coefficient derivative with respect to the angle of attack (cnalpha) we end up with a curve that does not change with the angle of attack, as reported by user Eli [ARIS]
(dvoeli05_67950) in our discord.

On RocketPy:
Image

On OpenRocket:
Image

As you can see, in OpenRocket the stability margin is much more "dynamic" than ours.

Describe the solution you'd like

In the Flight class, instead of using the angle of attack independent center of pressure for the stability margin calculations :

$$CP = \frac{ \sum (C_{N})_{\alpha} \cdot (X_{cp})_{\text{surface}}} {\sum (C_{N})_{\alpha}}$$

We should use a calculation that is dependent on alpha:

$$CP = \frac{ \sum C_{N}(\alpha) \cdot (X_{cp})_{\text{surface}}} {\sum C_{N}(\alpha) }$$

References:

Activity

  1. added
    EnhancementNew feature or request, including adjustments in current codes
    AerodynamicsAny problem to be worked on top of RocketPy's Aerodynamic
    OutputsDedicated to visualizations enhancements like prints and plots
    FlightFlight Class related features
    on May 24, 2025
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AerodynamicsAny problem to be worked on top of RocketPy's AerodynamicEnhancementNew feature or request, including adjustments in current codesFlightFlight Class related featuresOutputsDedicated to visualizations enhancements like prints and plots

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