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- Stability (Mass, Moments, Flight Profile)
- Thermal (Flight Profile)
- Aerodynamic (Altitude Target)
- Structural (Flight Profile)
There are also dynamic considerations. The vehicle should have an overall low pitch-roll couple to avoid 'coning' failures. The natural frequency all structural members should either be well damped or far from any frequencies excited in flight.
Stability
Main Article: Stability
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Main Article: Fin Aerodynamics
All
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Flight
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Regimes
Chord is the primary driver of profile drag
Subsonic
Skin friction? Induced drag?
Supersonic
Shock impingement (tribal knowledge or nonsense?)
Flow turning
Structural
Main Article: Fin Mechanical Design
The team does not currently possess nuanced analytic methods for fin can design. The included method is a conservative first estimate.
References:
Black Brant III Fin Design Paper - Internal Use Only
Minimizing Pitch-Roll Coupling - Internal Use Only