Rocket Propulsion

Week 2

DEFINITIONS
AND
FUNDAMENTALS
•Definitions
•Thrust
•Exhaust Velocity
•Energy and Efficiencies
•Typical Performance Values
1
 Definitions
• Total Impulse (It): Thrust force F (which can vary with time) integrated
over the burning time t.
t (1)
I t = ∫ F dt
0

For constant thrust and negligible start and stop transients this
reduces to
I t= Ft (2)
It is proportional to total energy released by all the propellant in a
propulsion system.

• Specific Impulse (Is): total impulse per unit weight of propellant.

t

Is =
∫0
F dt
t
g ∫ m dt
0
(3)
0

 : total mass flow rate of propellant

g0 = 9.8066 m/s2 or 32.174 ft/s2 m

Higher value means better performance.

Eqt. gives a time-averaged value. 2
 Definitions – cont’d
For constant thrust and propellant flow:
It
Is = (4)
m p g0
mp is the total effective propellant mass.
F F
Is = =
(m g 0 ) w (5)
It I
Is = = t
(m p g 0 ) w

mpg0 is the total effective propellant weight w and the weight flow rate is w

In space or outer satellite orbits, “weight” signifies the mass multiplied by an

arbitrary constant, namely g0. Units of Is are “seconds”, but do not represent a
measure of elapsed time, but a thrust force per unit “weight”–flow-rate.

• Effective Exhaust Velocity (c): Average equivalent velocity at which propellant

is ejected from the vehicle.
F (6)
c = I s g0 =

m
It is introduced because the actual exhaust velocity is not uniform over the
entire cross section of the nozzle exit. 3
 Definitions – cont’d
• Mass Ratio (MR): For a vehicle or a particular stage is defined to be the final
mass mf divided by initial mass m0:
mf
MR = (7)
m0

– This applies to a single or a multi-stage vehicle.

– Mass ratio of a multi-stage vehicle is the product of the individual stage mass ratios.
– The final mass mf is the mass of the vehicle after the rocket has ceased to operate
when all the useful propellant mass mp has been consumed and ejected.
– It includes:
• guidance devices
• navigation equipments
• payload
• flight control systems
• communication devices
• power supplies
• tank structure
• residual or unusable propellant and all the propulsion hardware
• In some vehicles; wings, fins, a crew, life support systems, reentry shields,
landing gears, etc.

4
 Definitions – cont’d
• Mass Ratio (MR):

– Typical values of MR can range from 60% (tactical missiles) to 10% (unmanned
launch vehicles)

– When MR applied to a single stage of a vehicle, its upper stages become the
“payload”

• Propellant Mass Fraction (ζ): fraction of propellant mass mp in an initial mass

m0

mp
ζ = (8)
m0
( m0 − m f ) mp
ζ = = (9)
m0 (m p + m f )
m0 = m p + m f (10)

5
 Definitions – cont’d
• Mass Ratio (MR) and Propellant Mass Fraction (ζ) should be
considered differently when applied to a rocket propulsion system:
– Initial mass m0 : inert propulsion mass + effective propellant mass
– Exclude masses of nonpropulsive components (payload or guidance
devices)
– For example: In a LPRE, mf includes propellant feed tanks, pressurization
systems, thrust chamber(s), various piping, fittings and valves, engine
mount or engine structure, filters and some sensors.
– Residual or unusable remaining propellant is considered to be a part of
the final inert mass mf

– Propellant Mass Fraction (ζ) indicates the quality of the design,

e.g., 0.91 means only 9% of the mass is inert rocket hardware which
contains, feeds and burns a substantially larger mass of propellant.
• Impulse-to-weight ratio: total impulse It divided by the initial or
propellant-loaded vehicle weight w0.
It It Is
= = (11, 12)
w0 (m f + m p ) g 0 m f m p + 1

6
 Definitions – cont’d
• Thrust-to-weight ratio (F/w0) : Expresses the acceleration (in multiples
of the earth’s surface accel. of gravity) that the engine is capable of
giving to its own loaded propulsion system mass.
– For constant thrust maximum value occurs just before burnout.

• Example 1: A rocket projectile has the following characteristics:

– Initial mass 200 kg
– Mass after rocket operation 130 kg
– Payload, nonpropulsive structure, etc. 110 kg
– Rocket operating duration 3.0 sec
– Average specific impulse of propellant 240 sec
Determine the vehicle’s mass ratio, propellant mass fraction, propellant
flow rate, thrust, thrust-to-weight ratio, acceleration of vehicle, effective
exhaust velocity, total impulse, and the impulse-to-weight ratio.

– Solution:
Mass Ratio of vehicle: MR = mf/m0 = 130/200 = 0.65
Mass Ratio of rocket system: MR = mf/m0 = (130-110)/(200-110) = 0.222
Empty and initial masses of the propulsion system are 20 and 90 kg

7
 Definitions – cont’d
– The Propellant mass fraction
ζ = (m0 - mf) / m0 = (90 - 20) / 90 = 0.778
The propellant mass: 200 – 130 = 70 kg
– The propellant mass flow rate: m  = 70 / 3 = 23.3 kg/s
– The thrust:
F = Is w = 240 x 23.3 x 9.80 = 54,800 N
– The thrust to weight ratio of the vehicle:
initial value F/w0 = 54,800 / (200 x 9.80) = 28
final value 54,800 / (130 x 9.80) = 43

– The maximum acceleration of the vehicle:

43 x 9.80 = 421 m/s2
– The effective exhaust velocity:
c = Is g0 = 240 x 9.80 = 2352 m/s

– The total impulse:

It = Is w = 240 x 70 x 9.80 = 164,600 N-sec
This can also be obtained by multiplying the thrust by the duration.
– The impulse-to-weight ratio of the propulsion system:
– It / w0 = 164,600 / [(200 – 110) x 9.80] = 187 8
 Thrust
• Force produced by a rocket propulsion system acting upon a vehicle.
• The reaction experienced by its structure due to the ejection of matter at high
velocity.
• In rocket propulsion relatively small masses are involved which are carried
within the vehicle and ejected at high velocities.
• For constant mass flow and uniform and axial gas exit velocity the thrust
force is dm w
F= v2 = m v2 = v2 (13)
dt g0
– This represents the total propulsion force when nozzle exit pressure equals the
ambient pressure.
• The pressure of the surrounding fluid contributes to thrust:

9
 Thrust – cont’d
• The axial thrust can be determined by integrating all the pressures acting on
areas that can be projected on a plane normal to the nozzle axis.
• Nozzle exit pressure p2 can be different from atmospheric pressure p3
because of the changes in ambient pressure due to variations in altitude.
• For a steadily operating rocket propulsion system moving through a
homogeneous atmosphere, the total thrust is:
F = m v2 + ( p2 − p3 ) A2 (14)
Momentum Pressure
thrust thrust
– If exit pressure is less than surrounding fluid pressure, the pressure thrust is
negative
– This condition gives a low thrust and is undesirable
• Rocket nozzle is designed such that exhaust pressure is equal or slightly
higher than the ambient fluid pressure.
• In the vacuum of space p3 = 0 and the thrust becomes
(15)
F = m v2 + p2 A2
• The pressure condition in which the exhaust pressure is exactly equal to
surrounding pressure (p2 = p3) is optimum expansion ratio.
• Eqt. (14) shows thrust is independent of flight velocity
• Rocket thrust varies with altitude due to changes in ambient pressure
– Thrust and specific impulse will increase as the vehicle climbs to higher altitudes.
– This change in pressure thrust can amount to between 10 and 30% of the overall
thrust 10
Thrust – cont’d

11
 Exhaust Velocity
• The effective exhaust velocity as defined in Eqt. (6) applies to all rockets that
thermodynamically expand hot gas in a nozzle.
• For constant propellant mass flow:
c = v2 + ( p2 − p3 ) A2 m (16)

• c can be determined from thrust and propellant flow measurements

• When p2 = p3, c is equal to the average actual velocity v2
• When p2 ≠ p3, then c ≠ v2
• 2nd term on the RHS of (16) is usually small compared to v2; thus c ≈ v2
• When c = v2 then thrust (14) will be
(17)
F = ( w g 0 )v2 = mc
 
• Characteristic exhaust velocity is defined as
c* = p1 At m (18)

– It is used in comparing the relative performance of different chemical rocket

propulsion system designs and propellants.
– It relates to the efficiency of the combustion and essentially independent of nozzle
characteristics.
– However, Is and c are functions of the nozzle geometry, such as A2/At

12
 Exhaust Velocity – cont’d
Example 2: The following measurements were made in a sea level test of a
solid propulsion rocket motor:
– Burn duration 40 sec
– Initial mass before test 1210 kg
– Mass of rocket motor after test 215 kg
– Average thrust 62,250 N
– Chamber pressure 7.00 MPa
– Nozzle exit pressure 0.070 MPa
– Nozzle throat diameter 0.0855 m
– Nozzle exit diameter 0.2703 m
Determine m , v2, c*, c, and Is at seal level, and c and Is at 1000 and 25,000 m
altitude. Assume an invariant thrust and mass flow rate and negligible
short start and stop transients.

Solution:
Mass flow rate m : using total propellant used and the burn time
m = (1210 – 215) / 40 = 24.9 kg/sec
Nozzle areas at the throat and exit:
At = πD2/4 = π × 0.08552 / 4 = 0.00574 m2
A2 = πD2/4 = π × 0.27032 / 4 = 0.0574 m2
13
 Exhaust Velocity – cont’d
Equation (14) is solved for v2:
v2 = F / m − ( p2 − p3 ) A2 m
= 62,250 / 24.9 – (0.070 – 0.1013)106 × 0.0574 / 24.9
= 2572 m/sec
Characteristic velocity and effective exhaust velocity for sea level condtn.

c* = p1At / m = 7.00 × 106 × 0.00574 / 24.9 = 1613 m/sec

 g0 = 62,250 / (24.9 × 9.80) = 255 sec
Is = F / m
c = Isg0 = 255 × 9.80 = 2500 m/sec

For altitudes 1000 and 25,000 m the ambient pressure is 0.0898 and
0.00255 MPa, respectively. From eq. (16);
c = v2 + ( p2 − p3 ) A2 m
At 1000 m altitude,
c = 2572 + (0.070 – 0.0898) × 106 × 0.0574 / 24.9 = 2527 m/sec
Is = 2527 / 9.80 = 258 sec
At 25,000 m altitude,
c = 2572 + (0.070 – 0.00255) × 106 × 0.0574 / 24.9 = 2727 m/sec
Is = 2727 / 9.80 = 278 sec 14
 Energy and Efficiencies
• Efficiencies let us understand the energy balance of a rocket system.
• Two types of energy conversion processes occur in any propulsion system
– Generation of energy (conversion of stored energy into available energy)
– Conversion to the form in which a reaction thrust can be obtained
• The kinetic energy of ejected matter is the form of energy useful for
propulsion
• Power of the jet (Pjet): time rate of expenditure of this energy, and for a
constant gas ejection velocity v this is a function of Is and F

Pjet = 12 m v 2 = 12 w g 0 I s2 = 12 Fg 0 I s = 12 Fv2 (19)

• Specific Power: used as a measure of the utilization of the mass of the

propulsion system including its power source
– Jet Power divided by the loaded propulsion system mass, Pjet / m0
– can be much lower for electrical propulsion system (heavy energy source)
• Maximum energy available per unit mass of chemical propellant is the heat of
combustion reaction QR
– Power input to a chemical engine:
Pchem = m QR J (20)

where J is a conversion constant which depends on the units used.

– A large portion of the energy of the exhaust gases is unavailable for conversion
into kinetic energy and leaves the nozzle as residual enthalpy.
15
 Energy and Efficiencies – cont’d
• Combustion Efficiency (ηcomb): Ratio of actual and ideal heat of reaction per
unit propellant
– A Measure of the source efficiency for creating energy
– Its value is high (94 to 99%)
– Defined later in Chapter 5
• Power available to propulsive device = Power input (Pchem) x Combustion
efficiency
– This is converted into the kinetic power of the exhaust jet
• Power transmitted to the vehicle (F: thrust, u: vehicle velocity):

Pvehicle = Fu (21)

• Internal efficiency (ηint): an indication of the effectiveness of converting the

system’s energy input to the propulsion device into the kinetic energy of the
ejected matter.
Pjet 1  2
kinetic power in jet mv
ηint = = = 2 (22)
available chemical power η comb Pchem η comb Pchem

16
 Energy and Efficiencies – cont’d

• Propulsive Efficiency (ηP): Determines how much of the kinetic energy of the
exhaust jet is useful for propelling a vehicle, also used in duct jet engines:
vehicle power
ηP =
vehicle power + residual kinetic jet power
Fu 2u / c
= = (23)
Fu + 12 ( w / g 0 )(c − u ) 2 1 + (u / c) 2
It is a maximum when the forward vehicle velocity is exactly equal to exhaust velocity.
17
 Typical Performance Values
• Chemical rockets have
– relatively low values of specific impulse
– relatively light machinery (ie, low engine weight)
– a very high thrust capability
– high acceleration and high specific power
• Ion propulsion devices have
– a very high specific impulse.
– they must carry a heavy electrical power source
• Electrical propulsion units
– very low acceleration potential
– requires a long period for accelerating
– best used for missions where the flight time is long, a true space flight mission
– not useful in fields of strong gravitational gradients due to low thrust values
• Chemical systems (solid and liquid propellant rockets)
– fully developed
– widely used for many different vehicle applications
• Electrical propulsion:
– has been in operation for many space flight applications
• Some of the other types are
– still in their exploratory or development phase,
– But may become useful

18
Typical Performance Values

19
Typical Performance Values

20