Rocket Engines

Liquid Propellant
Mono propellant
Catalysts

Bi-propellant

Performance Energy Safety Simplicity

Expanding Gases Thrust Termination Restart

Solid Propellant
Grain Patterns

Hybrid Nuclear Electric

Rocket Propulsion Liquid Rocket Engine

Oxidizer

Fuel

Propellants

Combustion Chamber Throat Nozzle

Newtons Laws
The force required to accelerate a body is proportional to the product of the mass of the body and the acceleration desired.

F = ma

F m= a

F a= m

Rocket Thrust
Thrust is produced by the expanding propellants. There is thrust from the difference between the ambient pressure and that of the exhaust gases at the nozzle exit (Pressure Thrust) and from the momentum of the propellants (Momentum Thrust). Total Thrust = Momentum Thrust + Pressure Thrust
Propellant Mass Flow times Velocity Nozzle Area times pressure differential

F=

. W
g

Ve + Ae ( Pe - Pa)

Exhaust Plumes and Nozzles

Pexhaust < Pambient

Under Expanded

Pexhaust = Pambient
Ideal Expansion

Pexhaust > Pambient

Over Expanded

Expansion Ratio
Ratio of the nozzle exit area divided by the area at the nozzle throat.
x= Ae At
Exit

Throat

Specific Impulse
A measure of the energy in the propellants and of the efficiency of the rocket engine design Specific Impulse is the ratio of the Thrust (Force) produced divided by the weight rate flow of propellants

Isp =

. W

Mass Ratio of a Vehicle

Mass Ratio is the ratio between the booster mass before the rocket engine burn divided by the booster mass after rocket engine burn. MR =
mi mf

The Mass Ratio for a multistage rocket is the product of the Mass Ratios of all the stages, i.e. MROver All = MR1 x MR2 x MR3 x x MRn

Thrust-to-Weight Ratio
Measure of booster or stage design and manufacturing technology.
Thrust Y= Vehicle Weight = F W

The higher the thrust-to-weight ratio the faster the vehicle will accelerate The initial acceleration of a vehicle in gs equals
a=(Y-1)

Ideal Rocket Equation

The ideal velocity change ( DV ) for each stage of a rocket is a function of the mass ratio ( MR) of the stage and the specific impulse ( Isp ) of the rocket DVi = Isp x g x ln MR Ideal means you do not consider gravity changes, drag, or rotating Earth