Water Rocket Modeling

Vishno Jeremy
Design Goals
Range
Accuracy
Aesthetics

These tell us little about how to build a rocket!
The Model
What happens to the rocket?
Boost Phase
Water leaving rocket under pressure
Air Thrust Phase
remaining air pressure leaves rocket
Coast Phase
Gravity, drag act on rocket
until it smashes to the ground
Boost Phase
Boost Phase: Thrust
exhaust Thrust
m F
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
2
surface
2
nozzle
A
A
- 1
a)h(t) + (g 2 + 2P(t)

exhaust exhaust Thrust

m v F =
=
nozzle exhaust exhaust
A v m
Coast Phase
Coast Phase: Drag
2
2
1
v A C F
air D Drag
=
ma F =
Whoa, what about the Air Phase?
Us: We neglected it, sort of.
You: You cant just do that
Us: Well, actually, since we made some other
assumptions
Whats Important?
Cross Sectional Area (Nozzle, bottle)
Coefficient of Drag (C
D
, Surface area)
Mass of Rocket
Pressure
Volume of Water
Validation of the Model
& Experiments
A Preface
Rocket for tests was constructed in ~20
minutes, with cardboard fins
Launchers dont work
most launches required a kick
to free the rocket, making it
difficult to measure the angle
Mass vs. Range
0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15 0.16
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
Mass (kg)
R
a
n
g
e

(
m
)
Pressure: 70 psig
Volume H
2
0: 0.7 liters
Angle: 35
Observations:
Launch without ballast
(rocket mass: 70 grams)
highly erratic
Stability problems above
or below 0.11 kg
Determined C
D
to be 1.8
Volume H
2
O vs. Range
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Volume (l)
R
a
n
g
e

(
m
)
Mass: 0.150 kilograms
Pressure: 70 psig
Angle: 30
Pressure vs. Range
50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
Pressure (psig)
R
a
n
g
e

(
m
)
Mass: 0.186 kilograms
Volume H
2
0: 0.8 liters
Angle 30

Observations:
Last set of tests.
Fins mush
Data unreliable
Clearly, more pressure is
good so long as you do not
exceed safety margins
What the #&$% ?

The stout kick required
likely changed the angle
to 20 or 25.
Design Goals:
Low C
D
, A
Parabolic, smooth nose
Experiment with multiple 1L bottles
Mass: ~115 grams
Experimentation with nozzle area?
Difficult with these launchers
Tight but loose fit on launcher?
Questions?