Rockets and how they work

SHUBHAM KUMAR
SIDDHARTH
SUJEET
SURAJ
Contents
 Rocket history
 Rocket Principle
 Fundamental Rocket Elements
 The Solid Propellant Rocket
 The Liquid Propellant Rocket
 The Hybrid Rocket Motor
Rocket History 1
 The Chinese is claimed by many to be the
inventor of the black powder (about 200
B.C) and thus the rockets

 Newer findings indicate that it is India that

should be honored instead

 However, old Chinese documents describe

long tradition in making various black
powder charges for use in firecrackers and
rockets mostly for frighten bad spirits during
religious happenings and during various
festivals and celebrations.

 The Chinese also developed rockets and

flame torches to be used in combat against
their main enemy, the Mongols.
Rocket History 2
 The Arabs learned the art of rocketry
from the Mongols and the Europeans
from the Arabs.

 The Europeans developed the rocket

technology further, i.e. between the
14th and 16th century:
 A English munch named Roger
Beacon improved the black powder
prescription for use as rocket
propellant, fire crackers and for use in
canons.
 A French man improved the hit
accuracy of his artillery rockets by
launching them from tubes.
 An Italian (Fontana) experimented
with rocket powered surface
torpedoes which could ran into the
cavalry or set ships on fire. One
successfully did!!
Rocket History 3
 The interest of the rocket as a weapon
went into a hibernation during the 17th
century, mainly because of the poor
accuracy compare to the more
accurate and destructive canon.
Further improvements were
necessary.

 A new dawn of rocketry appeared

during the 18th century and especially
some hundred years after Sir Isacc
Newton had published his famous
three laws.

 During the 19th and 20th century

many men were to become well know:
Ziolkowsky, Hermann Oberth, Robert
H. Goddard, Eugen Sänger, Werner
von Braun, Korolev and many more
 Rocket History 4
 After the WWII the race for space
between USA and former Soviet
escalated and accelerated the
development of rocket technology to
what we know and use today.

Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong –

First man on the Moon
20. July 1969

Vostok 1 and Yuri A, Gagarin –

Sputnik I – World first artificial First man in space
satellite launched 4. October 1957 12. April 1961
The Rocket Principle 1

 dp   dp 
   
 dt  Exhaust  dt  Rocket

 dp  d (m  v)exhaust
  
 dt  Rocket dt

d (m  v )
Newtons 2. law:  F   ma
dt

Newtons 3. law: force = opposite force

The Rocket Principle 2
 A chemical rocket is a reaction device
that brings with itself the oxygen
needed for combustion and thus for
generating thrust for positive
propulsion
 Rocket Elements – Main Parts

c
F Vc i t Vt e Ve

c : chamber Convergent Divergent

i : entrance section section
t : throat
e : exit
V: velocity
 Rocket Elements - Thrust
Ambient Pressure

Ambient Pressure

Exit Pressure
F

Ambient Pressure

 dp  d (m  v )reaction_ products  dm  
       vexhaust  mexhaust vexhaust  Fimpulse
 dt rocket dt  dt exhaust
Fpressure_ force  Ae  P  Ae  ( Pe  Pa )

F  Fimpulse  Fpressure_ force  m ve  Ae  ( Pe  Pa )
Rocket Elements - Nozzle Flow
[3]  [4] gives :
When a fluid flow throu gh a varying conduit, the conservati on of mass states :  
  
dp  v 2  dA
m    A  v  const . [1] 1   [5]
  v2  dp  A
 d 

Newtons second law can be utlilized to describe a steady fluid particle flow, We assume isentropic flow (adiabatic and friction less), the
leading to the famous Bernoulli equation (assuming no friction) : speed of sound is related to variation s of pressure with density :
 p  v
a    and Ma  [6]
dp  0.5    d ( v 2 )    dz  0 [2] (const. along a stream line) 
 s a
where : Eq. 5 can now with eq. 6 be written as :
p : pressure,  : density, v : speed,  : specific weight (   g ) and z : height dp
  v2
1  Ma 2   dA
A
[7]

Eq. 3 can further be merged with eq.7 to form :

Since we assume no potential change and one - dimensiona l flow, eq. 2 can be written as :
dv dA 1
dp dv   [8]
 [3] v A (1  Ma 2 )
 v 2
v Eq. 4 and eq.8 gives us :
Before proceeding we now take the natural logaritm of eq.1 : dp dA Ma 2
  [9]
ln   ln A  ln v  const.  A (1  Ma 2 )
Differenta ting the above expression : From which we can conclude :
d dA dv Flow Subsonic flow : Ma  1
  0
 A v Supersonic flow : Ma  1
or A rearrangin g of eq.8 gives :

  1  Ma 2 
dA A
dv d dA [10]
   [4] dv v
v  A Flow When Ma  1, dA/dv  0!
 Rocket Elements - Nozzle Flow
Entrance Throat Exit

Pe<Pa (over expansion)

Pe=Pa (optimum expantion)
M~0 M=1 M>3
P=Pk Ph~0.5Pk Pe Pe>Pa (under expansion)
Subsonic Transonic Supersonic
 Rocket Elements - Nozzle Flow

Laval dyse, ekspansjonsforhold=8.3

Machtall konturer [-]
AM
3.4
3.2
0.05 3.0
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
Y-posisjon

2.0
1.8
1.6
0 1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
-0.05 0.0

0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

X-posisjon
 Rocket Elements - Total Impulse
tb
I t   F (t )  dt  F  tb
0

35000,00

30000,00

25000,00
Thrust (N)

20000,00

15000,00

10000,00

5000,00

0,00
0,000 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000

Time (s)
Static Firing a Rocket Motor

NSR 30kN Hybrid Rocket Motor, 20s test

Rocket Elements - Specific Impulse
Specific Impuls Values for Various Chemical Propellants
Non Chemical
12000

Rocket Propellant Condition Exampel of Use ISP [Ns/kg]

Black Powder (75%KNO3 + 15%S + 10%C) Pressed Powder Fireworks 830
10000
10000 Hydrogen Peroxide H2O2(l) + Potassium Permanganat KMnO4(s) Liquid/Solid Hobby Rockets 1442
Candy Propellant (65%KNO3 + 35%C6H14O6) Hot Casted Hobby Rockets 1470
75% KClO4 + 17.5% Asphalt/Tar + 7.5% Oil Casted Hobby Rockets 1825
82% NH4NO3 + 11% HTPB + 7% Additives Casted Gassgenerator 1880
Double Base (60% Nitroglycerine + 40% Nitrcellulose) Extruded Missiles 2200
78% NH4ClO4 + 15% HTPB + 7% Al Casted Ariane 5 SRB 2600
8000 RFNA + Kerosene (RP1) (1.43 Mixtureratio) Liquid X-1 Rocket Plane 2630
Specific Impuls [Ns/kg]

LOX + HTPB Liquid/Solid Launch Vehicle 3240

LOX + LH (3.40 Mixtureratio) Liquid Ariane 5 1.stage 3796
LH + Solid Core Nuclear Reactor (Fisson of U235) Liquid/Solid Nerva Test Motor 10000

6000

F  tb
I sp 
4000
md 3240
3796

2600 2630
2200
1825 1880
2000
1442 1470
830

0
75% KNO3 + H2O2 + 65% KNO3 + 75% KClO4 82% 60% NG + 78% RFNA + RP1 LO2 + HTPB LO2 + LH LH2 + U235
15% S + KMnO4 35% + 17.5% NH4NO3 + 40% NC NH4ClO4 +
10% C C6H14O6 Asphalt + 11% HTPB + 15% HTPB +
7.5% Oil 7% Additives 7% AL
The Solid Propellant Rocket
Construction:

Motor Case Thermal Insulation

Igniter Propellant Nozzle

Solid Propellant Rocket

PARAMETER CHARACTERISTIC VALUE RANGE

Specific Impulse [m/s] 2000-2600
Burn rate [mm/s] 1-15
Chamber Pressure [MPa] 7-20
Combustion Efficiency [-] 0.95-0.98

Thrust to Weight Ratio High

Throttle? Difficult
Stop and Restart? Not Practical
Lifetime? Long (7 to 15 years)
The Solid Propellant Rocket
Propellant Mixing:

300 gallon  approx. 1200kg of propellant

The Solid Propellant Rocket
Propellant Grain Geometry:
Advanced Grain Burn Evolution
The Solid Propellant Rocket
Ariane 5 Solid Rocket Booster:

DATA for one SRB

Propellant: HTPB
Propellant Mass: 237T
(158 cars)
Motor Mass: 273T
(182 cars)
Thrust: 5400kN (about 550T!!!!)
Burn Time: 130s (2.16min)
Mass Consumption: 1.82T/s
TVC: +/-6deg vectorable nozzle
The Liquid Propellant Rocket
Constructions:
The Liquid Propellant Rocket

PARAMETER CHARACTERISTIC VALUE RANGE

Specific Impulse [m/s] 2500-3800
Burn Rate [mm/s] N.A
Chamber Pressure [MPa] 2-10
Combustion Efficiency [-] 0.95-0.98
Thrust to Weight Ratio Low
Throttle? Easy
Stop and Restart? Easy
Lifetime? Very Long (> 10 years)
The Liquid Propellant Rocket
The Liquid Propellant Rocket
The Liquid Propellant Rocket
The Hybrid Rocket

Start/stop Valve and pressure Injector “Mixing” Zone

regulator Solid Grain
Check Valve Flow Valve and Regulator
with control electronics

Liquid

Valve Electronics
Pressurized Nitrogen or Helium Nozzle
Combustion Chamber
The Hybrid Rocket
PARAMETER CHARACTERISTIC VALUE RANGE
Specific Impulse [m/s] 2100-3200
Regression rate [mm/s] 0.2-5
Chamber Pressure [MPa] 2-5
Combustion Efficiency [-] 0.90-0.95
Thrust to Weight Ratio Medium
Throttle? Easy
Stop and Restart? Easy
Lifetime? Very Long (>10 years)
The Hybrid Rocket
Combustion Principle – The Candle Light

Gas (H, C)
Liquid

Air Air

Paraffin Wax
The Hybrid Rocket
The Hybrid Rocket
How is it to work as an “rocket
scientist”?