Rocket Propulsion

Ujjwal K. Saha
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
Guwahati-781 039, India
E-mail: saha@iitg.ac.in
Rocket Thrust Chamber

U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India

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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
1. Thrust (F): It is the force produced by a rocket propulsion
system acting upon a vehicle. F is the reaction experienced
by its structure due to the ejection of matter at high velocity.

For a steadily operating rocket propulsion system moving

through a homogeneous atmosphere, the thrust is

F  mv2   p2  p3  A2
Momentum Pressure
Thrust Thrust

U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India

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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
 Thrust of a rocket unit is independent of the flight velocity.

 As a change in ambient pressure affect the pressure

thrust, there is a variation of rocket thrust with altitude.
 F and hence the Isp will increase as the vehicle is
propelled to higher altitudes.
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
 Thrust

Specific Impulse

Rocketdyne
LOx/Kerosene rocket engine.

Introduced in 1974 on the McDonnell

Douglas' Delta 2000 series launcher.

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Nozzle Flow

Under-expanded Ideally expanded Over-expanded

U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India

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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
 When the ambient
atmospheric pressure
(p3) is equal to the
exhaust pressure (p2), the
pressure thrust becomes
ZERO.

 F  mv2   p2  p3  A2  mv2
 This condition is referred to as the Nozzle with Optimum
Expansion Ratio.

 Further, in the vacuum of space p3 = 0 and thus, thrust F

becomes

F  mv2  p2 A2
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
2. Specific Impulse (Isp): It is the thrust produced per unit
weight flow rate of propellant. ISP is the Figure of Merit of
Performance of a Rocket Propulsion System.
F
I sp   sec 
W

3. Total Impulse (It): It is the thrust force F integrated over the

burn time t.
t
It   Fdt
0

For constant thrust and negligible start and stop transients,

this reduces to

I t  Ft
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
 t
F
I sp  and I t   Fdt  Ft  I spWt  I spW
W 0

It  Fdt
 I sp   0
t
W
g 0  mdt
0

This equation will give a time-averaged Isp value for any

rocket propulsion system, particularly where the thrust varies
with time.

U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India

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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
4. Effective Exhaust Velocity (c): It is the average equivalent
velocity at which the propellant is ejected from the vehicle.

F  mv2   p2  p3  A2


F
 v2 
 p2  p3  A2
m m
F
c   v2 
 p2  p3  A2
m m
 The last equation shows that c can be determined from F
and m measurements.
 When p2 = p3, the effective exhaust velocity (c) is equal
to the average exhaust velocity of propellant gases (v2).
 Thus, when c = v2, the thrust can be rewritten as

F  mc
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 F
F  mc and I sp 
W

Thus F mc c
I sp   
W mg 0 g 0
c  I sp g 0

The total impulse can now be expressed as

I t  Ft  I spWt  I spW

5. Specific Propellant Consumption: It is the reciprocal of

specific impulse.

1 W
spc  
I sp F
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
Nomenclature

mp = Propellant mass
mf = Final mass (mass of engine hardware + structure
+ payload + guidance and control systems)
mo = Initail mass = mp + mf
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
6. Mass Ratio (MR): The mass ratio of a vehicle (or a
particular vehicle stage) is defined as the ratio of final mass
(after rocket consumed all the propellant) to initial mass
(before rocket operation).

Final mass (after rocket operation)

MR 
Initial mass (before rocket operation)
mf mf
 
m0 m p  m f

7. Overall Mass Ratio (OMR): For a multi-stage vehicle, the

overall mass ratio is the product of individual vehicle stage
mass ratios.

OMR   MR 1   MR 2   MR 3
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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8. Propellant Mass Fraction (): It is the ratio of propellant
mass (mp) to initial mass (mo).

mp m0  m f mp
   
m0 m0 mp  m f
This indicates the quality of design. Thus,  = 0.90 means that
only 10% is inert rocket hardware. This small fraction is needed
to contain, feed, and burn the larger mass of propellant.

9. Impulse-to-weight Ratio (It/W0): The impulse-to-weight

ratio of a complete propulsion system is defined as the ratio
of total impulse to initial vehicle weight.

It Total impulse It
 
W0 Initial vehicle weight  m f  m p  g 0
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10. Thrust-to-weight Ratio (F/W0): It is ratio of thrust force to
full propulsion system sea level weight (with propellants but
without payload). It is used to compare the various types of
propulsion system.

A powerful rocket has a high thrust-to-weight ratio.

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11. Characteristic Velocity (c*): It is related to the efficiency
of combustion and is independent of nozzle characteristics.
p1 At pc At
c 
*

m m

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Characteristic Velocity (C*)

 It is a figure of merit that is used to compare (or

assess) the quality of a thrust chamber design,
specifically its ability to use a specified
propellant to produce thrust.

 It is useful as a guide for propellant selection

(for a specified thrust chamber).

 Like C , it is just a figure of merit (with units of

m/s) and does not represent an actual
(measurable) fluid velocity.
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
Energy and Efficiencies

U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India

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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
Energy and Efficiencies
12. Power of the Jet (Pjet): The kinetic energy (KE) of ejected
matter is the form of energy useful for propulsion. The power
of the jet is the time rate of expenditure of this KE.

1 2 1 1 1
Pjet  mv2  wg 0 I s2p  Fg 0 I sp  Fv2
2 2 2 2
13. Specific Power (Psp): It is a measure of utilization of the
mass of propulsion system including its power source. It is
the ratio of jet power to the loaded propulsion system mass.
Pjet
Psp 
m0
 For electrical propulsion systems which carry a heavy,
and relatively inefficient power source, Psp can be much
lower than that of chemical rockets.
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Energy and Efficiencies
14. Internal Efficiency (i): It gives an indication of the
effectiveness of converting the system’s energy input into
the KE of the ejected matter. It can be expressed as

Kinetic power in jet

i 
Available chemical power
1 2 1 2
mv mv
 2  2
com Pchem com mQR

where,
com = combustion efficiency
Pchem = power input
QR = heat of combustion/reaction per unit of propellant mass
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
Energy and Efficiencies
15. Thrust Power (Pvehicle): The power transmitted to the
vehicle at any one time is defined in terms of the thrust of the
propulsive system (F) and the vehicle velocity (u).

Pvehicle  Fu

16. Propulsive Efficiency (P): It determines how much of the

KE of the exhaust jet is useful in propelling a vehicle.
Vehicle Power
P 
Vehicle Power +Residual Kinetic Jet Power


Fu

2 u
c 
1 u 
2
1
Fu  m  c - u 
2

2 c
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
Propulsive Efficiency
 P is a maximum when the
forward vehicle velocity (u) is
exactly equal to the exhaust
velocity (c).

 In this case, the residual kinetic

energy and absolute velocity of the
jet are zero.

 As rocket thrust is independent

of flight velocity (u), so unlike
an air-breathing engine (e.g.,
gas turbine engine), the rocket
can operate when its forward
velocity is greater than its
exhaust velocity (u  c). u/c
U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India
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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
Multiple Propulsion Systems

 Many space launch vehicles and larger missiles have

multiple propulsion systems.

 The overall thrust (Foa) and the overall mass flow of

propellants ( moa) for a group of propulsion systems (two or
more) firing in parallel (i.e., in the same direction at the
same time) are given by

Foa   F  F1  F2  F3  ....................
moa   m  m1  m2  m3  ...................

 The overall specific impulse is then given by

F
I 
sp oa 
g0  m
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 SUMMARY
 Thrust
 Specific Impulse
 Total Impulse
 Mass Ratio
 Specific Propellant Consumption

 Propellant Mass Fraction

 Impulse-to-Weight Ratio
 Thrust-to-Weight Ratio
 Characteristic Velocity
 Propulsive Efficiency

U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India

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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
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U K Saha, IIT Guwahati, India

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E-mail: saha@iitg.ernet.in
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