Space Propulsion

Assignment 4
Liquid Rockets

Submitted by:
Fahad Ali 170101021

Submitted to
Dr. Ihtzaz Qamar
Problem
A liquid propellant rocket uses a propellant pair at a given mixing ratio and chamber pressure.

Propellant Pair (Oxidizer + Fuel) Liquid Fluorine + Hydrazine

Chamber Pressure 30 bars

Specific Impulse 338

Mixing Ratio 1.82

Oxidizer Mass Flow Rate 21 kg/s

A. Select pressurant gas of your choice and justify your choice.

B. Determine mass of pressurant and propellant system (including vessels). Justify geometry
and material of pressurant and propellant vessels.

C. Suggestions to improve the performance of the system.

Data
𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝐹𝑙𝑢𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑒=𝜌𝑜 = 1505 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3

𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒= 𝜌𝑓 = 1000 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3

𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑢𝑚 = 𝜌𝐻𝑒 = .18 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3

𝐹𝐴𝑙 = 2.1 × 108 𝑁⁄𝑚2

𝑆𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚′𝑠 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 65 𝑠𝑒𝑐

Solution

Part A.
Selection of Pressurant Gas

When selecting a pressurization gas, various design factors must be taken account. These
design factors include mission requirements, reliability, cost, weight, size, and pressurant gas
compatibility with tank materials.
Helium is commonly used due to its low molecular weight, minimizing total pressurant weight.
It has monatomic molecules and is the lightest of all gases except hydrogen. The atomic weight
of helium is 4.003. Helium, like the other noble gases, is chemically inert. It is used to pressurize
and stiffen the structure of rockets before takeoff and to pressurize the tanks of liquid
hydrogen or other fuel in order to force fuel into the rocket engines. It is useful for this
application because it remains a gas even at the low temperatures.

Part B.
Calculations

We know,
𝑚̇0
𝑚̇𝑓 =
∅
Putting values,
21
𝑚̇𝑓 =
1.82

𝑚̇𝑓 = 11.54 𝑘𝑔/𝑠

Also,

𝑚̇𝑓 + 𝑚̇0 = 𝑚̇p

Putting values,
𝑚̇𝑓 = 11.54 + 21

𝑚̇𝑝 = 32.54 kg/s

Now calculating the mass for the system’s runtime.
𝑚𝑓 = 11.54 × 65

𝑚𝑓 = 750 kg

Similarly,
𝑚𝑜 = 21 × 65
𝑚0 = 1365 kg
The total mass becomes,
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 = 1365 + 750
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 = 2115 𝑘𝑔

Now calculating the volume of fuel and oxidizer.

𝑚
𝑉 =
𝜌
For Hydrazine,

750
𝑉 = = .75 𝑚3
1000
For Liquid Fluorine,

1365
𝑉 = = .91 𝑚3
1505

We do not have to get the highest possible performance for as long as it works. Therefore, we
specify a low risk approach, which means we have to keep the system as simple as possible. For
the design and configuration of our vehicle, we will add some margin to the design. We have to
design our tanks and other systems to handle additional propellant. So, for fuel and oxidizer
tanks, we will assume 10% margin on the mass and volume requirement.

So, with ullage

𝑉𝑓 = .75 + .075

𝑉𝑓 = .825 𝑚3
For oxidizer tank,

𝑉𝑜 = .91 + .091

𝑉𝑜 = 1.001 𝑚3

We know,

4 3
𝑉 = 𝜋𝑟
3

Calculating the radii from the above equation,

𝑟𝑜 = .62 m

𝑟𝑓 = .58 m

𝑟𝐻𝑒 = .68 m

Now we will determine the pressure profile for our system.

We know,
𝑃tan𝑘 = 𝑃𝑐 + △ 𝑃𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 + △ 𝑃𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 + △ 𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑗 + △ 𝑃𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙
And,
𝑃c = 3 𝑀𝑃𝑎

△ 𝑃𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 50,000 𝑃𝑎

△ 𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑗 = .2 ∗ 3 × 106 = 6 × 105 𝑃𝑎

1 2
△ 𝑃𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 = 𝜌𝑉
2
For oxidizer,

1
△ 𝑃𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 = (1505) (1.001)2 = 754 𝑃𝑎
2
For fuel,
1
△ 𝑃𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 = 2 (1000) (. 825)2 = 512 𝑃𝑎
For pressurant gas i.e. Helium,
1
△ 𝑃𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 = 2 𝜌𝐻𝑒 𝑉𝐻𝑒 2 = 9 𝑃𝑎

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑘 = 3,000,000 + 50,000 + 600,000 + 754

= 3650754 𝑃𝑎
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑘 = 3,000,000 + 50,000 + 600,000 + 512
= 3650512 𝑃𝑎
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 = 3650633 𝑃𝑎
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑘 = 3,000,000 + 50,000 + 600,000 + 9
= 3650009 𝑃𝑎

Now calculating mass of pressurant gas,

𝑃𝑉𝑀
𝑚𝑝 =
𝑅𝑢 𝑇𝑓

Where,
M = 4.003
𝑃 = 3650633 Pa
𝛾−1⁄
𝑃𝑓 𝛾
𝑇𝑓 = 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑇𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 = 𝑇𝑖 ( )
𝑃𝑖
And,
𝑇𝑖 = 273 𝐾
𝑃𝑓 = 3650633 Pa

𝑃𝑖 = 21 𝑀𝑃𝑎
𝛾 = 1.67

On putting values, we get

𝑇𝑓 = 135.3 K
Now putting values in the above equation to find the mass of pressurant gas,

3650633 × (. 825 + 1.001) × 4.003 × 1.05

𝑚𝑝 =
8314 × 135.3

𝑚𝑝 = 25 kg

To find the volume of pressurant gas, we will use

𝑚𝑝 𝑅𝑢 𝑇𝑖
𝑉𝑝 =
𝑃𝑖 𝑀

Putting values,

𝑉𝑝 = .675 𝑚3

Propellant Tanks & Material Selection

Rocket propellant tanks are of many shapes but the optimum shape of a tank is spherical,
because for given volume it results in a tank with least weight. In rocket vehicles, propellant
tanks are fairly sophisticated since weight is on a premium. A common design is a stiffened
aluminum alloy shell that can support its own weight even when not pressurized from within.
Historically, the 2000 series of aluminum alloys has been deployed for structural tanks. This
material series is comprised of aluminum-copper alloys with a weight percent fraction of
copper in the range of 0.9-6.3%. Within these alloys, the intermetallic compound CuAl2 causes
the strengthening effect, while silicon, lithium, and trace amounts of manganese, magnesium,
and titanium are added to improve forgeability and to inhibit corrosion under stress. A
favorable characteristic of aluminum alloys is their increase in tensile strength at cryogenic
temperatures, which makes them especially attractive for this application and they contain
some exotic sounding substances that contribute to the strength of the metals.
Calculations

Now calculating the mass of oxidizer tank,

𝑚𝑜,tan𝑘 = 𝐴𝑜 × 𝑡𝑜 × 𝜌𝐴𝑙

And,
𝑃𝑏 = 2 × Maximum Expected Operating Pressure
𝑃𝑏 = 2 × 3650754 𝑃𝑎 = 7301508 𝑃𝑎

For area,

𝐴 = 4𝜋𝑟𝑜 2

𝐴 = 4.82 𝑚2

For thickness,

𝑃𝑏 𝑟𝑜
𝑡𝑜 =
2 𝐹𝐴𝑙
Putting values,

𝑡𝑜 = .0105 𝑚

So, the mass of oxidizer tank becomes

𝑚𝑜,tan𝑘 = 4.82 × .0105 × 2710

𝑚𝑜,tan𝑘 = 137.15 𝑘𝑔

For fuel tank,

𝑃𝑏 = 2 × MEOP
𝑃𝑏 = 2 × 3650512 Pa = 7301024 Pa
For area,

𝐴 = 4𝜋𝑟𝑓 2 = 4.22 𝑚2
For thickness,

𝑃𝑏 𝑟𝑓
𝑡𝑜 = = .0098 𝑚
2 𝐹𝐴𝑙
So, the mass of fuel tank becomes

𝑚𝑓,tan𝑘 = 112 𝑘𝑔

For Helium tank,

𝑃𝑏 = 2 × MEOP
𝑃𝑏 = 2 × 3650009 Pa = 7300018 Pa
For area,

𝐴 = 4𝜋𝑟𝐻𝑒 2 = 5.80 𝑚2
For thickness,

𝑃𝑏 𝑟𝐻𝑒
𝑡𝑜 = = .0116 𝑚
2 𝐹𝐴𝑙
So, the mass of Helium tank becomes,

𝑚𝑓,tan𝑘 = 182.33 𝑘𝑔

Part C.
Suggestions to improve the overall performance

To enhance the performance of the system, a significant increase of achievable specific

impulse, via optimization of mixing ratio can be a primary consideration. Also, the use of solid
fuel has the benefit of simplicity and lower cost. Being lighter in weight, the use of superalloys
can also be beneficial as it has greater strength and good toughness over a wide range of
temperatures.