The gas within the upstream reservoir is stagnant at a specific stagnation temperature  

and
pressure . The pressure in the downstream reservoir, called the back pressure , can be
regulated using a valve. The pressure at the exit plane of the divergent section of the nozzle
is known as the exit pressure , and the pressure at the point of minimum area within the
nozzle is known as the throat pressure . Changing the back pressure   influences the
variation of the pressure throughout the nozzle as shown in the figure above. Depending on
the back pressure, eight different conditions are possible at the exit plane.

1. The no-flow condition: In this case the valve is closed and  . This is
the trivial condition where nothing interesting happens. No flow, nothing, boring.
2. Subsonic flow regime: The valve is opened slightly and the flow is entirely
subsonic throughout the entire nozzle. The pressure decreases from the stagnant
condition in the upstream reservoir to a minimum at the throat, but because the flow
does not reach the critical pressure ratio  , the flow does not reach Mach 1
at the throat. Hence, the flow cannot accelerate further in the divergent section and
slows down again, thereby increasing the pressure. The exit pressure   is exactly equal
to the back pressure.
3. Choking condition: The back pressure has now reached a critical condition and is low
enough for the flow to reach Mach 1 at the throat. Hence,  . However, the
exit flow pressure is still equal to the back pressure ( ) and therefore the
divergent section of the nozzle still acts as a diffuser; the flow does not go supersonic.
 However, as the flow can not go faster than Mach 1 at the throat, the maximum mass
flow rate has been achieved and the nozzle is now choked.
4. Non-isentropic flow regime: Lowering the back pressure further means that the
flow now reaches Mach 1 at the throat and can then accelerate to supersonic speeds
within the divergent portion of the nozzle. The flow in the convergent section of the
nozzle remains the same as in condition 3) as the nozzle is choked. Due to the
supersonic flow, a shock wave forms within the divergent section turning the flow from
supersonic into subsonic. Downstream of the shock the divergent nozzle now diffuses
the flow further to equalise the back pressure and exit pressure ( ). The lower the
back pressure is decreased, the further the shock wave travels downstream towards the
exit plane, increasing the severity of the shock at the same time. The location of the
shock wave within the divergent section will always be such as to equalise the exit and
back pressures.
5. Exit plane shock condition: This is the limiting condition where the shock wave in
the divergent portion has moved exactly to the exit plane. At the exit of the nozzle there
is an abrupt increase in pressure at the exit plane and therefore the exit plane pressure
and back pressure are still the same ( ).
6. Overexpansion flow regime: The back pressure is now low enough that the flow
is subsonic throughout the convergent portion of the nozzle, sonic at the throat and
supersonic throughout the entire divergent portion. This means that the exit pressure is
now lower than the gas pressure (the flow is overexpanded), causing it to suddenly
contract once it exits the nozzle. These sudden compressions cause nonisentropic
oblique pressure waves which cannot be modelled using the simple 1D flow assumptions
we have made here.
7. Nozzle design condition: At the nozzle design condition the back pressure is low
enough to match the pressure of the supersonic flow at the exit plane. Hence, the flow is
entirely isentropic within the nozzle and inside the downstream reservoir. As described
in a previous post on rocketry, this is the ideal operating condition for a nozzle in terms
of efficiency.
8. Underexpansion flow regime: Contrary to the over expansion regime, the back
pressure is now lower than the exit pressure of the supersonic flow, such that the exit
flow must expand to equilibrate with the reservoir pressure. In this case, the flow is
again governed by oblique pressure waves, which this time expand outward rather than
contract inward.
Thus, as we have seen the flow inside and outside of the nozzle is driven by the back
pressure and by the requirement of the exit pressure and back pressure to equilibrate once
the flow exits the nozzle. In some cases this occurs as a result of shocks inside the nozzle and
in others as a result of pressure waves outside. In terms of the structural mechanics of the
nozzle, we obviously do not want shock to occur inside the nozzle in case this damages the
structural integrity. Ideally, we would want to operate a rocket nozzle at the design
condition, but as the atmospheric pressure changes throughout a flight into space, a rocket
nozzle is typically overexpanded at take-off and underexpanded in space. To account for
this, variable area nozzles and other clever ideas have been proposed to operate as close as
possible to the design condition.