Propulsion with Space Applications

(R7023R)

Introduction and Module-1

Fundamentals of Rocket
Propulsion

Dr. Ramakrishnan Murugesan, PhD

Postdoctoral researcher

Contact: Ramakrishnan.murugesan@ltu.se
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 1.1 Classification of Rocket Propulsion methods

Chemical propulsion Electric

(Launch vehicles and Propulsion
missiles) (Spacecraft and
satellites)

Solid rocket Hybrid rocket Liquid rocket Nuclear & Advanced

motor motor/engine engine propulsion concepts
(under dev.)

Composite Mono-
Homogeneous (SRBs of Ariane or Bi-propellant
propellant
SS)

Storable Cryogenic
CMDB (Ariane-5-EPC)
(Ariane-5-EPS)
(Semi-Soyuz)
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 Chemical Rocket Propulsion

Vehicle moving forward

Chemical
Energy

Or exothermic
decomposition
Thermal Energy
Newton
Laws
Kinetic Energy
Solid motor Hybrid motor Liquid engine
Thrust

Propellant ▪ The substance used to ‘propel’ the spacecraft or rocket forward.

▪ A single chemical substance also can be used as a propellant. Ex: cold gas
(He), monopropellants (Hydrazine) and propellants in Electric thrusters (Xe, Kr
Fuel Oxidizer and Ar).

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 Chemical Rockets

Cryo-core
Solid Engine
boosters

Fig. Texus-57 launch from Fig. Exhaust from the Falcon-9 Fig. SpaceShipOne
ESRANGE. Merlin engines Fig. Ariane 5 during lift off

Simple and matured Complex technology Moderately complex and

technology under development
not controllable Efficient and controllable moderately efficient and
controllable
Hazardous to handle Highly scalable Safer operations
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 How do rockets
even work in Space
without oxygen?

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 1.2 Principles of Rocket Propulsion
▪ Newton’s third law

▪ Thrust equation (Newton’s second law)

Under steady state conditions,
Figure. Illustration of Newton’s Third Law
Net force acting on the control volume)x= net momentum change of the control volume)x

𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑝 𝑣𝑒

Including the pressure imbalance created by jet exhaust Pa

Pe Ae

Thrust, 𝑻 = −𝑭 = 𝒎ሶ 𝒑 𝒗𝒆 + 𝑷𝒆 − 𝑷𝒂 𝑨𝒆 T
Control Vol.
Momentum thrust Pressure thrust Pa
F- Reaction to the thrust (Force acting on the CV to keep it stationary) Pa Ve
𝑚ሶ 𝑝 -Mass flow rate of propellant; 𝑣𝑒 -Exhaust velocity; F
Hot gases
𝑃𝑒 -Pressure and nozzle exit; 𝑃𝑎 -Ambient pressure;
𝐴𝑒 - Area of exit of the nozzle
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 Propulsive Performance of a Rocket engine
▪ Specific impulse (efficiency of a rocket engine)
𝑇 𝑇
𝐼𝑠𝑝 = (m/s) OR 𝐼𝑠𝑝 = (s)
𝑚ሶ 𝑝 𝑚ሶ 𝑝 𝑔𝑒
𝑔𝑒 -gravitational constant at earth (9.81 or 9.807 ms -2)
Isp (s))in
1 𝑃𝑒 − 𝑃𝑎 𝐴𝑒 Propulsion Technology
vacuum
𝐼𝑠𝑝 = 𝑣𝑒 +
𝑔𝑒 𝑚ሶ 𝑝 Compressed gas 30-70
DB 180-240
Solid
𝑃 −𝑃 𝐴 Composite 240-290
Effective exhaust velocity, 𝑐 = 𝑣𝑒 + 𝑒 ሶ 𝑎 𝑒 , 𝑇 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑝 𝑐
𝑚𝑝 Storable 300-350
𝑚 𝒄
𝑰𝒔𝒑 = 𝒄 , 𝑰𝒔𝒑 = (𝑠); 𝒄 = 𝑰𝒔𝒑 𝒈𝒆 Liquid Semi-Cryo 320-350
𝑠 𝒈𝒆
Cryogenic 440-460
Electrothermal 400- 1500
Note. When 𝑃𝑒 = 𝑃𝑎 , 𝑣𝑒 =c
Electric Electrostatic < 6000
Electromagnetic > 6000
Density specific impulse - 𝐼𝑠𝑝 𝑑 = ρ𝑝 𝐼𝑠𝑝 , decides the size of the
propellant tank (rocket)! Thermal 800-1000
Nuclear
Electrical >2000

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 ▪ Total impulse:

𝑡
𝐼𝑡 = ‫׬‬0 𝑏 𝑇 𝑑𝑡

It is proportional to the total energy released by all the propellant in a propulsion system.

𝐼𝑡
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐼𝑠𝑝 = (s)
𝑚𝑝 𝑔𝑒

▪ Total impulse to weight ratio

𝐼𝑡
=
𝑤𝑖

It denotes the quality of the propulsion system design.

▪ Thrust-to-weight ratio (Thrust-to-Earth-weight ratio)

𝑇
=
𝑚𝑖 Fig. Thrust-time profile of a rocket
test firing and the illustration total
▪ It expresses the acceleration (in multiples of the earth's surface acceleration of gravity) that impulse
the engine is capable of giving to its own loaded propulsion system mass.

▪ Must be greater than 1 for vertical take-off. Lighter the system; better the performance!

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 ▪ Mass flow rate in Solid rockets:
𝒎ሶ 𝒑 = 𝝆𝒑 𝑺𝒃 𝒓ሶ

Where, ρ𝑝 − 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡; 𝑆𝑏 - Burning surface area; 𝑟-ሶ burning rate of the
propellant grain

▪ Mass flow rate in Liquid rockets:

𝑚ሶ𝑝 = 𝑚ሶ𝑓 + 𝑚ሶ 𝑜 ; O/F = 𝑚ሶ 𝑜 /𝑚ሶ𝑓 Fig. Burning surface of a solid

propellant grain
Where, 𝑚ሶ𝑓 -mass flow rate of fuel; 𝑚ሶ 𝑜 -mass flow rate of oxidizer Pc T0c

▪ Flow through a CD nozzle hoc

-Conservation of energy – Isentropic flow; For ideas gases, total enthalpy/stagnation enthalpy is
constant
𝒉𝟎𝒄 = 𝒉𝟎𝒆
1
𝐶𝑝 𝑇0𝑐 = 𝐶𝑝 𝑇𝑒 + 𝑣𝑒 2
2 hoe
1 Pe Te
𝐶𝑝 (𝑇0𝑐 − 𝑇𝑒 ) = 𝑣𝑒 2
2
Note: Tc=Toc (flow velocity at the entry of the nozzle is negligible).
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 1 2γ𝑅 𝑇𝑒
𝐶𝑝 𝑇𝑐 − 𝑇𝑒 = 𝑣𝑒 2 , 𝑣𝑒 = 𝑇 1−
2 (γ−1) 𝑐 𝑇𝑐

γ−1
𝑇𝑒 𝑃𝑒 γ 𝑅𝑈
For isentropic flow within the nozzle, = ;𝑅=
𝑇𝑐 𝑃𝑐 𝑀𝑊

𝑅𝑈 -Universal Gas Constant, MW-Average Molecular Weight of the combustion products

γ−1
2γ𝑅𝑈 𝑇𝑐 𝑃
𝑣𝑒 = 1− ( 𝑒) γ
(γ−1) 𝑀𝑊 𝑃𝑐

when Pe=0 (using infinitely large nozzle); 𝑣𝑒 = limiting exit velocity for a given 𝑇𝑐 , or Limiting specific impulse

2γ𝑅𝑈 𝑇𝑐
𝑣𝑙𝑒 = ; Tc for H2 and O2 - 3600 K; MW-11; γ-1.31 RU-8.314 ; 𝑣𝑙𝑒 =??
(γ−1) 𝑀𝑊

𝑇𝑐 𝑷𝒆
𝐼𝑠𝑝 = f(𝑣𝑒 ) ∝ ; 𝑰𝒔𝒑 = f(𝜸, 𝑻𝒄 , 𝑴𝑾, )
𝑀𝑊 𝑷𝒄

𝐼𝑠𝑝 = f(𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡 combustion and Nozzle characteristics)

𝐼𝑠𝑝 = 𝐶 ∗ × 𝐶𝐹
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 Attention!
▪ Thrust, specific impulse, effective exhaust velocity, propellant flow rate - often quite different in
concept and value, even when referring to the same rocket propulsion system.

▪ Should be accompanied by a clear definition of the conditions under which it applies, namely
▪ Chamber pressure; also, for slender chambers, the location where this pressure prevails (e.g., at nozzle
entrance).
▪ Ambient pressure or altitude or space (vacuum).
▪ Nozzle expansion area ratio and whether this is an optimum.
▪ Nozzle shape and exit angle.
▪ Liquid engines: Propellants, their composition or mixture ratio.
▪ Key assumptions and corrections made in the calculations of the theoretical performance: for example, was
frozen or shifting equilibrium used in the analysis?
▪ Initial temperature of propellants.

Solid rockets: Pc =70 bar/atm Thrust or Specific Impulse at Sea-level or vacuum?

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 ▪ Characteristic velocity (𝐶 ∗ ):
𝑃𝑐 𝐴𝑡
𝐶∗ =
𝑚ሶ 𝑝  +1
 2  2 ( −1)
( ) =   
  + 1 

Note: The function Γ varies in the range of 0.628 to 0.686 for γ ranging between 1.1 to
1.4.

▪ Thrust coefficient (𝐶𝐹 ):

𝑇
𝐶𝐹 =
𝑃𝑐 𝐴𝑡
1
1 𝛾−1 2
2𝛾 2 𝑝𝑒 𝛾 𝐴𝑒 𝑝𝑒 𝑝𝑎
𝐶𝐹 = Γ(𝛾) 1− + −
𝛾−1 𝑝𝑐 𝐴𝑡 𝑝𝑐 𝑝𝑐

• Sea-level CF < vacuum CF

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 Fig. Thrust coefficient behaviour wrt. Area ratio (γ=1.2).
(Reference: Rocket Propulsion (2019, Cambridge University Press))

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 ▪ C* and CF
Propellants Tmax (K) Mol. wt C* (km/s)

▪ DB Solid 2400-2700 23-26 1.5-1.6

▪ Comp. Solid 3300-3600 24-26 1.7-1.8

▪ Monoprop. 1000-1300 12-15 1.2-1.4

▪ Biprop. 3000-3400 22-24 1.7-1.9

▪ Cryo.prop. 3000-3400 12-15 2.3-2.5 Fig. Thrust coefficient behaviour wrt. Area ratio (γ=1.2).
(Reference: Rocket Propulsion (2019, Cambridge University Press))

▪Nozzle conditions and effect of Altitude on the rocket performance

▪Optimally expanded or ideally expanded condition (𝑃𝑒 = 𝑃𝑎 );
▪ 𝑇𝑖 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑝 𝑣𝑒 ; Maximum CF (Max-Isp) corresponding to the altitude (or Pa)
What happens When Pa decreases for example at higher altitude or at Space?

▪Under expanded condition (𝑃𝑒 > 𝑃𝑎 )

T< 𝑇𝑖 (corresponds to the altitude) or Thermal energy is not fully converted into Kinetic energy
▪Over expanded condition (𝑃𝑒 < 𝑃𝑎 )
T< 𝑇𝑖 (corresponds to the altitude)
▪Note: Oblique shock inside the nozzle, loss of thrust due to side forces caused by asymmetric flow
separation.
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 Fig. Atmospheric pressure vs altitude
▪ Thrust Vs altitude
▪ Pe = 0.4 Pa (Summerfield criteria)
▪ 𝑃𝑎 is decreases exponentially
▪ Under expansion!
▪ Pressure thrust continuously increasing and
reaches vacuum thrust and the corresponding Fig. “telescoping nozzle”
specific impulse called –vacuum specific
impulse.

▪ 𝐼𝑠𝑝 ≈ 1.15 𝐼𝑠𝑝 (approx.) Fig. Change of T& Isp Vs altitude.

𝑣𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑢𝑚 𝑠𝑒𝑎−𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙
(Reference: Rocket propulsion elements)
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 Unconventional nozzles
▪ Adaptive nozzles- Aerospike nozzle can avoid the flow
separation and increase the expansion at the high altitude
and vacuum.

Fig. Bell and unconventional nozzles

Fig. Operation of the Aerospike nozzle at different altitude

Fig. Dual bell nozzle Fig. Extendable nozzle

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