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PROPULSION
CHAPTER 6: CHEMICAL ROCKET
PROPULSION

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 CONTENT
1. CHEMICAL ROCKETS
2. CHEMICAL ROCKET APPLICATIONS
3. PARAMETERS IN ROCKET PROPULSION
4. HIGH SPEED AIRBREATHING ENGINES
5. ROCKET BASED AIRBREATHING
PROPULSION
Reference : Chapter 12 of the textbook (Saeed Farokhi : Aircraft Propulsion)
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CHEMICAL ROCKETS
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 Chemical rocket  self –contained jet
engine that carries both the fuel and
oxidizer needed for combustion

Fuel + oxidizer = propellant

As rocket carries its own oxidizer – no need
air inlet to provide oxygen for combustion

Depending on propellant used -- chemical

rocket can be called
1. Liquid propellant
2. Solid propellant
3. Gaseous propellant
4. Hybrid propellant (mix between two
propellant types)
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Figure of merit that compares rockets to air-
breathing engines  specific impulse Is

Numerator (top section) in specific impulse

 net (uninstalled) thrust produced

Conventional rockets do not suffer from any

ram drag – hence 

Denominator (bottom section) in specific

More energetic fuel  higher specific impulse – smaller
impulse  propellant weight flow rate for a
consumption of fuel is needed to achieve temperature in
rocket – sum of oxidizer and fuel weight
combustor
flow rates

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 Rocket specific impulse is independent of vehicle
speed – does not suffer from any ram drag penalty &
combustion is not affected by the stagnation
temperature rise in intake
Specific impulse for chemical rocket  250 – 450
seconds

Specific impulse for airbreathing engines – shifted

upward when hydrogen is used as fuel in comparison
to hydrocarbon fuel

Specific impulse of gas turbine engines drop with

flight Mach number

Gas turbine engine achieves takeoff thrust and best low speed performance with specific impulse -- ~4000
and 8000 seconds for turbojet , >10000 seconds for turbofan

For high flight Mach numbers – scramjet performance fall below a chemical rocket
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Vehicle requires flight Mach number of ~25 to
achieve circular low Earth orbit (LEO)

Vehicle of a certain mass m experiences

centrifugal force  mV2/r
Gravitational pull on vehicle toward Earth 
~mg0 Speed of sound  ~300 m/s (at high altitude)
Both forces need to be in balance for vehicle to Hence flight / orbital Mach number  ~25.5
maintain circular orbit
To reach LEO and maintain circular orbit – need
to fly about Mach 25  for more efficient means
to reach the Mach number from takeoff – employ
a variety of engines

Challenge for employing variety of engine to

reach LEO  integration of the system into the
vehicle and mechanical complexities involved

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CHEMICAL ROCKETS
APPLICATIONS
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Chemical rockets  produce large thrust and operate at any altitude, including outer space

They also lend themselves to staging for increased flight efficiency.

These diverse capabilities in addition to the low cost of manufacturing put rockets on many
flight vehicle applications, including as strap‐on boosters

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LAUNCH ENGINES

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 UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE (ULA) =
VIRGIN ATLANTIC LOCKHEED MARTIN + BOEING

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BOOST ENGINES

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 SPACE
MANEUVER
ENGINES

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 ATTITUDE
CONTROL
&
ORBITAL
CORRECTION
ROCKET
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PARAMETERS IN
ROCKETS
PROPULSION
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ROCKET SPECIFIC
IMPULSE

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 As discussed earlier  rocket specific impulse Is = ratio of total
impulse to propellant weight

Different grain designs in solid propellant rocket  different total

impulse / thrust produced

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MASS RATIO

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Flight performance of rockets  depends on vehicle design through
the use of stages & efficiency of components

Figure of merit in rocket design  ratio of final-to-initial mass =

mass ratio MR

Propellant mass mp = difference between initial and final masses, for

a given stage

Ratio of propellant-to-initial mass = propellant mass fraction ζ (zeta)

Large value of propellant mass fraction is desirable as it indicates an

efficient use of system mass on the rocket that is directly responsible
for thrust production
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EFFECTIVE EXHAUST
VELOCITY

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 Effective exhaust velocity c = mass-averaged nozzle gross thrust

Effective exhaust velocity relation to the specific impulse

Relation between effective exhaust velocity to the actual exhaust

velocity and pressure thrust

Station numbers in a rocket engine

No distinction between stations c and 1 – in reality
mixture of gases in combustion chamber is
chemically reacting – station 1  combustion is
assumed complete and mixture has reached
chemical equilibrium state

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THRUST COEFFICIENT

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Thrust coefficient F  an expression that relates product of chamber
pressure pc , throat area , and coefficient CF

Thrust coefficient is a function of nozzle area expansion ratio A2/Ath ,

pressure ratio p2/pc , and ratio of specific heats γ

Thrust coefficient is explicitly independent of combustion

temperature (propellant combination) and is treated as a nozzle-
related parameter

Ratio of specific heats  only link between thrust coefficient and the
propellant combination or combustion temperature

Large value of propellant mass fraction is desirable as it indicates an

efficient use of system mass on the rocket that is directly responsible
for thrust production
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Mass flow rate through the nozzle written at the sonic throat (through the use of continuity eqn)

Exhaust velocity V2 – written based on isentropic expansion through

the nozzle from stagnation pressure pc to exit static pressure p2

Thrust coefficient can be written as

Optimum thrust coefficient for perfectly expanded

nozzle p2 = p0 can be written as
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Bracket term under the square root in
both equations  ideal thermal
efficiency of a Brayton cycle operating
between pressure pc and p2

For very large chamber pressure pc and very large area ratio nozzles where
exit static pressure p2 is low  thermal efficiency approaches 1  which
points to the maximum attainable thrust coefficient CF,opt,Max

Maximum value of thrust coefficient = pure function of γ

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CHARACTERISTIC
VELOCITY

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 Characteristic velocity c*  velocity parameter linked to the
combustion chamber – related to the speed of sound in the
combustion chamber

In terms of specific impulse and thrust coefficient (effective exhaust

speed and thrust coefficient)

If characteristic velocity is expressed in propellant mass flow rate for

the sonic flow at the throat and gas total pressure and temperature

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FUNDAMENTAL
EQUATION OF
ROCKETRY

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Fundamental equation of rocketry in terms of specific
impulse and earth’s surface gravitational acceleration

g0 = gravitational acceleration on planet’s surface

G = universal gravitational constant

Mass ratio of 5%  rocket

vehicle design has 95% of initial
mass occupied by propellant
and only 5% devoted to
structure, skin, payload,
navigation and control  MR =
0.05  best single-stage rocket
design today

In order to improve rocket

performance in attaining higher
terminal velocity – concept of
multistage rocket
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 Cases that can be considered when calculating fundamentals of rocketry (vehicle
incremental speed change ΔV)
1. Zero gravitational force and atmospheric drag
2. Rocket performance including the effect of gravity
3. Rocket flight performance including the effects of gravity and aerodynamic drag

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 PROPULSIVE AND
OVERALL EFFICIENCIES

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 Fraction of the thrust power and the residual kinetic power in the jet
that is converted to thrust power  propulsive efficiency of a rocket

Residual kinetic power in the jet  kinetic power

as observed by a stationary observer

Propulsive efficiency

Propulsive efficiency will reach its peak (100%) when ratio V/c
approaches unity – rocket may operate in V/c > 1
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Fraction of the chemical power invested in the combustor that is converted to the
vehicle thrust power  overall efficiency of a checmial rocket engine

Overall efficiency

2nd term in the denominator  kinetic power of the propellant at the

injector plate  inlet to the thrust chamber – contribution of
injected propellant kinetic power – often small and neglected as
compared with the chemical power of combustion

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HIGHSPEED
AIRBREATHING
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 SUBSONIC
COMBUSTION RAMJET

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 Ramjet  highest (fuel) specific impulse at flight Mach numbers above ~4

Ramjet does not produce any static thrust

Analysis of conventional subsonic combustion ramjets is the same as other airbreathing

engines

In conventional ramjet – there is normal shock in the inlet that transitions the flow into
subsonic regime

Typical combustor Mach numbers in a conventional ramjet = ~0.2-0.3

Combustor exit temperature – reach stoichiometric levels of ~2000-2500 K

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 SUPERSONIC
COMBUSTION RAMJET

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Conventional ramjet – cannot produce static thrust  requires ram compression to produce
thrust

Aspects of ram compression, at high speed that are detrimental to thrust production
1. The inlet total pressure recovery that exponentially deteriorates with flight Mach
number
2. The rising gas temperature in the inlet that cuts back (ΔTt)burner to eventually zero

Worst offender in total pressure recovery of supersonic/hypersonic inlets and rising gas
temperatures in burner  normal shock

Scramjet engines – need to be integrated with aircraft – need for a long forebody that is
needed at hypersonic Mach numbers to efficiently compress the air – also offers largest
capture area possible for engine

Aft (aircraft tail) integration with aircraft allow for large area ratio nozzle suitable for high
altitude MEA351AMALINA
hypersonic vehicle
ROCKET BASED
AIRBREATHING
PROPULSION
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 Integrating rocket with ramjet – solution of
overcoming ramjets lack of takeoff capability

Fuel-rich solid propellant rocket provides the takeoff thrust – air intake is sealed off until
forward speed of aircraft can produce needed ram compression for ramjet combustor

Rocket motor serves as gas generator for ramjet  combustion gases from the fuel-rich solid
propellant in the rocket motor mix with air and mixture is combusted in ramjet burner to
produce thrust

Rocket placed in a duct will draw air in and through

mixing of the cold and hot gases will enhance its
thrust level – ejector principle – propulsion is based
on rocket and is assisted by the secondary air mixing
through an inlet  airbreathing rocket  rocket
based combined cycle (RBCC) == future of
hypersonic flight from takeoff to orbit
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 Development and breakthrough
in airbreathing rocket
technology  Synergetic Air
Breathing Rocket Engine
(SABRE) – thermal management
of air in the airbreathing phase
of the combined cycle

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 ADD ON : COMPACT FUSION
REACTOR – THE PATH TO CLEAN,
UNLIMITED ENERGY
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Grand challenge of twenty-first century engineering  design, construction, and operation
of a compact fusion reactor (CFR) for aircraft propulsion and power

Technological barriers – heating a light gas (usually deuterium and tritium) to 100 million °C,
containing the hot plasma with adequate density in a strong magnetic field and shielding
this against neutron radiation

Practical engineering challenges in CFR

1. Superconducting magnets must operate close to absolute zero whereas the plasma
temperature must reach many millions of Kelvin
2. There is a “blanket” component that lines the reactor vessel with the function of
capturing the neutrons and making them collide with lithium atoms to make tritium to
fuel the reactor – blanket estimated to have an 80-150 cm thickness that weighs between
300-1000 tons
3. Plasma density is critical to maintaining steady fusion reaction
4. Refueling blankets for compact fusion reactor
5. Radiation and lifetime performance
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 Neutron radiation shielding using cryogenics – 1-m thick cryogenic shielding = 15 tesla
magnets required  200 metric tons

Military application of CFR – create platform Civilian application of CFR – eliminate

that can stay in the air (essentially) forever – carbon emissions all together and afford
unlimited flight range sustainability in aviation

Currently under research  nuclear fusion reactor prototype at Lockheed Martin

Skunkworks with applications in ships and planes  to produce 100 MW of power need
<20kg of deuterium-tritium (D-T) fuel/year [max takeoff gross weight of Airbus A380 is 617
tons]  target to build CFR that fits the back of a truck (7ft x 10ft) –significant engineering
and material science challenge

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https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/compact-fusion.html

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