Responsible Engineers: Adam, Emilio


 

Goal:

 

  1. Find optimal nozzle throat diameter

  2. Find optimal expansion ratio (Throat/end)


 

Resources:

 

  1. Optimal nozzle Mach number for maximizing altitude of sounding rocket - ScienceDirect 

  2. “Design of Nozzle for High-Powered Solid Rocket Propellant” by Jackson Stephenson

  3. Basics of Space Flight: Rocket Propulsion

  4. NASA: Short Index of Propulsion Slides 


Notes:

 

  1. Goddard problem



 

The one dimensional motion of a rocket climbing in the vertical direction


From braeunig:

 

The nozzle throat area, At, can be found if the total propellant flow rate is known and the propellants and operating conditions have been selected. Assuming perfect gas law theory, we have

 

 

where q is the propellant mass flow rate, Pt is the gas pressure at the nozzle throat, Tt is the gas temperature at the nozzle throat, R* is the universal gas constant, and k is the specific heat ratio.


Nozzle exit size effectively fixed by diameter of case




Plan: 

 

optimal nozzle mach number→ expansion ratio→throat diameter


Paper shows iterative approach to finding optimal nozzle area----> we will need to code something to find the optimal value by iteration.


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