1

A SEMINAR ON ROCKET ENGINE

Submitted by Bharat j shetty

4NM08ME026 DEPT OF MECH ENGG NMAMIT NITTE

A SEMINAR ON ROCKET ENGINE

Submitted by Bharat j shetty

4NM08ME026 DEPT OF MECH ENGG NMAMIT NITTE

ABSTRACT
A rocket engine is a jet engine that uses only propellant mass for forming its high speed propulsive jet. Rocket engines are reaction engines and obtain thrust in accordance with Newton's third law. Since they need no external material to form their jet, rocket engines can be used for spacecraft propulsion as well as terrestrial uses, such as missiles.

Rocket engines as a group, have the highest exhaust velocities, are by far the lightest, and are the most energy efficient (at least at very high speed) of all types of jet engines. However, for the thrust they give, due to the high exhaust velocity and relatively low specific energy of rocket propellant, they consume propellant very rapidly. This paper gives an introduction of the rocket engine, terminology, how the rocket engine works, principle of operation then about the propellant and last the conclusion.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter no
1 2 3 4 5 6

Chapter name
introduction terminology Principle of operation Introducing propellant into a combustion chamber Conclusion references

page no

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Rockets have been around for over 2000 years. The Chinese used them first as fireworks in ceremonies. But it was an American, Robert Goddard who in 1926 first experimented with true liquid fuelled rockets. During the Second World War, Nazi Germany developed the first real modern day rocket, the V2 vengeance rocket. Now rockets are launched into space with hardly a notice. Sir Isaac Newton told us in his third law of physics of 1687 that: for every force, there is an equal and opposite force'. If you throw something out backwards then the force needed, pushes in the opposite direction with equal force. Blow a balloon up and then let it go and it flies around the room. Rockets work in the same way. Modern rockets use mainly two forms of fuel solid fuel rockets or Liquid fuelled rockets. As was the case in the largest rocket ever built-in late 1960's and early 70's NASA developed the Saturn 5 rocket that took men to the Moon. This was built in 3 stages, each stage containing its own fuel and engines. A rocket engine looks more like a large plumbing project with pipes, valves, nozzles and pumps. In liquid fuelled rockets, a mixture of pure liquid oxygen is mixed with a fuel, usually hydrogen gas or kerosene, in a combustion chamber. The gases are super cooled liquid to conserve space on board. The fuels mix together in a combustion chamber and are ignited with a plasma lance. The sudden expansion of the gases rushes out into the dome chamber synonymous with rocket engines. The heat and thrust produced by this explosive mix firing out into the domed shaped engine causes tremendous upward thrust and this thrust pushes the rocket forward. The rocket gathers speed. The fuel continues to burn and expand outward from the engines pushing the rocket on. When the fuel in that stage of the rocket is exhausted, it is jettisoned and another, smaller stage takes over. The rocket needs to exceed over 40 thousand km/h, which is enough to escape the Earth's gravity, and the rocket is now in space.

Photo.1. American, Robert Goddard with his Liquid fuelled rockets

photo.2.Nasa space shuttle mounted on a Modern rocket engines

CHAPTER 2: TERMINOLOGY
Chemical rockets are rockets powered by exothermic chemical reactions of the propellant. Rocket motor (or solid-propellant rocket motor) is a synonymous term with rocket engine that usually refers to solid rocket engines. The fuel and oxidizer are mixed together and packed into a solid cylinder. Under normal temperature conditions, the fuel and oxidizer will not burn; but they will burn when exposed to a source of heat. Some type of igniters is used to initiate the burning of a solid rocket motor at the end of the propellant facing the nozzle. Once the fuel starts to burn, hot exhaust gas is produced, which is used to propel the rocket, and a "flame front" is produced which moves into the propellant. Once the burning starts, it will proceed until all the propellant is burned. Liquid rockets (or liquid-propellant rocket engine) use one or more liquid propellants that are held in tanks prior to burning. In a liquid rocket, the fuel and the source of oxygen (oxidizer) necessary for combustion are stored separately and pumped into the combustion chamber of the nozzle where burning occurs. With a liquid rocket, you can stop the thrust by turning off the flow of fuel. Hybrid rockets have a solid propellant in the combustion chamber and a second liquid or gas propellant is added to permit it to burn. Thermal rockets are rockets where the propellant is inert, but is heated by a power source such as solar or nuclear power or beamed energy.

Distinguish between solid rocket engines and liquid rocket engines Solid rocket engines
1) the fuel and oxidizer are mixed together and packed into a solid cylinder. 2) Once the burning starts, it will proceed until all the propellant is burned 3)solid rockets are simpler in construction and are not complex 4) solid rocket is much easier to handle and can sit for years before firing

Liquid rocket engines

1)the fuel and oxygen are stored separately 2)the burning can be stopped by turning of the fuel valve 3)Liquid rockets tend to be heavier and more complex because of the pumps
4)Liquid

rockets tend to be heavier and more complex

because of the pumps, and you usually put the fuel in the rocket just before launch

CHAPTER 3: PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

How rocket engines work

Rocket engines give part of their thrust due to unopposed pressure on the combustion chamber Rocket engines produce thrust by the expulsion of a high-speed fluid exhaust. This fluid is nearly always a gas which is created by high pressure (10-200 bar) combustion of solid or liquid propellants, consisting of fuel and oxidizer components, within a combustion chamber. The fluid exhaust is then passed through a propelling nozzle which typically uses the heat energy of the gas to accelerate the exhaust to very high speed, and the reaction to this pushes the engine in the opposite direction. In rocket engines, high temperatures and pressures are highly desirable for good performance as this permits a longer nozzle to be fitted to the engine, which gives higher exhaust speeds, as well as giving better thermodynamic efficiency.

10

CHAPTER 4: INTRODUCING PROPELLANT INTO A COMBUSTION CHAMBER

Rocket propellant is mass that is stored, usually in some form of propellant tank, prior to being ejected from a rocket engine in the form of a fluid jet to produce thrust. Chemical rocket propellants are most commonly used, which undergo exothermic chemical reactions which produce hot gas which is used by a rocket for propulsive purposes. Alternatively, a chemically inert reaction mass can be heated using a high-energy power source via a heat exchanger, and then no combustion chamber is used.

A solid rocket motor.

Solid rocket propellants are prepared as a mixture of fuel and oxidizing components called 'grain' and the propellant storage casing effectively becomes the combustion chamber. Liquid-fuelled rockets typically pump separate fuel and oxidizer components into the combustion chamber, where they mix and burn. Hybrid rocket engines use a combination of solid and liquid or gaseous propellants. Both liquid and hybrid rockets use injectors to introduce the propellant into the chamber. These are often an array of simple jets- holes through which the propellant escapes under pressure; but sometimes may be more complex spray nozzles. When two or more propellants are injected the jets usually deliberately collide the propellants as this breaks up the flow into smaller droplets that burn more easily.

11

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
New engine designs are trying to find ways to accelerate ions or atomic particles to extremely high speeds to create thrust more efficiently. NASA's Deep Space-1 spacecraft was the first to use ion engines for propulsion. A rocket engine is throwing mass in one direction and benefiting from the reaction that occurs in the other direction as a result. This concept of "throwing mass and benefiting from the reaction" can be hard to grasp at first, because that does not seem to be what is happening. Rocket engines seem to be about flames and noise and pressure, not "throwing things."

CHAPTER 6: REFERNCES

- chapter 1 -2-14 Huzel, D. K. and Huang, D. H. (1971). NASA SP-125, Design of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines (2nd Edition Ed.). NASA. -3-33

12

13

14

15