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2. ROCKET DYNAMICS
CG
90-
m
Pa
v
Mge
Ae
Figure 1
Consider an accelerating rocket vehicle (figure. 1). Let M be the mass of the
vehicle at time t and V its velocity. Over a short time interval t the rocket
ejects mass m with velocity v and the vehicle acquires velocity V + V .
The change in momentum of rocket: ( M m ) (V + V ) ( M m )V
The change in momentum of mass m : m (v ) m(V )
The change in momentum of the system: MV m(V v )
The net external forces on the system: Ae ( p e p a ) D Mg e sin
MV m(V v ) = [ Ae ( p e p a ) D Mg e sin ]t
M Lt
t 0
V
m
(V v ) + Ae ( pe p a ) D Mg e sin
= Lt
0
t
t
dV
m
= [m& (V v ) + Ae ( p e p a ) D Mg e sin ] where Lt
= m&
t 0 t
dt
dV
T
D
=
g e sin
dt
M M
Typically for a launch vehicle, launched from the earth, the thrust to weight
T
, is between 1.5 to 2 to ensure reasonable acceleration.
ratio,
Mg e
Case I (Neglecting the atmospheric drag and the effect of gravity)
U eq dM
m& [(V v ) + Ae ( p e p a ) m& ]
dV
T
=
=
=
M
M
M dt
dt
dV = U eq
dM
M
V = dV = U eq
V0
M0
dM
=
ln
U
eq
M
M
M0
Videal = U eq ln
M0
M
= I sp g e ln 0
M
M
Vmax = I sp g e ln
M0
where M B is the mass of the vehicle
MB
V=Isp ge ln(M0/M)
100
I =100s
sp
I =200s
80
sp
I =300s
sp
I =400s
sp
I =500s
sp
M /M
60
40
20
0
0
10
15
20
25
V km/s
Figure 2
V=-Ispgeln(1-fp)
1
I =100s
0.9
I =300s
sp
sp
I =500s
I =200s
sp
sp
I =400s
0.8
sp
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0
6
V km/s
Figure 3
10
12
Notes:
1) If the propellant is burned to exhaustion, the Rocket equation gives the
maximum theoretical obtainable Videal = Vmax from a single stage.
2) We can clearly see (figure 2 and 3) the desirability of high I sp and a large
M0
. This implies that it is desirable to have vehicle consisting,
MB
as much as possible, of payload and propellant only.
mass ratio, =
SLV
Jet Aircraft
Ship
Car
Goods Train
Engine
4
7
10
22
3
Payload
2
10
25
25
77
Structure
6
40
50
50
19
Vmax, g
b
M
= I sp g e ln 0 g sin dt
MB 0
There is net loss in V due to the component of gravitational field force acting
along the flight path.
Now, g =
GM Earth
(REarth + h )2
g ge
0.99
0.95
0.90
h(km)
32
166
346
0.80
755
REarth
GM Earth
where g e =
, REarth = 6400km
= g e
2
REarth
R Earth + h
The thrust period of chemical rockets usually ends when the distance traveled by
the vehicle is a small fraction of earths radius and the gravitational acceleration
is not altered very much.
Then V can be approximated as:
Vmax, g = I sp g e ln
M0
g e sin t b
MB
Where tb , is the burn period and sin is the integrated average value of sin