Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fundamental Concepts on Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Fundamental Concepts of Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines

Part of the book series: Springer Aerospace Technology ((SAT))

  • 2073 Accesses

Abstract

The engine of a rocket vehicle is a machine which produces thrust by accelerating a gas flowing through the machine. The reaction to this acceleration is the force which drives the vehicle. The amount of thrust generated depends on the mass flow rate of the gas moving through the engine and on the exit velocity of the gas from the nozzle. The gas flow, the liquid propellants, the combustion process, and the principal components of a rocket engine are discussed here.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Basics of space flight. http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/index.php

  2. Crown JC (1948, June) Supersonic nozzle design, NACA Technical Note No. 1651, NACA, Washington, D.C., 35pp. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930082268.pdf

  3. Greene W (2012) J-2X progress: the next phase for E10001, NASA, 3 Feb 2012. https://blogs.nasa.gov/J2X/tag/convergent-divergent-nozzle/

  4. Huzel DK, Huang DH (1967) Design of liquid propellant rocket engines. NASA SP-125, NASA, Washington, D.C., 472pp. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19710019929.pdf

  5. NASA, Glenn Research Centre, Bernoulli Equation. https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/bern.html

  6. Sutton GP, Biblarz O (2001) Rocket propulsion elements, 7th edn. Wiley, New York. ISBN 0-471-32642-9

    Google Scholar 

  7. Liepmann HF, Puckett AE (1947) Introduction to aerodynamics of a compressible fluid. Wiley, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Hill PG, Peterson CR (1992) Mechanics and thermodynamics of propulsion, 2nd edn. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts. ISBN 0-201-14659-2

    Google Scholar 

  9. Braeunig RA Rocket and space technology—rocket propellants. http://braeunig.us/space/propel.htm

  10. Braeunig RA Rocket and space technology—rocket propulsion. http://braeunig.us/space/propuls.htm

  11. Aerojet Rocketdyne, RS-25 Engine. https://www.rocket.com/rs-25-engine

  12. Aerojet Rocketdyne, RL10 engine. http://www.rocket.com/rl10-engine

  13. NASA (1968, December) Saturn V news reference, J-2 engine fact sheet. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/pdf/499245main_J2_Engine_fs.pdf

  14. Astronautix. http://www.astronautix.com/f/f-1.html

  15. Nufer BM (2009, June) A summary of NASA and USAF hypergolic propellant related spill and fires. NASA/TP-2009-214769, 112pp. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090029348.pdf

  16. ЮК (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Nozzle_de_Laval_diagram.svg

  17. NASA/Tom Farrar, Scott Haun, Raphael Hernandez. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/flyout/multimedia/discovery/2007-10-23.html)

  18. Gerald CF, Wheatley PO (1984) Applied numerical analysis. Addison-Wesley, Reading. ISBN 0-201-11577-8

    Google Scholar 

  19. Buchheim RW et al (1959) Space handbook: astronautics and its applications. United States Government, Printing Office, Washington, D.C. http://history.nasa.gov/conghand/propelnt.htm

  20. Lohner KA, Scherson YD, Lariviere BW, Cantwell BJ, Kenny TW (2008) Nitrous oxide monopropellant gas generator development. Stanford University, 13pp. http://web.stanford.edu/~cantwell/Recent_publications/Lohner_Scherson_JANNAF_2008.pdf

  21. Kitson BA, Oliaee SN (2016) Selective, catalytic decomposition of hydrazine, 29 Apr 2016. Honours Research Projects, 286, 25pp. http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/286

  22. Greene WD (2013) Inside the LEO doghouse, start me up! NASA, 19 Dec 2013. https://blogs.nasa.gov/J2X/2013/12/19/inside-the-leo-doghouse-start-me-up/

  23. Spores RA, Masse R, Kimbrel S, McLean C (2013) GPIM AF-M315E propulsion system. In: 50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE joint propulsion conference & exhibit, 28–30 July 2013, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 12pp. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140012587.pdf

  24. Park J, Chakraborty D, Lin MC (1998) Thermal decomposition of gaseous ammonium dinitramide at low pressure: kinetic modelling of product formation with ab initio MO/cVRRKM calculations. In: Twenty seventh symposium (international) on combustion/The Combustion Institute, pp 2351–2357. http://www.chemistry.emory.edu/faculty/lin/refs/adn.pdf

  25. Sjöberg P, Skifs H, Thormählen P, Anflo K (2009) A stable liquid mono-propellant based on ADN. In: Insensitive munitions and energetic materials technology symposium, Tucson, USA, 11–14 May 2009. http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2009/insensitive/8Asjoberg.pdf

  26. Sanders JC, Wenzel LM (1962) Dynamics and control of chemical rockets. In: Proceedings of the NASA-university conference on the science and technology of space exploration, vol 2. NASA SP-11, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1–3 November 1962, pp 53–56. http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a396443.pdf

  27. Dougherty NS Jr, Rafferty CA (1969, February) Altitude developmental testing of the J-2 rocket engine. AEDC-TR-68-266, 261pp. http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=AD0848188

  28. NASA, Human space flight, Space Shuttle main engines. https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/prop/engines.html

  29. Varghese PL (1988, January) Investigation of energy transfer in a NASA standard initiator. NASA-CR-184673, 31pp. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19890005798.pdf

  30. Turner MJL (2006) Rocket and spacecraft propulsion, 2nd edn. Springer, Berlin. ISBN 3-540-22190-5

    Google Scholar 

  31. Anonymous (1994, December) DOE Handbook, Primer on spontaneous heating and pyrophoricity. DOE-HDBK-1081-94, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. http://www.hss.energy.gov/nuclearsafety/ns/techstds/standard/hdbk1081/hdbk1081.pdf

  32. Anonymous, Pyrophoric materials, handling Pyrophoric and other air/water reactive materials. University of Illinois. https://www.drs.illinois.edu/SafetyLibrary/PyrophoricMaterials

  33. Jonash ER, Tomazic WA (1962) Current research and development on thrust chambers. In: Proceedings of the NASA-university conference on the science and technology of space exploration, vol 2. NASA SP-11, Chicago, Illinois, 1–3 Nov 1962, pp 43–52. http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a396443.pdf

  34. Davis ML, Allgeier RK Jr, Rogers TG, Rysavy G (1970) The development of cryogenic storage systems for space flight. NASA SP-247, 132pp. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19710021434

  35. Aerojet Rocketdyne, Titan liquid rocket engine. http://www.rocket.com/titan-liquid-rocket-engine

  36. Aerojet Rocketdyne, Delta II stage 2 engine. http://www.rocket.com/delta-ii-stage-2-engine

  37. Technical University of Delft. https://blackboard.tudelft.nl/bbcswebdav/users/bzandbergen/LVC/Launch%20Vehicle%20Catalogue/Fiches/ARIANE_42_L.pdf

  38. Spaceflight101, India’s most-powerful rocket successfully reaches orbit. https://spaceflight101.com/gslv-mk3-d1/gslv-mk-iii-first-orbital-launch-success/

  39. Clark JD (1972) Ignition!: an informal history of liquid rocket propellants. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey. ISBN 0-8135-0725-1

    Google Scholar 

  40. Dickinson LA (1964) Technical problems in the production of solid and liquid propellants, Stanford Research Institute. In: Casci C (ed) Fuels and new propellants, pp 265–280, Proceedings of the conference held in Milan by Federazione Associazioni Scientifiche e Tecniche and sponsored by Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Elsevier. ISBN 978-1-4831-9829-3

    Google Scholar 

  41. Rapp DC (1990) High energy-density rocket fuel performance. NASA-CR-185279, 1st July 1990. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19900019426.pdf

  42. Harrje DT, Reardon FH (eds) (1972, January) Liquid propellant rocket combustion instability. NASA SP-194, 657pp. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19720026079.pdf

  43. Culick FE, Kuentzmann P (2006, December) Unsteady motions in combustion chambers for propulsion systems. NATO, RTO AGARDograph AG-AVT-039, 663pp. ISBN 978-92-837-0059-3. https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a466461.pdf

  44. Hartmann MJ, Ball CL (1962) New problems encountered with pumps and turbines. In: Proceedings of the NASA-university conference on the science and technology of space exploration, vol 2, NASA SP-11, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1–3 Nov 1962, pp 23–35. http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a396443.pdf

  45. Anonymous (1968, November) Saturn V flight manual SA 503, Technical Manual MSFC-MAN-503, NASA TM X-72151, 243pp. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19750063889.pdf

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rome, Italy

    Alessandro de Iaco Veris

Authors
  1. Alessandro de Iaco Veris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alessandro de Iaco Veris .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

de Iaco Veris, A. (2021). Fundamental Concepts on Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines. In: Fundamental Concepts of Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines. Springer Aerospace Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54704-2_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54704-2_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-54703-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-54704-2

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation