Multistage Rockets : Definitions

• Total mass of rocket, mt, may be written as sum of 3

primary components:
– Payload mass, mL
– Propellant mass, mp
– Structural mass, ms
• Includes everything but payload and propellant
• Engines, tanks, controls, etc.
mt  mL  m p  ms
If rocket consumes all its propellant during firing,
burnout mass consists of structure and payload:
mb  mL  mS
Mass Reductions by A Rocket on the Way to Orbit
 Details of Mass Vs Distance in an ith Stage

ith

ith ith ith ith ith

 Mass Fractions
msi msi
Structural coefficient i  
of ith stage mt ,i  mt ,i 1 msi  m pi

mt ,i 1
Payload ratio in ith stage i 
mt ,i  mt ,i 1
mt ,n 1 mL
Payload ratio in final stage n  
mt ,n  mt ,n 1 mt ,n  mL

m pi
Propellant ratio of ith i   i  1 i
stage msi  m pi
 Dynamic Mass of the Rocket : Mass fractions

Mass ratio for ith stage Mass of Rocket in the start of ith stage travel
Mass of Rocket at the end of ith stage travel

mt ,i
Ri 
mt ,i 1  msi
mt ,i 1  m pi  msi m  m pi  msi 
m  mt ,i 1 
ti 1
Ri 
mt ,i 1  msi Ri 
m  msi 
t ,i

m  mt ,i 1 
t ,i 1
t ,i

mt ,i 1
1
m mt ,i 1  1  i
Ri  t ,i
Ri 
mt ,i 1 m
 si i   i
mt ,i  mt ,i1  mt ,i  mt ,i1 
 Rocket Equation for ith Stage

dmr ,i
dVr ,i  C dt  D dVr ,i

C dmr ,i
g
 g dt mr ,i dt
dt mr ,i
Vr ,i mr ,i1 tb ,i1
dmr ,i
dVr ,i  C
dmr ,i
 gdt  dV r ,i  C  mr,i
g  dt
mr,i Vr ,i mr ,i tb,i


 mr ,tb ,i1 

Vr ,i  C ln    g tb,i 1  tb,i 

 mr ,tb,i  

 mr ,tb ,i 
Vr ,i  C ln    g tb ,i 1  tb,i 

 r ,tb ,i1 
m 
 Velocity Increment in ith Stage Firing

 mr ,tb ,i1  m p ,i  ms ,i  
Vr ,i  C ln    g tb,i 1  tb,i 

 m r , t b ,i 1
 ms ,i 

 mt ,i 1  m pi  msi 
Vi  C ln    gti
 mt ,i 1  msi 

 mt ,i 
Vi  C ln    gti
 mt ,i 1  msi 
 1  i 
Vi  C ln Ri  gti Vi  C ln    gti
 i   i 
 Final Velocity of an n Stage Launch System

The final velocity of an n stage launch system is the

sum of the velocity gains from each stage.
n
Vn   Vi
i 1

n   1  i  
Vn   C ln    gti 
i 1   i   i  
Total mass of Propellant consumed in n stage:
n
m p total   m p ,i
i 1
 The Art of Multi-staging in Rockets
• Main idea is to minimize total propellant consumption required
to launch a pay load at a given final velocity.
• Discard empty tanks and extra structure as rocket travels, so
that this mass is not subjected to gravity losses
• Large engines used for initial high thrust phase, may produce
excessive accelerations when propellant is nearly consumed.
• Multistage rocket is a series of individual vehicles or stages,
each with its own structure, tanks and engines
• Each stage accelerates payload before being detached.
Two points:
1. Stages are ordered in number of firing.
2. Analysis of multistage rockets is similar to that for single stage
– Payload for an particular stage is the mass of all subsequent
stages 14
 Design Evaluation of Launch vehicle

Space (Ideal) velocity increment

n
Vn   Ci ln Ri
1

Payload fraction
mL  mt 2  mt 3  mt 4   mL 
     .... 
mt1  mt1  mt 2  mt 3   mtn 

mL  1  2  3   n 
     .... 
m01  1  1  1  2  1  3   1  n 
 Criteria of Performance

• Specific to rockets only.

– thrust
– specific impulse
– total impulse
– effective exhaust velocity
– thrust coefficient
– characteristic velocity
Thrust is the force which moves the rocket through the air,
and through space. Thrust is generated by the propulsion
system of the rocket through the application of Newton's
third law of motion; For every action there is an equal and
opposite re-action
 Thermodynamic Design of ith Stage
For an ith stage rocket engine:

T  mejectsVejects  Ae  pe  pamb 
Where:
mejects = propellant mass flow rate
pe = exit pressure, paamb = ambient pressure
Vejects = exit plane velocity, Ae = exit area
• The ratio of thrust / ejects mass flow rate is used to define a
rocket’s specific impulse-best measure of overall performance of
rocket motor.
T
I sp 
mejects

In SI terms, the units of I are m/s or Ns/kg.

 Total Impulse (Itot)
tb
• Defined as::
I total   Tdt
0

• Thus the same total impulse may be obtained by

• high T, short tb (usually preferable), or
• low T, long tb
 Effective Exhaust Velocity

• Convenient to define an effective exhaust velocity (Veff), where:

T
T  mejectsVeff Veff  I
mejects

Veff  U e 
 pe  pamb Ae
mejects
 Thrust Coefficient (CF)

• Defined as:
T
CF 
Pc At
where pc = combustion chamber pressure,

At = nozzle throat area

• Depends primarily on (pc/pa) so a good indicator of
nozzle performance – dominated by pressure ratio.
 Characteristic Velocity (c*)

• Defined as: Pc At
C *

mejects (6)

•Calculated from standard test data.

• It is independent of nozzle performance and is therefore
used as a measure of combustion efficiency – dominated
by Tc (combustion chamber temperature).
 Thermodynamic Performance - Thrust

• Parameters affecting thrust are primarily:

– mass flow rate
– exhaust velocity
– exhaust pressure
– nozzle exit area
Thermodynamic Performance - Specific Impulse
 Thermodynamic Performance - Specific Impulse

Variable Parameters - Observations

• Strong pressure ratio effect - but rapidly diminishing returns
after about 30:1.
• High Tc value desirable for high I - but gives problems with
heat transfer into case walls and dissociation of combustion
products – practical limit between about 2750 and 3500 K,
depending on propellant.
• Low value of molecular weight desirable – favouring use of
hydrogen-based fuels.
• Low values of  desirable.
 Thrust Coefficient (CF)
• Maximum thrust when exhausting into a
vacuum (e.g. in space), when:
(11a
)

26
 Thrust Coefficient (CF) - Observations

• More desirable to run a rocket under-expanded (to left of

optimum line) rather than over-expanded.
• Uses shorter nozzle with reduced weight and size.
• Increasing pressure ratio improves performance but
improvements diminish above about 30/1.
• Large nozzle exit area required at high pressure ratios –
implications for space applications.
 Actual Rocket Performance

• Performance may be affected by any of the following

deviations to simplifying assumptions:
– Properties of products of combustion vary with static
temperature and thus position in nozzle.
– Specific heats of combustion products vary with
temperature.
– Non-isentropic flow in nozzle.
– Heat loss to case and nozzle walls.
– Pressure drop in combustion chamber due to heat release.
– Power required for pumping liquid propellants.
– Suspended particles present in exhaust gas.