ME 643 | Aircraft and Rocket Propulsion
Assignment 2
Due: Before 5:00 PM on 13th February
Instructions
1. Assignment should be worked out on A4-sized paper.
2. Only hard copy submissions would be accepted.
3. Begin each problem on a new page, clearly state all the assumptions, and use schematics
and drawings whenever necessary. Approach the problem from the fundamentals and
solve it systematically.
4. Students can work together to solve assignment problems. However, each student must
submit his/her own independent write-up.
5. Assignments have to be submitted by the due date and time to avoid any late submission
penalty. Please refer to the course plan for the late submission penalty.
6. All codes written for the completion of the assignment must be submitted in Google
Classroom before the due date and time.
Fundamentals of Propulsion Systems
1. A rocket motor is operating steadily as shown in the Figure 1. The products of the
combustion flow out of the exhaust nozzle. Approximate exhaust gases as a perfect gas
with a molecular weight of 28 g/mol. For the given conditions, calculate the V2 in m/s.
Figure 1: Schematic of the liquid rocket motor.
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2. In contrast to the liquid rocket in the previous question, the solid-propellant rocket has no
entrance ducts, and the propellant is self-contained, as shown in the Figure 2. Compute
the rate of mass loss of propellant assuming that the exit gas has a molecular weight of
28 g/mol.
Figure 2: Schematic of the solid rocket motor.
3. A schematic of a diffuser is shown in Fig. 3. It is given that 50 kg/s of air enters a diffuser
at a velocity of 750 m/s and a static pressure of 20 kPa. The air leaves the diffuser at
a velocity of 90 m/s and a static pressure of 330 kPa. The entrance area of the diffuser
is 0.25 m2 , and its exit area is 0.28 m2 . Determine the magnitude and direction of the
strut force necessary to hold the diffuser stationary when this diffuser is operated in an
atmospheric pressure of 20 kPa.
Figure 3: Schematic of the diffuser.
4. One method of reducing an aircraft’s landing distance is through the use of thrust re-
versers. Consider the turbofan engine in the Figure 4 with a thrust reverser of the bypass
airstream. It is given that 680 kg/s of air at 290 K and 1 atm enters the engine at a veloc-
ity of 140 m/s, and that 567 kg/s of bypass air leaves the engine at 60° to the horizontal,
velocity of 270 m/s, and pressure of 1 atm. The remaining 113 kg/s leaves the engine
core at 365 m/s and 1 atm. Determine the force Fx on the strut. Assume the outside of
the engine sees a pressure of 1 atm.
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Figure 4: Schematic of the thrust reverser
5. Two streams of air mix in a constant-area mixing tube as shown in the Fig. 5. The
primary stream enters the mixing tube at station 1 with a velocity of 300 m/s and a
temperature of 900 K. The secondary stream enters with a velocity of 30 m/s and a
temperature of 300 K. The flow at stations 1 and 2 may be assumed one-dimensional.
The pressure at station 1 is 0.1 MPa, and the ratio of primary to secondary flow areas at
station 1 is 1:3.
(a) Using continuity, momentum, and energy equations, along with the perfect-gas law,
show how the flow at station 2 may be determined from conditions at station 1.
(b) Determine the velocity, temperature, and pressure at station 2. State all the as-
sumptions.
Figure 5: Schematic of the mixing tube
6. Determine the adiabatic flame temperature for constant-pressure combustion of the propane–oxidizer
mixture, assuming reactants at 298 K, for the following cases (no dissociation of products
and constant specific heats at 2000 K):
(a) air as oxidizer at stoichiometric condition
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(b) Replace the N2 diluent in the air with Ar for the previous case. Explain the effect
of diluent on the adiabatic flame temperature.
7. Calculate the equilibrium composition for the reaction H2 O ⇔ H2 + 12 O2 when the ratio
of the number of moles of elemental hydrogen to elemental oxygen, Z, is fixed at Z = 2.0,
for 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 atm pressures. The temperature is 2000 K. Plot your results and
discuss.
8. NASA CEA (CEA) is one of the publicly available tools used to calculate equilibrium
compositions and temperatures for different fuel and oxidizer conditions. Using the NASA
CEA software, perform an equilibrium analysis study of a Jet-A/Air combustion process
with an initial reactant temperature of 750 K for the following cases:
(a) Plot the adiabatic flame temperature vs equivalence ratio (ϕ) at 1 atm pressure.
Consider the equivalence ratio range from 0.2 to 4. Comment on your observations.
(b) Plot the NOx and CO mass fractions vs equivalence ratio for the same previous
conditions. Comment on your observations by using both plots.
(c) Plot the adiabatic flame temperature vs equivalence ratio for 0.5 atm, 1 atm, 10
atm, and 20 atm in the same plot. Comment on your observations.
