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Air-Water Rockets: What Does The Thrust Force F Depend On?

1) Air-water rockets produce thrust through the ejection of water, which increases the internal air pressure and creates an exhaust velocity. The thrust force depends on this exhaust velocity and mass flow rate of the ejected water. 2) As water is ejected, the internal air volume increases according to the ideal gas law, while the internal pressure and temperature decrease. The rocket's acceleration can be calculated based on thrust, drag, and changing mass as water is used up. 3) Spreadsheet models can be used to simulate the rocket's speed and altitude over time based on parameters like water volume, dry mass, air pressure, and drag coefficient. This allows optimization of design parameters for maximum performance.

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Senthil Kumar P
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66 views2 pages

Air-Water Rockets: What Does The Thrust Force F Depend On?

1) Air-water rockets produce thrust through the ejection of water, which increases the internal air pressure and creates an exhaust velocity. The thrust force depends on this exhaust velocity and mass flow rate of the ejected water. 2) As water is ejected, the internal air volume increases according to the ideal gas law, while the internal pressure and temperature decrease. The rocket's acceleration can be calculated based on thrust, drag, and changing mass as water is used up. 3) Spreadsheet models can be used to simulate the rocket's speed and altitude over time based on parameters like water volume, dry mass, air pressure, and drag coefficient. This allows optimization of design parameters for maximum performance.

Uploaded by

Senthil Kumar P
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Nielsen file rockets, 05/12/10,12:31 PM 1

Air-Water Rockets
Air-water rockets are good fun to make and you can learn a lot from studying how they work. The following is a
brief explanation of how they work by Peter Nielsen, Associate Professor in Civil Engineering, The University
of Queensland.


What does the thrust force F
thrust
depend on?
The thrust force F
thrust
from any rocket exhaust is
the mass flow m times the velocity u
ex
of the
exhaust relative to the rocket
F
thrust
= m u
ex
= A u
ex
2
(1)
where is the density of the exhaust fluid, and A is
the outlet cross section.
For air-water rockets, Bernoullis equation
gives
w ex
P u / 2
+
= where P
+
is the internal
over-pressure and
w
the density of water. The
thrust force is then, remarkably
F
thrust
=2P
+
A (2)
which is twice the force required to hold the
water back before start.

Finding the enclosed air volume V
The pressure inside the rocket decreases as the
water escapes and the air volume V increases.
The expansion process is complicated by the
fact that some water vapour condenses and
some heat is received from the surroundings.
However, a reasonably simple model is
obtained by assuming the process to be like the
adiabatic expansion of an ideal gas. In that case:

P = P
o
(V
o
/V)
1.4

(3)
if the volume and absolute pressure at take-off are V
o
and P
o
.. The rate of increase of the enclosed air volume due
to the exhaust flow is then
A
P V V P
A
P
A u
w
a o o
w
ex

] ) / ( [ 2 2
4 . 1

= =
+
, V<V
tot
(4)
P
a
is the atmospheric pressure and P
+
=P-P
a
. The air volume at a slightly later time t+
t
can then be calculated as
A
P V V P
t V A u t V t V
w
a o o
t ex t t


] ) / ( [ 2
) ( ) ( ) (
4 . 1

+ = + + , for V<V
tot
(5)
These formulae hold untill the water is used up and V=V
tot
.

Finding the mass m of the rocket
If the solid parts of the rocket have the mass M
s
, and the total volume of enclosed air and water is V
tot
, the mass
of the rocket as function of time is
m(t) = M
s
+ M
a
+
w
(V
tot
V) for V <V
tot
(6)
M
a
is the mass of enclosed air which can be estimated as

o
o o
a
T
V P
M
288
= (7)
where T
o
is the starting temperature in degrees Kelvin.

The temperature of the enclosed air
As the enclosed air expands, it cools down considerably. Under adiabatic conditions with no heat received from
the surroundings or from condensing water vapour, it would vary as
Nielsen file rockets, 05/12/10,12:31 PM 2

4 . 0 286 . 0

=
o
o
o
o
V
V
T
P
P
T T (8)

The drag force from the surrounding air
As the rocket moves through the air it is slowed down by air drag. The magnitude of the drag force F
D
depends
on the density of the surrounding air
air
(1.2kg/m
3
), on the speed u of the rocket, its cross sectional area A
R

and on a drag coefficient C
D
. The drag coefficient is of the order 1.0 for non-streamlined objects but may be as
low as 0.1 for very streamlined objects. The formula for the drag force is
F
D
= -
air
C
D
A
R
|u| u (9)

Finding the acceleration a of the rocket
If the rocket is moving vertically upwards against gravity, Newtons Second Law gives its acceleration a by
mg u u A C A P mg F F ma
R D air D thrust
= + =
+
| |
2
1
2 (10)
where g is the acceleration due to gravity, 9.8m/s
2
at the surface of planet Earth.
Using the expression (6) for the instantaneous mass and rearranging, this means
g
V V M M
u u A C A P
a
tot w a s
R D air

+ +

=
+
) (
| |
2
1
2

, for V<V
tot
(11)
After the water is used up (VV
tot
) , air is expelled at great speed. Initially (for P
+
>1.89P
a
), this gives F
thrust
=
0.89P
+
A, and the air is escaping at the speed of sound.

Finding the speed u and height h of the rocket
The formulae above can be used to calculate speed u and height h of the rocket in a spreadsheet. You start with
u=0 and h=0 at time zero and then update u and h after each time increment
t
using

2
)] ( ) ( [
) ( ) (
2
)] ( ) ( [
) ( ) (
t
t t
t
t t
t u t u
t h t h
t a t a
t u t u


+ +
+ = +
+ +
+ = +
(12)
In the spreadsheet you can try different
parameters and optimize by trial and error. For
example, how much water to put in to get the best
result.


It will also help you find the best bottle dry
mass (M
s
). You will find that the lightest bottles are
not the best!
You can also experiment with jet propulsion
of aircraft.

For this type of aircraft you will find that the trust
force has to be reduced be reducing A. Otherwise,
the wings get ripped off the plane at take-off.

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