Course topics

Introduction and review of performance parameters governing the design of LRE - Rocket nozzle design, advanced nozzles for liquid rocket engines thrust chambers - Thrust chamber heat transfer - Thrust chamber cooling - Liquid propellant storage - Tank pressurization. Pressure-fed systems  - Pump-fed systems, machines and their classification - The macroscopic balances of mass, momentum, energy, and moment of momentum. Moments with respect to the axis of rotation - The Euler’s equation for turbomachinery. The flow in turbomachines. Velocity triangles. Degree of reaction. Turbomachine efficiency - Nondimensional analysis of pumps - Centrifugal pumps. Ideal analysis. Real behavior: prerotation, slip and friction effects - Centrifugal pumps. Shock losses, real performace, cavitation - Axial turbines: nondimensional analysis, performance, classification - Pressure-compound and velocity-compound impulse turbines - Turbopump assembly: configurations, limits on the rotational speed. Gas generators. Open and closed cycle engine architecture - Gas generator cycle performance analysis- Open cycles - Staged combustion cycles - The closed expander cycle architecture - Introduction to the phenomenon of combustion instability in liquid rocket engines