Rocket Propulsion Elements, 9th Edition

CHAPTER 6LIQUID PROPELLANT ROCKET ENGINE FUNDAMENTALS

This chapter presents an overview of liquid propellant chemical rocket engines. It is the first of six chapters devoted to this subject. It identifies types of liquid rocket engines, their key components, different propellants, and tank configurations. It also discusses two types of propellant feed systems, engine cycles, propellant tanks, their pressurization subsystems, engine controls, valves, piping, and structure. Chapter 7 covers liquid propellants in more detail. Chapter 8 describes thrust chambers (and their nozzles), small thrusters, and heat transfer. Chapter 9 is about the combustion process and Chapter 10 discusses turbopumps. Chapter 11 presents engine design, engine controls, propellant budgets, engine balance and calibration, and overall engine systems.

In this book, liquid propellant rocket propulsion systems consist of a rocket engine and a set of tanks for storing and supplying propellants. They have all the hardware components and the propellants necessary for their operation, that is, for producing thrust. See Ref. 6–1. The rocket engine consists of one or more thrust chambers, a feed mechanism for supplying the propellants from their tanks to the thrust chamber(s), a power source to furnish the energy for the feed mechanism, suitable plumbing or piping to transfer the liquid propellants under pressure, a structure to transmit the thrust force, and control devices (including valves) to start and stop and ...