EXPERIMENTAL ROCKETRY BUILD YOUR ROCKET IN 20 HRS

©Engenious Aerospace Ltd Page 1

About Author:

The Author Mr. Rajesh Muneshwar is a B-class Rocket Propulsion Scientist and CEO,
Technical Director of Engenious Aerospace Ltd. He completed his
graduation from Military University in Kharkov part of former
Soviet Russia. Mr. Muneshwar conducted research in Rocket
Designing, test fired Rocket Motor of R-16 missile in Russia,
designed Sounding Rocket “Shivastra-1” which was produced in
14th International Space Propulsion Congress 2010. He now trains
young engineers and students for the knowledge of Rocketry.

©Engenious Aerospace Ltd Page 2

CONTENTS

Prologue

1 Introduction to Rocketry

2 Rocket’s Red Glare to Humanity

3 Fundamental Theory of Rocket

4 Solid Rocket Motor Design & Construction

5 Non Linear Aerodynamics of Rocket Flight

6 Airframe design and construction Techniques

7 Rocket Instrumentation

8 Construction of Launcher and Safe Launching Site

9 Rocket Test Launch and Performance Analysis

Postscript

Acknowledgement

References

Index

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PROLOGUE
Presenting Experimental Rocketry course in the hands of Students, Engineers and
Academia is a very joyous moment to me. In my pursuit of the subject of Rocket
Propulsion and Rocket vehicles, I never found any book providing me the credible,
comprehensive and thorough information of the subject. This fact of the matter
particularly continued to motivate me since a past decade to write such book for next
generation of engineers. The book is a conclusion of my struggle to gain the knowledge
of the Rocket Vehicles and its propulsion system. I have been passionately exploring the
subject from every nook and corner of the world. Researched the works of American and
Russian; two giants of Rocket Engineering both of whom copied the Nazi Germany’s
work in this field to advance their own work which later spread to India and China.

The work is different in terms of two notions: it covers the blend of

American and Russian Work which in particular I research personally in my six years
long education in Kharkov (Former USSR). Until now readers mostly had the access of
American writers giving details of only American part of research. But now through this
book this is the first time that the readers are made available the info of Russian Rocketry
which in many aspects pioneered and advanced Rocket Technology than any part of the
world.

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Experimental Rocketry:

Rocketry means a science & engineering of Rocket construction and its launch associated
operations. Rocket Engineering Technology itself is a highly advanced, highly secret, vast and at
the same time twenty centuries ancient work.

Objective: Usually the activity is to simply design and build a Rocket capable to achieve the
designed altitude v/s Payload performance and learn how the laws and principles of Engineering
are employed to build successful Rocket and recover it along its payload with Parachute.
Defying a general notion of the common civilians that the
Rockets are mainly built for the destruction in warfare, the Participants build the Rockets for
peaceful space missions. They can use camera as a payload to take aerial pictures of the earth,
Artificial Rain, any Meteorological devices Viz. Radiosonde to collect the weather data and
many other innovative ideas can be used for Rocket missions.

History: First built in China around 2000 years back as a pyrotechnic found its utility in warfare.
Western world get acquainted with the
Rockets with the introduction by Indian
King Tipu Sultan as a Potential Infantry
weapon in 1765 war against British in
Srirangapattanam. The Europe
embraced Rockets as a weapon since
then but virtually remained undeveloped
and unexplored till 19th century when
Nazi Germany in WW-II shattered the
world this was again the Rockets in
much advanced versions we see today in
the form of missiles.
Now all these developments paved the way for
development of such an old machine only when the researchers / students / enthusiasts organized
themselves into a group, began experimenting by applying the concurrent mechanics,
thermodynamics and heat transfer, Structures , Mathematics in order to build an efficiently
working Rocket. This is what could be referred as Experimental Rocketry. Organized into a
group train the engineering of Rocketry to students, structure them to build and launch an actual
Rocket with the engineering knowledge being gained in a class room. Most of the legendary
Rocket Scientists Verner Von Brown and S.P. Korolov who took humanity to moon and space
are the results of such Experimental Rocketry Groups.
In first world countries Rockets are of
immense attraction. Having been involved in Space Race to become a space power both in the
Russia and specially America dominated English Speaking nations have the special place for the
Rocket construction. The Governments and Academic institutions like MIT, USA; Cambridge
University, UK; Montreal Polytechnic Institute, Canada promote the Experimental Rocket
Construction activity both at Education Level and at research level in order to create next

©Engenious Aerospace Ltd Page 5

generation of their space and Defense Rocket Engineers. The Student Rocket Construction as a
co-curricular activity is organized in colleges under a student group with supervisor professors.

Students build the rockets for either annual rocket challenge competition or for the designed
objective to reach particular high altitude may be for 4 km or even 40 km. The Rocket Launch is
conducted in remote outskirt region of the town. Local Legislation allows for such education
purpose Rocket Activity and support for safe launches. International Amateur Rocket Launch
Competition is held annually in Green River, USA. United Nation’s Space Generation Advisory
Council (SGAC) works actively for such space related Rocket activity promotion. This is how
the students are motivated to study more, get to learn the engineering and their excitement,
passion for the Rocket construction is pursued by them in shaping their future as well as
contributing to the development of Space and Rocket Industry.

Rocket Workshop Activity: In India Experimental Rocketry was initiated by Engenious

Aerospace Ltd an Aircraft and Rocket Designing Company based in Nagpur, Maharashtra and
space enthusiasts. The initiating activity of the Experimental Rocketry is generally conducted in
every engineering college as a 1st activity while forming an Experimental Rocket Research
Group in the college.

The workshop is basically a Problem Based

Learning Solution for the Engineering Students. The participants are first
introduced with the trainer’s miniature version of Rocket Technology for
designing and construction of the small Safe Sugar propelled Rocket for
the altitude of 1 km which is a free zone after which to launch the rocket
requires NOCs from ATC / AAI and CP / SP Office. Confusion should be
avoided for the permissions require. For construction no permission is
required. Only NOC is required for the launches in Free zone which is a safety norm.

Rocket Specifications:

Length: 24 inches.

Diameter: 1 inch.

Material: E-Glass Composite Material.

Payload: Temperature/ Pressure Sensors /
CMOS Pinhole Camera 10 Megapixel.
Propellant: Table Sugar.
Engine: Solid Rocket Motor.
Thrust: 1800 N.

Burn Time: 7 s

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Who can attend the Workshop? Mechanical and Electronics / Electrical Engineering students
4th semester onwards, professors, teachers and engineers.

Advantages to students:

 Hands on Training on Rocket Construction.

 Preference in DRDO/ISRO / Aerospace Jobs.
 Team work Experience
 Designing & Analytical Skills.
 Application of The engineering Knowledge.
 Certificate of Participation & successful Completion.
 International Exposure by publishing the details in
SGAC’s monthly Journal.

About Trainer:

The Trainer Mr. Rajesh Muneshwar is a B-class Rocket

Propulsion Scientist and CEO, Technical Director of
Engenious Aerospace Ltd. He completed his graduation
from Military University in Kharkov part of former Soviet
Russia. Mr. Muneshwar conducted research in Rocket
Designing, Test fired Rocket Motor of R-16 missile in
Russia, designed Sounding Rocket “Shivastra-1” which
was produced in 14th International Space Propulsion
Congress 2010. He now trains young engineers and
students for the knowledge of Rocketry.

Training: Rocket Training Seminar in YCC Polytechnic,

Nagpur in 2011. NYSS college students have been
launching the Workshop Rockets every weekend.

©Engenious Aerospace Ltd Page 7

Solid Rocket Motor Design & Construction

Rocket engines produce thrust by the expulsion of a high-speed exhaust Gases. This fluid is
nearly always a gas which is created by high pressure combustion of solid or liquid propellants,
consisting of fuel and oxidiser components, within a Combustion chamber.
The hot combustion gases are then allowed to pass through a supersonic convergent divergent
De-Lavel Nozzle. In the Nozzle combustion gases undergo isentropic expansion and thus the
thermal energy of the gases is converted into kinetic energy in the form of high speed, low
pressure exhaust gases. This gives the change in momentum of the exhaust Gases. Newton’s
second law says the change in momentum is nothing but force acting on a particle. This force
can be expressed as:

Now, since the Pressure at Exit section of the Nozzle and the Atmospheric pressure are different.
This difference in pressure also contributes to the Change in
momentum which can be expressed as: So, the total
force due to the momentum of the exhaust gases becomes:

This Force being applied by the engine is called as Thrust.

According to Newton’s Third Law of Motion, the reaction to this
moves the rocket in the opposite direction.

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 Rocket Design Principles

General Design

Paint Selection

Whatever your choice, use a primer, finish and clear coats that are compatible. Many
times this means sticking to the same brands-e.g., Krylon primer, Krylon finish coat,
and Krylon clear coat. Test a scrap piece of material with your intended finishes
beforehand. Process it just as if it's your rocket - fill, sand, primer, sand, base coat,
sand, color, sand, mask, second color, sand, top coat. If there is any kind of adverse
reaction, or the finish doesn't turn out like you thought, it's easy to start over on a
piece of scrap.

Airframe

Diameter And Length Of The Rocket

The ratio of rocket length to diameter, sometimes referred to the aspect ratio, should
be from 10 - 20:1. For example, a six inch diameter rocket would mean a length of 60
-120 inches.

Reinforcing the Airframe

 The larger the rocket, the more important reinforcement becomes. Two layers of
a lighter fiberglass fabric work better than a single heavy layer. Two layers of
4oz fiberglass works well for 3-4 inch rockets, 2-3 layers of 6oz for 5-7.5 inch
rockets. A final wrap of 2 oz glass provides a good sanding veil.
 Glass a rocket measuring 2.56" or greater that will reach equal or greater than
0.85 Mach.

Fins

Fin Dimensions

A fin that is 2 diameters of the airframe in root length and span and a chord length of
about 1 diameter will be effective.

Fin Shape or Planform

The shape you see more than any other is called the clipped delta, and is known for its
effectiveness. The clipped delta resembles a parallelogram, with the fin swept
somewhat to the rear. The root and chord lines are near parallel, and the leading and

©Engenious Aerospace Ltd Page 9

 trailing edges are near parallel. There are many, many shapes that will get the job
done. Some look cooler to me than others. One of the most efficient fin designs looks
like a simple rectangle attached to the tube.

Shaping the Fin

The leading edge of the fin should be rounded, the trailing edge shaped like a V. The
chord edge should remain square.

Number of Fins

Three fins will almost always do the job. Four fins work too, but only marginally
better as far as improving CP. Some have said that four fins reduce wind-induced
spin.

Recovery

Black Powder Ejection

Use enough BP to yield a 15 psi pressure within the airframe. See the article on
Ejection Charges in the Recovery section for a detailed discussion.

Sizing The Parachute

 You want your rocket to descend at about 15 feet per second under nominal
conditions. Slow it up over playa and concrete.
 Use 3.5 square feet of chute per pound of recovered rocket weight.
 Determine chute size by doubling the square root of the weight of the rocket.
For example, a 16 pound rocket would use a 2X4=8' chute. A 49 lb rocket
would use a 2X7=14' chute.
 Streamers should be 10 times as long as they are wide.
 Drogue recovery descent should be about 50 ft/sec.
 A full-hemispherical canopy has very little performance gain over the more
efficient and less bulky quarter-spherical--the top-half of a full-hemispherical
chute.

Recovery Harness Strength

Tensile rating for recovery materials should be at least 50 times the static weight of
the rocket.

Sizing Tubular Nylon

9/16" serves well in rockets up to 15 pounds. Go with 3/4" up to 30 pounds. 1" up to

50 pounds.

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 Length of Rocket shock cord

Make shock cords for model rockets a minimum of 2 to 3 times the overall length of
the rocket. Middle or high power rockets should use tubular nylon at least 5 times the
rocket length.

Wadding

Use enough wadding to fill 2 x the diameter of your BT. Any more is probably
overkill. Any less may allow hot particles through to hit your chute. Do not pack it
tight

Knots, Loops and Sharp Bends in Shock Cord or Bridle

Knots, sharp bends, including sewn loops, in the tubular nylon or flat webbing will
weaken its load capacity by 50%.

How Tight is Tight?

Many people use masking tape to finesse the fit between an airframe and a coupler
that must separate at deployment. A common question is: how tight do I want it to
be? Use enough masking tape so that you can pick the rocket by the nose cone
without the rocket coming apart. If you vigorously shake the rocket up and down, and
don't see any movement off the coupler, you've probably got too much tape on, Jack.

Piston Deployment

Use 25% less Black Powder if your deployment system is piston driven.

Piston Maintenance

Running a damp cloth through your airframe after flying will clean out powder
residue and keep your piston moving freely.

Shear Pins

Use shear pins on any rocket where you need a little extra piece of mind to know
everything will stay in place until the proper time. Use 1/16" styrene rod or #2 nylon
screws on almost any high performance rocket. For example two styrene shear pins
each on a 2.6" phenolic airframe, 4 nylon screws on a 6" bird. See the article on Shear
Pins in the Construction section for more detail.

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 Shortening Delay Elements

Note: Adjusting the delay as described below is considered a modification to the

motor and is therefore against the rules in a TRA/NAR sanctioned launch. Delay
grain burns at the rate of 1/32" per second. Shorten delay time by drilling a 1/16" bit
to drill a hole into the ejection charge end of the delay. Drill to a depth of 1/32" for
every second you want to shorten the delay. A piece of tape wrapped around the drill
bit at the proper depth will help ensure an accurate depth. Don't drill more than 25%
into the length of the delay.

Stability

Margin of Stability

The CG should be forward of the Center of Pressure by 1-2 calibers. A caliber is

simply the diameter of the bird. One caliber of stability is also known as a margin of
stability. In other words, in a four inch rocket, the CG must be ahead (closer to the
nosecone) of the CP by 4 - 8 inches. More than .5 but less than 1 margin of stability
(less than one caliber) and a rocket is "marginally stable'. More than two calibers of
stability is known as "over stable". An over stable rocket will tend to dramatically
turn into the wind. A marginally-powered, over stable rocket can end up almost
horizontal.

Adjusting the Center of Gravity

To move the CG forward, add weight to the nose, lengthen the rocket, or lessen the
weight in the aft end of the rocket. To move the CG aft, (for example, if your rocket
is overstable), do the reverse.

Adjusting the Center of Pressure

To move the CP aft (more stable), increase the size of the fins. To move the CP
forward, decrease fin size.

How Long is Too Long

A rocket must maintain its rigidity in flight. Any tendency to bend will be magnified
in flight resulting in a kinked tube and likely a failed flight. If you hold a rocket
horizontal by its tail section and notice any curvature in the rocket, your bird probably
isn't stiff enough.

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 Propulsion

Sizing the Motor

In selecting a motor to power your rocket, you need to have at least a 5:1 thrust to
weight ratio.

Motor Mount Size

Build your rocket for the largest motor you might want to fly in it. You can always
adapt down, you can never adapt never up. Also consider the length of the motor.
54mm motorsfor example range from soda-can sized cases to 36" or more in length.
If your mount is short, you will never be able to fly the longer motors in that rocket.

Launch Operations

Launch Rod Diameter

By motor size:

 Single A, B, and C motors: 1/8" Launch Rod

 Single D, and E motors, C clusters: 3/16" Launch Rod
 Single F, G, and H motors, D and E clusters, with a body tube dia less than 2.6":
1/4" Launch Rod
 Single F, G, H, I w/ 2.6" to 4.0" body: 7/16" Launch Rod
 Single I and J motors: 1/2" Launch Rod
 Over J and/or body tube over 4" dia: 1" Rail

By Rocket weight:

Rod Diameter Maximum rocket (lbs)

1/4" 5 lb
3/8" 10 lb
1/2" 15 lb
5/8" 30 lb
3/4" 40 lb
7/8" 55 lb
1" 75 lb

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 Note: Many believe that a rail should be used with any rocket weighing more than 15-
20 pounds.

Minimum Speed for Stable Flight

44 fps (30mph) is generally accepted as a minimum safe speed for stable flight and is
good for winds up to 5 mph. Faster speeds are necessary to achieve stability in windy
conditions so add 9 fps (6 mph) for each additional 1 mph of wind speed.
(Contributed by Terry Markovich, TRA 6811)

Mounting launch lug(s)/button/s

When mounting a single lug , cover the center of gravity with the lug. Always mount
at least two rail buttons. When mounting two lugs or buttons, mount the lower piece
at the rear of the airframe. The second should be on or just behind the center of
gravity.

Basic Components of Rockets:

Main Parts:
1. Airframe
2. Nosecone
3. Rocket Motor /Engine
Rocket Motor: Composed of three indispensable parts: Propellant which is in solid rocket
propellants is a chemical composition of Fuel and oxidizer; burned inside the combustion
chamber usually a casing a pressurised vessel and the Nozzle a convergent-divergent structure
made up of Either hard rock cement mix as in our case and Metals or even ceramic made from
ceramic sintering Technology is also a good replacement these days.
We for educational purpose use a Sugar mix propellant yielding a following reaction:

KNO3 + 6.28 C12H22O11 = 8.29 CO + 0.56 CO2 + 11 H2O + 3.14 K2CO3 +3.14 N2

The combustion chamber pressure Pc is optimized against a Knunnel Number (Kn).

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Body Length: 12 Inch

Diameter: 1 Inch

Fins:3 × Clipped Delta.

Propellant: Kn/Su.

Empty Weight: 100 gram = 24 gram + 50 gram + 25 gram (Nosecone Weight + Body & Fin Weight +

Nozzle weight)

Take-off Weight: 220 gram; 100 gram + 120 gram (Empty Weight + Propellant Weight)

Propellant weight with Body Tube: 170 gram.

Propellant Weight: 120 gram.

Total Impulse: 133 Ns

Peak Thrust: 30.5 Ib

Average Thrust: 23.7 Ib (105 N)

©Engenious Aerospace Ltd Page 15

 Predicted Performance Measured
Performance
THRUST CURVE

Altitude Prediction:

Mass ‘M’ of Rocket in (Kg) =

Area of Rocket “A” (m2)= π2 × r2 r = radius in Meters =

Drag Force = CD× ½ ×ϱ ×A×V2 where, ϱ = Density of Air = 1.2

kg/m3

Cd = Drag coefficient of Rocket = Approx 0.75

Drag Factor Coefficient “K” = 0.5 ϱ×Cd×A =

Specific Impulse Isp =

Total Thrust F =

Burn time tb = Impulse / Thrust = I/F =

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q= √

X = 2×k× =

Calculation of Velocity at Burn out (Max. Velocity, V)

V=q×

Calculation of boost phase distance yb

yb = ×

Calculation of Coast Phase distance calculation yc

yc = ×

Total Altitude H = yb + yc

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 Computing Center of
Pressure
The Barrowman equations permit
you to determine the stability of
your rocket by finding the location
of the center of pressure (CP).
The value computed is the
distance from the tip of the
rocket's nose to the CP. In order
for your rocket to be stable, you
would like the CP to be aft of the
center of gravity (CG).

The computation of CP isn't as

hard as it looks at first. Check out
the spreadsheet example at the
bottom of this page.

You can find the CG of your

rocket by simply finding the
balance point after loading
recovery system and motor.
(Literally - balance the rocket on
your hand - or finger - and that's
the CG). You can then measure
from the tip of the rocket's nose to
the CG. The calculated CP
distance should be greater than
the measured CG distance by
one rocket diameter. This is
called "one caliber stability".

Terms in the equations are defined below (and in the diagram):

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LN = length of nose
d = diameter at base of nose
dF = diameter at front of transition
dR = diameter at rear of transition
LT = length of transition
XP = distance from tip of nose to front of transition
CR = fin root chord
CT = fin tip chord
S = fin Semispan
LF = length of fin mid-chord line
R = radius of body at aft end
XR = distance between fin root leading edge and fin tip leading edge parallel to body
XB = distance from nose tip to fin root chord leading edge
N = number of fins

Nose Cone Terms

(CN)N = 2
For Cone: XN = 0.666LN
For Ogive: XN = 0.466LN

Conical Transition Terms

Fin Terms

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Finding the Center of Pressure
Sum up coefficients: (CN)R = (CN)N + (CN)T + (CN)F

Find CP Distance from Nose Tip:

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 Table –I

Nozzle Exit to Throat Area Ratio

Area Ratio =

Ratios shown in Table are those required to achieve an exit pressure (Pe) Equal to atmospheric
pressure ( 14.7 psia )

Chamber Pressure K = 1.15 K = 1.2 K = 1.25 K = 1.3 K = 1.4

600 psia 6.8 to 1 6.0 to 1 5.6 to 1 5.2 to 1 4.5 to 1
700 psia 7.6 to 1 6.8 to 1 6.3 to 1 5.8 to 1 5.0 to 1
800 psia 8.4 to 1 7.6 to 1 6.8 to 1 6.4 to 1 5.4 to 1
900 psia 9.2 to 1 8.2 to 1 7.4 to 1 6.8 to 1 5.8 to 1
1000 psia 10.0 to 1 8.8 to 1 7.4 to 1 6.8 to 1 5.8 to 1
1100 psia 10.9 to 1 9.5 to 1 8.2 to 1 7.4 to 1 6.2 to 1
1200 psia 11.6 to 1 10.2 to 1 9.3 to 1 8.4 to 1 7.0 to 1
1300 psia 12.4 to 1 10.8 to 1 9.8 to 1 8.9 to 1 7.4 to 1
1400 psia 13.0 to 1 11.5 to 1 10.4 to 1 9.4 to 1 7.7 to 1

TABLE – II

Coefficient of Thrust CF where Pe = Patmos = 14.7 psia

Chamber Pressure K = 1.15 K = 1.2 K = 1.25 K = 1.3 K = 1.4

600 psia 1.55 1.52 1.50 1.48 1.46
700 psia 1.58 1.54 1.52 1.50 1.48
800 psia 1.60 1.56 1.54 1.52 1.50
900 psia 1.62 1.58 1.56 1.54 1.51
1000 psia 1.63 1.59 1.57 1.55 1.52
1100 psia 1.64 1.60 1.58 1.56 1.53
1200 psia 1.66 1.62 1.59 1.56 1.54
1300 psia 1.67 1.63 1.60 1.57 1.54
1400 psia 1.68 1.64 1.61 1.58 1.55

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 Table – III

Expansion Ratio

Efficiency Factors

Values of Where Pe = Patmos = 14.7 psia

Chamber Pressure K = 1.15 K = 1.2 K = 1.25 K = 1.3 K = 1.4

600 psia 0.384 0.460 0.523 0.574 0.655
700 psia 0.396 0.474 0.539 0.590 0.671
800 psia 0.407 0.486 0.551 0.602 0.683
900 psia 0.416 0.495 0.561 0.612 0.693
1000 psia 0.424 0.504 0.570 0.622 0.703
1100 psia 0.431 0.511 0.578 0.630 0.711
1200 psia 0.437 0.518 0.585 0.636 0.718
1300 psia 0.442 0.526 0.591 0.643 0.724
1400 psia 0.448 0.531 0.597 0.650 0.730

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