Air Turborocket/Vehicle Performance Comparison

Abstract

The air turborocket (ATR) possesses design, performance, and operation characteristics of the turbojet, ramjet, and rocket in a single air-breathing propulsion system. The basic design tradeoff of ATR design is specific thrust and specific impulse. There are many possible variation to this basic cycle, but this research has concentrated o the solid-fuel gas-generator-driven ATR. Because overall vehicle performance is more important than engine-only operation, the evaluation of any propulsion system must be done at the vehicle achieves a range of 28.2 miles in 98.1 s. A 750-lbm ATR-powered vehicle attains a range of 49.8 miles in 192 s. A 525-lbm turbojet-powered vehicle with roughly double the flight time. Compared with the equal volume turbojet-powered vehicle, the ATR-powered vehicle achieves the same range in about two-thirds of the turbojet flight time with a 43% greater initial system mass.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0748-4658

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 1999 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 1999

Link to Full Text

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