Abstract

Hot water rocket extract external energy of applied heat to provide energy to the propellant.
Water as the propellant is pressurised by heating it to high temperature in a closed tank. Due to
pressure, the boiling temperature is raised to be more than 100 C. Once the temperature reaches
saturation temperature, then water which has now turned into water vapour is ejected out of the
tank and accelerated by a convergent-divergent nozzle. This ejection of exhaust gas produced
thrust in forward direction, opposite of the ejection direction. The maximum thrust is found to be
49.4424 N and the propellant mass flow rate is 0.3172 kg/s. Exit velocity is then calculated to be
103.44816 and the corresponding specific impulse is 10.54 seconds.

Introduction
The word propulsion comes from the Latin propulsus, which is the past participle of the verb
propellere, meaning to drive away. In a broad sense propulsion is the act of changing the motion
of a body. Propulsion mechanisms provide a force that are initially at rest, changes a velocity, or
overcomes retarding forces when a body is propelled through a medium. Jet propulsion is a
means of locomotion whereby a reaction force is imparted to a device by the momentum of
ejected matter (Sutton & Biblarz, 2010). There are many type of engine that applies jet
propulsion principle. Some of them uses need the presence of air for operation while some can
operate in vacuum without the need of air.
For air breathing engine, there are gas turbine powered engine and ram powered engine.
Gas turbine engine uses turbine powered compressor to compress air before the air is being fed

into the combustion chamber for combustion. On the other hand, ramjet uses shockwave to
compress air that is going to be combusted later.
Rocket, rocket engine or rocket motor is a non-air breathing propulsion system (does not
need surrounding air for combustion, and thus propulsion) that produces forward thrust by
accelerating mass through a nozzle (typically convergent-divergent type). Rocket propulsion is a
class of jet propulsion that produces thrust by ejecting matter stored in a flying vehicle called the
propellant (Ward, 2010). There are several energy sources applicable in rocket propulsion such
as chemical combustion, solar radiation, nuclear reaction, and thermal energy. These energy
applications have sub-divided the rocket propulsion into chemical propulsion, solar propulsion,
nuclear propulsion and thermal propulsion.
Thermal propulsion rocket engine uses propellant (working fluid) that is superheated by
external heat source to flow out of the system through a nozzle. Nuclear thermal rocket, solar
thermal rocket, laser thermal rocket, and steam rocket uses this principle to produce thrust for
propulsion. Steam rocket or hot water rocket has water as its propellant. The water is kept in a
closed pressure vessel, and then heated by external heat source to increase its saturated vapour
pressure to be higher than the ambient pressure. Once the water vapour inside the tank reaches
the designed temperature and pressure, it is then allowed to escape at high velocity from the tank
through a nozzle by opening the tank's valve. The release of high energy vapour through the
nozzle produces thrust that propel the rocket forward.
The thrust can be calculated by using this formula

Objectives
1. To measure the thrust produced by the steam jet leaving the tank through the exit nozzle
2. To determine the mass flow of the hot water rocket
3. To calculate the exit velocity of the steam jet and hence to determine the performance of
the hot water rocket by calculating the specific impulse

Methods and Procedures

1. A container is filled with 8-liter tap water and the water was poured into the hot water
rocket tank. This step is repeated for 4 times so that the total volume of water filled inside
the rocket tank is 32 litre.
2. The water is heated by external heat source which are two gas stoves. It is heated until it
reaches 120C.
3. Data Acquisition System (DAQ) is executed to record the readings of the water
temperature and to operate the solenoid valve.
4. When the temperature reaches 120C, one camera is positioned to record the thrust
measurement on the digital spring balance and another camera is positioned to take the
photograph of the steam jet. The digital spring balance is rezero-ed.
5. The solenoid valve is opened by DAQ switch and the measurement of the chamber
temperature is recorded until the spring balance stopped taking measurements.
6. Thrust readings are translated from video recording to Microsoft Excel and graph of
thrust against time is plotted. The temperature readings recorded by DAQ are also
exported to Microsoft Excel and plotted in graphical form.
3

7. The important parameters, which are mass flow rate and stream jet exit velocity are
calculated to calculate the engine's specific impulse that will determine the performance
of the hot water rocket.

Figure 1 Experimental setup

Figure 2 Heating process

Figure 3 Hot water rocket exhaust gas

Figure 4 National Instrument DAQ module

Figure 5 Lab View Data Acquisition System circuit diagram

6

Experiment Setup and Initial Condition Information

Table 1 Nozzle specifications (Zulfikli, 2011)

Values
Dt=0.010m
0.0254
5.067 x 10-4
0.010
7.85 x 10-5
0.0142
1.59 x 10-4

Specifications
Diameter inlet, Di (m)
Area inlet, Ai (m2)
Throat diameter, Dt (m)
Throat area, At (m2)
Exit diameter, De (m)
Exit area, Ae (m2)
Nozzle area expansion
ratio
Nozzle contraction ratio

2.02
6.452

Results
Table 2 Thrust and Chamber Temperature
Time (s)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

Thrust (kg)
0
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
5.04
3.66

Thrust (N)
0
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
49.4424
35.9046
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Chamber Temperature (C)

110.198
110.174
110.134
110.102
110.059
110.033
109.976
109.933
109.838
109.77
109.67
109.548
109.428
109.357
109.207
108.989
108.715
108.324
108.214
108.026
107.686
107.496
107.251
106.941

24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63

3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
3.48
2.84
2.82
2.8
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.78
2.1
2.08

34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
34.1388
27.8604
27.6642
27.468
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
27.2718
20.601
20.4048

106.599
106.384
106.14
105.719
105.363
104.992
104.593
104.302
103.857
103.433
102.981
102.578
102.284
101.812
101.45
101.059
100.642
100.414
99.7611
99.531
98.7936
98.134
97.6697
97.2978
96.7383
96.2712
95.9347
95.4768
95.1945
94.7004
93.9944
93.4975
92.9626
92.4506
91.9861
91.4636
90.9794
90.4708
90.0217
89.4852

Thrust Vs. Time

60

Thrust (N)

50
40
30
20
10
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

60.00

70.00

Time (s)

Figure 6 Thrust versus time graph

Chamber Temperature Vs Time

Chamber Temperature (C)

115
110
105
100
95
90
85
0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

Time (s)

Figure 7 Chamber temperature versus time graph

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Calculation
Mass flow rate can be calculated by using formula

[ (

(1)

(2)

Equation (1) will be calculated to get the value of Xe. In equation (2), the value of Xe is then used
to calculate Me using numerically. Speed of sound at nozzle exit is assumed to be 340.29 m/s. It
is not possible to calculate the speed of sound at nozzle exit as the nozzle thermocouple was not
functioning.
(3)
To calculate Ve, equation (3) is used.
Thrust produced by the rocket is calculated by using the formula

(4)

However, it is assume that the exit pressure is equal to the ambient pressure thus reducing
equation (4) to

or

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(5)

Specific impulse is then calculated using the following equation.

(6)

From Table 2, the maximum thrust produced by the engine is stated to be 49.4424 N. This value
is the net thrust after considering the friction between wheel and desk. However, the frictional
force is unknown as it is not stated in the final year project report "Development and Testing of a
Hot Water Rocket". Total firing time was 63 seconds.
The average mass flow rate is = 0.3172 kg/s
The exit velocity is

103.44816 m/s

Therefore, the specific impulse is

10.54 s

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Discussion
The experiment was designed to find out several important parameters that determine the
performance of the rocket engine. From the experiment, generated thrust, chamber temperature
and nozzle temperature are obtained. However, the nozzle temperature set of data obtained is
found to be decreasing once the steam is released while it suppose to be increasing. It is found
later that the thermocouple at the nozzle is not functioning well. The firing time is 63 seconds
and the thrust produced is ranging from 20.4048 N to 49.4424 N.
Figure 6 shows the thrust measurements are constant for certain time, then the thrust
reading suddenly drop and start to be constant again. This cycle is consistent throughout the
firing. Actually this is not the real thrust profile. The thrust should be gradually reduce over time.
This stair-like profile is obtained due to the spring balance do not display the instantaneous
thrust. This is the limitation of the spring balance that hold the reading if the thrust is decreasing
slowly that it appears to be constant. Electronic load cell would be a better choice for thrust
measurement.

Conclusion
All the objectives of the experiment are accomplished. The hot water rocket engine was
successfully fired. Maximum thrust produced by the hot water rocket engine is 49.4424 N,
average mass flow rate is 0.3172 and specific impulse is 10.54 s.

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References
Sutton, G., & Biblarz, O. (2010). Rocket Propulsion Elements 8th Edition. United States of America: John
Wiley and Sons Inc.
Ward, A. T. (2010). Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd.
Zulfikli, S. (2011). Development and Testing of A Hot Water Rocket. Kuala Lumpur: Department of
Mechanical Engineering, IIUM.

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