Integrated Rocket Ramjet (IRR): Team Rocket

The goal is to design and model an Integrated Rocket Ramjet (IRR) engine design that will transition from the solid rocket phase to the liquid ramjet phase after reaching the designed speed while utilizing minimal breakaway parts or by means of control surfaces. The control surfaces will also serve as an inlet optimization tool to minimize exergetic losses into the combustion chamber and simultaneously maximize exit conditions for optimal thrust.

Background
This design project requires an understanding of compressible flow (also known as gas dynamics), thermodynamics of fluids including exergy analysis, and current propulsion system designs including ramjets.

For macroscopic systems (above the thermodynamic limit), these statements are both expressions of the second law of thermodynamics if the following expression is used for exergy:


 * $$ B=U +P_RV -T_RS-\sum_i\mu_{i,R}N_i \qquad \mbox{(1)} $$

where the extensive quantities for the system are: U = Internal energy, V = Volume, and Ni = Moles of component i

Helpful Reference Videos
There are many sources available for reference and understanding of compressible flow dynamics and some links below in the references section.

Turbo Jet Engine: Dynamic Model 6rX4xv5-NvE This video gave us some ideas about how we could make a working model of a ramjet. This turbojet engine model uses air to rotate the compressor blades that were fabricated on a 3D printer device. Team Rocket has access to 3D printers on campus to build model components like the adjustable control surfaces. There has been some consideration for using an Arduino board to control the adjustable surfaces and simulate our model rather than compressed air.

Controlled Surface Ramjet: SR-71 Blackbird F3ao5SCedIk This is one of our inspirations for the project. The SR-71 turbo ramjet engine utilizes an adjustable nose cone to optimize inlet conditions based on the speed it is flying. Our idea is similar, though we desire to possibly improve upon this design while integrating a solid rocket phase to initialize flight up to the designed speed and transition.

High Efficiency Nozzle: Aerospike Engine EWf4iOMSPNc The Aerospike engine serves to increase thrust efficiency, compensate for altitude pressure variation, and reduce the cost of manufacturing due to reduction of size and material. Even though the scope of our project is focused primarily on the intake control surfaces, the nozzle is crucial to any supersonic engine design. This is one of our considerations for the nozzle design that could potentially reduce the price of manufacturing while increasing thrust performance of our system, ultimately offering a superior economic advantage.

Project Learning
The nature of this project is primarily based in thermodynamic analysis and optimization of geometries for the control surfaces.

Other Resources
AeroMech Compressible Flow for Students

NPTEL E-Learning Courses