NPL 2002 - Simulations
Simulations of the flights made during the competition. Simulations have been carried out using the computer model developed by Paul Grosse. The agreement in round one seems good. The results for round two are hard to verify, given that we did not see the rocket land, but it seems plausible. The range returned fro round three is about right but the flight time is too long.
| Input Figures | Round One | Round Two | Round Three |
| Rocket volume (l) | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| Diameter (mm) | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Coefficient of drag (guesstimate) |
0.73 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Mass of ejected water (kg) | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Launch pressure (psi) | 140 | 140 | 120 |
| Launch angle (°) | 80 | 80 | 55 |
| Exhaust diameter (mm) | 21.5 | 21.5 | 21.5 |
| Exhaust loss coefficient (guesstimate) |
0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Spent weight (g) | 650 | 520 | 400 |
| Parachute diameter (ft) | 4 | 7.5 | - |
| Results | |||
| Maximum acceleration (ms-2) | 420 | 510 | 550 |
| Apogee (ft) (range) | 450 | 480 | 220 (630) |
| Burnout speed (ms-1) | 48 | 53 | 37 |
| Burnout altitude (ft) | 15 | 16 | 12 |
| Touchdown speed (ms-1) | 3.0 | 1.5 | 29 |
| Total flight time (s) | 50 | 99 | 8 |
Other Stuff
Simulations of the three flights.
Parachute deployment sequence.
Pictures from the competition NPL.
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