Thrust Characteristics of Water Rocket and Their Improvement

Abstract

The propulsive characteristics of water rockets are analyzed theoretically and experimentally. The unsteady thrust force acting on a PET bottle and the air pressure inside the bottle are measured simultaneously by the thrust test stand we have developed. The semi-empirical thrust history is obtained utilizing the air pressure history and it is compared with the measured thrust history. The results show qualitative agreement. The observation of the flow inside bottle by a high-speed video camera shows that the air precedes water when it is about to be discharged entirely. We have developed a flow regulator attached to the nozzle cap to reduce the precursor air discharge that is considered as a result of the swirling flow inside the bottle. The experimental results show that the air discharge and the body vibration are suppressed effectively.