A Statistical Model for Liquid Propellant Rocket Engine Dry Weight

Abstract

The principle of similitude is applied to liquid propellant rocket engine dry weight using a statistical approach to produce a conceptual design level model. The argument of similitude is extended from basic physics scaling to a statistically reliable prediction tool. Dry weight of the engine is found to be well correlated with thrust for a wide range of designs, propellant combinations and cycles. These statistically defensible results can be used for trade studies, reverse engineering, explaining the relationships between engineering principles and performance, and sizing in conceptual design. This thesis is an extension of a similar attempt [1] which addresses the development of the model for liquid propellant rocket engine dry mass using a range of mathematical/statistical approaches and presents the working model with associated results.