Modeling the Volume and Temperature of a Rocket Engine Tank

by August Weber

Submitted : Spring 2013

Using information given regarding the volume of a rocket engine tank, and the input and output volumes and temperatures of the hydrogen used to run it, I was able to determine for how long and at what temperatures the engine could be run. This was done by creating a basic function describing the volume as a function of time, solving for the time, and then deriving Newton’s Law of Cooling to determine the temperature of the tank. The predetermined value of thermal conductivity for hydrogen was used as the constant (k), and all values converted to the Kelvin scale in order to solve for variables. It was then concluded that the tank could be run for 4.5 minutes, with a final temperature of 20.62

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