Superheavy Exhaust Plume Calculations

Written by @anthropic-ai Claude 3.5
@SpaceX
Appendix G. Exhaust Plume Calculations ANALYSIS REPORT NUMBER: 2022-001P DATE: 31 May 2022 SUBJECT: Exhaust Plume Calculations for SpaceX Raptor Booster Engine PAGE 1 OF 12 NO. OF APPEN. 0 PREPARED FOR: SpaceX (W.O. 6017) 1.0 SUMMARY Calculations were performed to estimate the far-field exhaust constituents of the SpaceX Raptor2 liquid oxygen-liquid methane (LOX-LCH4) booster rocket engine firing under sea-level conditions. Although the exit-plane exhaust is fuel-rich and contains high concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), subsequent entrainment of ambient air results in nearly complete conversion of the CO into carbon dioxide (CO2). A small amount of nitrous oxide (NO) also formed in the combustion chamber as a result of N2 present in the propellants. There is some burnout of the NO during the plume entrainment process. More importantly, the rapid mixing of ambient air into the Raptor2 plume minimizes the formation of thermal NOx. The CO and NO emissions are predicted to be 2.59 lbm/s and 5.62 lbm/s respectively, per engine, under nominal power (100%) operation. No soot is predicted to be generated by this engine cycle.

https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-06/AppendixG_ExhaustPlumeCalculations.pdf

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IMl33AdVsqHF-B_Ot-4qmhi1gt-IMAZETQW93NY8ns0/edit?usp=sharing