Mass of the rocket engine's nozzle and combustion chamber as a percentage of the total engine

[Timothy S.]

What is rocket engine combustion chamber plus nozzle's mass approximate percentage of the total engine's mass?

Thanks

 

[berkeman]

Have you been able to find anything with Google searching? It will likely depend on the overall size of the engine as well. What size engine are you most interested in?

 

[Timothy S.]

Have you been able to find anything with Google searching? It will likely depend on the overall size of the engine as well. What size engine are you most interested in?

Yes, I have tried to find some information on this and the best what I've found is here: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/41150/what-is-the-heaviest-part-of-a-rocket-engine

I'm interested in complex and high-thrust engines like SSME and Raptor

 

[Timothy S.]

What is rocket engine combustion chamber plus nozzle's mass approximate percentage of the total engine's mass?

Thanks

Here's what I've already found: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/41150/what-is-the-heaviest-part-of-a-rocket-engine

 

[Flyboy]

Unfortunately, there’s no hard and fast answer to your question, as it’s going to vary from design to design.

Are we just looking at the thrust chamber assembly, or are we including the turbomachinery as well?

 

[Timothy S.]

Unfortunately, there’s no hard and fast answer to your question, as it’s going to vary from design to design.

Are we just looking at the thrust chamber assembly, or are we including the turbomachinery as well?

Just combustion chamber and nozzle, no preburners, turbopumps and other stuff

 

[mfb]

You won't find good numbers for Raptor as it's proprietary. For the Shuttle engine maybe, but I haven't found anything. The nozzle is a substantial fraction of the total engine mass, especially for vacuum-optimized engines.

 

[Tom.G]

From: http://www.braeunig.us/space/specs/shuttle.htm

SPACE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE
First flown: 12-Apr-1981
Number flown: 30 to end-1995
Dry mass: 3,177 kg
Length: 4.24 m
Maximum diameter: 2.39 m
Mounting: gimbaled by hydraulic actuators ±10.5o pitch/yaw
Engine cycle: staged combustion
Oxidizer: liquid oxygen, delivered at 408 kg/s
Fuel: liquid hydrogen, delivered at 68.0 kg/s
Mixture ratio: 6.0
Oxidizer turbopump: 261 kg mass, 28,500 rpm, 17,900 kW, 292.5 atm discharge pressure
Fuel turbopump: 351 kg mass, 46,230 kW, 415 atm discharge pressure
Thrust: 1,668/2,091 kN SL/vac at 100%, throttleable 65-109% in 1% increments. Launchis made at 104%
Specific impulse: 452.9 s vac, 363 s SL
Time to full thrust: 4.2 s
Expansion ratio: 77.5:1
Combustion chamber pressure: 204 atm (100% thrust)
Combustion chamber temperature: 3,300oC (100% thrust)
Burn time: 520 s typical, 761 s max


from: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/43359/what-is-the-thickness-of-a-rocket-nozzle

At the exit plane the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) nozzle was about 2 inches thick. This was a regeneratively cooled nozzle built up of tubing with a manifold encircling the exit.

Source: SSME Orientation (annotation mine)
(in case the above link doesn't work, here is where it points:

http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2011/ph240/nguyen1/docs/SSME_PRESENTATION.pdf)

All above info, and much more, found with:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=space+shuttle+weight+of+nozzle

Cheers,
Tom

 

[mfb]

I found these numbers, but they don't let you calculate a mass of the nozzle. It's not a 2 inch sheet, the thickness is caused by individual thicker parts at the end of the nozzle.