In a liquid propellant rocket engine, the mass flow rate is determined by the rate at which the liquid propellants are pumped into the combustion chamber and subsequently expelled through the rocket nozzle.
The mass flow rate for a liquid propellant rocket engine is the rate at which the liquid propellants are expelled from the rocket nozzle during combustion.
The density () of the incoming air can be determined using the ideal gas law:
which gives,
where,
- ṁ is the mass flow rate (kg/s),
- is the pressure of the incoming air (Pa),
- is the specific gas constant for air (J/(kg·K)),
- is the throat area of the rocket nozzle (m²),
- is the effective exhaust velocity (m/s).