Bottle rocket simulator

Simulates the path of a bottle rocket given initial parameters. The purpose of the project is to optimize parameters and estimate the flight length of a built bottle rocket, see Bottle_Rocket_Estimation.pdf.

Prerequisites

• Python 3
• Matplotlib
• Numpy

Usage

• Clone the repository, run main.py. A plot will be generated as result.png displaying trajectory and length.
• Given parameters (such as p_over, m_bottle, m_water, V_bottle, V_water) can easily be changed in bottle_rocket_simulator.py.
• The method optimize in BottleRocketSimulator can be used to find the optimal initial values of α_initial and V_water.

Method

1. The initial velocity (ΔV) is approximated using starting parameters.
2. Trajectory is approximated with iterated steps given drag and gravity parameters.

Result

TODOs

• Make better approximation of initial velocity. This could be done by including the thrust from the remaining air in the bottle after the water has been ejected.