flight-dynamics

Flight dynamics simulator written in Python. Simulate complex multi-stage rockets with different propellant and engine configuration.

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How It Works

• Implements NASA's Isentropic Flow equations.
• A propellant class and an engine class calculate the thrust and geometry of the required engine.
• Includes graph visualisation for altitude, velocity, thrust and dynamic pressure to visualise your rocket's flightpath.
• Multiple stage simulation for more complex rocketry simulations.

Physics

The system estimates for the Mach number using the Newton-Raphson method. The Area-Mach relation equation is as follows:

$$\frac{A}{A^*}=\frac{1}{M}\left[\frac{2}{\gamma+1}(1+\frac{\gamma-1}{2}M^2)\right]^{\frac{\gamma+1}{2(\gamma-1)}}$$

Where $\gamma$ is the ratio of specific heats of the liquid propellant. The ratio shows that there are two solutions, one subsonic and one supersonic.

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Historical Simulations

Rocket	Fuel	Graph
V2	B-Stoff (3:1 Ethanol:Water)
Falcon 9	Kerosene

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Tech Stack

• Languages used: Python
• Frameworks/libraries: matplotlib

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What I Learned

• Python OOP
• Translating equations into code
• Numerical Methods
• Aerospace Engineering principles

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Project Structure

├── README.md
├── data.py
├── engine.py
├── engine_math.py
├── images
│   ├── flight_20260308-235112.png
│   └── latest.png
├── main.py
└── requirements.txt

How to Run the Project

git clone https://github.com/liampallett/flight-dynamics.git
pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py

Future Improvements

• Implement a propellant dataset so hard-coded values are not necessary. Many simulations can be run with varying propellants to see the most effective for your rocket setup.

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AI Usage Disclosure

The use of the generative AI tool Gemini 3 Fast/Pro was used in this project for consultation only. No code in this project was created by AI.