Abstract

The Venturi effect is a principle that is based off of the conservation of mass and states that as
the cross sectional area of a pipe that a fluid is in decreases, the velocity of the fluid will
increase, but at the same time, the pressure of the fluid within the pipe will decrease at the same
time. This principle is important because it will allow spacecraft electric propulsion engines to
operate with a higher exhaust velocity without requiring a larger and therefore heavier power
supply, which current launch vehicles cant lift into space. Engines that operate with a higher
exhaust velocity allow the spacecraft to achieve a higher final speed, while at the same time
using less fuel. When designing a nozzle that uses the Venturi effect, it is important to minimize
the amount of thrust that is lost as a result of the fluid being sped up, and after testing the flow
rate, exhaust velocity, and thrust of the nozzle, it was found that the Cycling Compression
Engine performed slightly better in all areas, especially in the area of exhaust velocity, however,
one needs to consider that with the higher performance comes a greater amount of complexity
and cost that is involved with the design. Additionally, more research will need to be done on
how the differences between the properties of plasma and the test fluid of water will affect the
nozzles performance when considering how the two nozzles will perform when used with real
plasma.