Burt Rutan's White Knight and SpaceShip One, Photo Courtesy of Scaled Composites
Thermodynamics and Propulsion


11.1 Overall Efficiency

$\displaystyle \textrm{overall efficiency}$ $\displaystyle =\frac{\textrm{what you get}}{\textrm{what you pay for}}=\frac{\textrm{propulsive power}}{\textrm{fuel power}}$    
$\displaystyle \textrm{propulsive power}$ $\displaystyle = \textrm{thrust}\times\textrm{flight velocity} = T u_0$    
$\displaystyle \textrm{fuel power}$ $\displaystyle = \textrm{fuel mass flow rate}\times\textrm{fuel energy per unit mass}=\dot{m}_f$    

Thus

$\displaystyle \eta_{\textrm{overall}} = \frac{T u_0}{\dot{m}_f h}$    

UnifiedTP