Closed-Loop Dynamics of Nuclear Rocket Engines with Topping Turbine Drive

A previous work on the closed-loop dynamics of nuclear rocket engines with bleed turbine drive³ is modified to study the engine dynamics using a topping turbine system. Root locus considerations show that the response characteristics of the two engine systems should be similar, although the topping turbine system has a faster initial response but slower asymptotic response. These conclusions are corroborated by analog simulation of the non-linear dynamic equations.