On a rocket nozzle, are the stresses (namely hoop stresses) from pressure differentials compressive or tensile?
Obviously, in a combustion chamber, the pressure inside is greater than outside. As the exhaust velocity increases, however, Bernoulli's theorem would state that the exhaust pressure decreases:
In a flow where no energy is being added or taken away, the sum of its various energies is a constant: consequently where the velocity increases the pressure decreases and vice versa.
Is there a specific point at which the pressure and hoop stress switch directions? Is this something that nozzle design must account for? Are altitude based changes in atmospheric pressure factored into this?