• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.107-116
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• 2008

The jet pumps are widely used to transfer the fuel between the tanks in an aircraft fuel supply system. However detailed design procedures for determining the size of components of the jet pumps are not known so well. In this paper, the flow characteristics of the jet pump, which is applied in the fuel transfer system for the smart UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), were experimentally investigated using the acrylic jet pump model for the visualization of the internal flow. The pressure distributions within the jet pump were measured, and then the loss coefficients of each part were calculated. The effects of Reynolds number and the distances (S) between the exit of the primary nozzle and the mixing chamber entrance were investigated. In addition, cavitation phenomena were considered through the flow visualization inside the jet pump. As a conclusion from the experiment, the contraction shape of the primary nozzle has a strong effect on the loss coefficient of the nozzle and the cavitation occurrence. Cavitation starts around the nozzle exit, and then it propagates to the full flow fields of the jet pump.