• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.5 no.1 s.14
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• pp.27-32
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• 2002

The turbopump inducer cavitation is very important for the success of a liquid rocket engine. In this study, the performance test and cavitation performance test were carried out at various rotational speeds with two inducers of different diameter. The rotational speed was varied by 4000, 6000, and 8000 rpm, and the size effect was tested for the normal inducer and twice-enlarged one. The hydraulic performance results showed that the similarity was satisfied over the entire test range of the present study. The blade thickness effect was examined and showed that the increased blade thickness resulted in decreased efficiency and worse cavitation performance for the large tip clearance. The cavitation performance test results showed that the breakdown NPSH increased as the flow coefficient, and was not affected by the rotational speed.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.229-234
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• 2001

The turbopump inducer cavitation is very important for the success of a Liquid rocket engine. In this study the performance test and cavitation performance test were carried out at various rotational speed with two different diameter inducers. The rotational speed were varied 4000, 6000, 8000 rpm and the variation to the diameter of an inducer were taken as design size and 2 times enlarged size. The major results of the present study were as follows. 1. The hydraulic performance results showed that the similarity was met over the entire test range of the present study. 2. The blade thickness effect was examined and showed that the increased blade thickness resulted in decreased efficiency and worse cavitation performance for large tip clearance. 3. The cavitation performance test results showed that the breakdown NPSH increases as the flow coefficient and does not affected by the rotational speed.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.12a
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• pp.558-563
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• 2004

Experiments were performed to see the effect of radial tip clearance on a turbopump inducer, which has two blades with inlet tip blade angle of 7.8 degree and tip solidity of 2.7. Hydraulic and cavitation tests were done for three cases of tip clearance ratio, that is, 0.026, 0.053, and 0.079. With increase in the tip clearance, inducer head and pressure on the inducer tip decreased. Attached cavitation and cavitation surge were found in the cavitation tests. In the attached cavitation one cell rotated at the same rotational speed as that of the inducer. Cavitation performance deteriorated with increase in the tip clearance. The level of casing vibration increased in the cavitation condition and the level was very high when the attached cavitation appeared.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.9 no.1 s.34
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• pp.19-24
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• 2006

Experiments are carried out to investigate the effect of radial tip clearance on a turbopump inducer, which has two blades with inlet tip blade angle of 7.8 degree and tip solidity of 2.7. Hydraulic and cavitation tests are performed for three cases of tip clearance ratio, that is, 0.026, 0.053, and 0.079. With increase in the tip clearance, inducer head and pressure on the inducer tip decrease. Attached cavitation and cavitation surge are observed in the cavitation tests. In the attached cavitation one cell rotates at the same rotational speed as that of the inducer. Cavitation performance deteriorates with increase in the tip clearance. The level of casing vibration increases in the cavitation condition and the level is very high when the attached cavitation appears.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.12-18
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• 2011

Volute casings for liquid rocket turbopump are designed and evaluated in a structural point of view. At the design step 3D modeling and finite element analyses are conducted iteratively. During the step various loads such as internal pressure, casing stiffness and mounting forces are considered in the analyses, along with the weight minimization effort. After the design step volute casings are manufactured by metal casting process, and then they are subjected to burst test for structural verification. In the burst test strains at several points are measured and compared with predicted values.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.81-88
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• 2012

Turbopump is a key component in liquid rocket engines, and reducing weight while maintaining structural safety is one of the major concerns of turbopump designers. To reduce the weight aluminium alloy castings instead of steel casings are introduced. The casting process is especially useful for enhancement of productivity and for reduction of product costs. But, since castings are used in space vehicle engines, reliability cannot be compromised. Therefore, proper design, production process and thorough investigation should be performed to ensure structural integrity. In this study inlet casings for a fuel pump were casted with A356.0-T6 alloy and using one of them a burst test was conducted to ensure structural integrity. Structural analysis is performed for simulation, and with multiple strain gages strains are measured and compared with predictions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.616-623
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• 2012

Turbopump is a key component in liquid rocket engines, and reducing weight while maintaining structural safety is one of the major concerns of turbopump designers. To reduce the weight aluminium alloy castings instead of steel casings are introduced. The casting process is especially useful for enhancement of productivity and for reduction of product costs. But, since castings are used in space vehicle engines, reliability cannot be compromised therefore proper design, production process and thorough investigation should be performed to ensure structural integrity. In this study inlet casings for a fuel pump are casted with A356.0-T6 alloy and using one of them a burst test is conducted to ensure structural integrity. Structural analysis is performed for simulation, and with multiple strain gages strains are measured and compared with predictions.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.21-28
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• 2014

Propellent should be pressurized inside the turbopump to gain high thrust in a projectile. Turbopump is composed of an inducer, which prevents impeller performance deterioration, and an impeller. Several types of cavitation occur inside the inducer, numerous experiments and CFD simulations are conducted. Though, an inducer takes only small portion of total head of the pump and the following impeller determines whole turbopump performance. In addition, low inlet pressure makes the flow to be cavitated not only at the inducer, but also at the impeller in real cases. Therefore, flow through an inducer and an impeller should considered simultaneously. In this study, LOX pump composed of an inducer and an impeller is analyzed by using commercial CFD code ANSYS CFX 13.0. Non-cavitating flow with high inlet pressure and cavitating flow with low inlet pressure are both simulated and head, suction performances are shown. Evolution of the flow and the cavitation by reducing cavitation number and effect of cavitation on pump performance are studied.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.7 no.5 s.26
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• pp.20-28
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• 2004

Static and dynamic structural analyses of a turbine bladed-disk for a liquid rocket turbopump are performed to investigate the safety level of strength and vibration at design point. During operation, turbopump is exposed to various external loads. Therefore, the effects of them should be carefully considered and properly modeled. First, due to the high rotational speed of the turbopump, effects of centrifugal forces are considered in the structural analysis. Thermal load caused by severe temperature differences is also considered. A three dimensional finite element method (FEM) is used for linear and nonlinear structural analyses with modified Newton-Raphson iteration method. After the nonlinear solution is obtained from the structural analysis, dynamic characteristics are obtained as a function of rotational speed from the linearized eigenvalue analysis at an equilibrium position. From the analysis results, characteristics of stress distribution and vibration were thoroughly examined and investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.22-25
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• 2009

Development of a curvic-coupling was presented in this paper. The research covers design, structural analysis, hot-temperature-torsion-test, curvic-coupling applied proto-type turbine disk manufacturing, and assembly test of a curvic-coupling rotor system for the turbopump application. Curvic-coupling was designed based on the Gleason-standard-tooth shape. The load capability of the designed curvic coupling was validated by the structural analysis and hot-temperature-torsion-test. A proto-type turbine disk which had adopted designed curvic-coupling was manufactured, assembled and tested to reveal that shaft-disk assembly run-outs in axial and radial directions were much smaller than the design requirements. The development will be finalized after spin test of shaft-disk assembly in near future.