• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.11-17
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• 2009

Hot-fire test of a turbopump for a gas generator cycle rocket engine of 30 ton class was carried out in real propellant environment. Liquid oxygen and kerosene were used for the oxidizer pump and the fuel pump, respectively, while hot gas produced by the gas generator was supplied to the turbine. A part of the propellant discharged from the pumps was provided to the gas generator. The turbopump was run stably at both on-design and off-design conditions, satisfying all the performance requirements. This paper describes one of the test cases, where the turbopump was run for 120 seconds at three different operating modes in one test. In terms of performance characteristics of pumps and turbine, the results from turbopump assembly test using real propellant showed a good agreement with those from the turbopump component tests using simulant working fluid.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.38-41
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• 2009

For the technology development of LOx/kerosene liquid rocket engine, turbopump-gas generator closed-loop coupled tests using 30tonf main engine components such as turbopump and gas generator except combustion chamber are performed. In the engine system operation environment, simulating combustion chamber by flow control units, the chill-down procedure, startup characteristics, nominal operability and smooth shutdown of turbopump+gas generator closed-loop coupled Test Plant are successfully confirmed. The serviceability of the turbopump and gas generator are evaluated. The feed-back control system for the turbopump rotational speed and gas generator mixture ratio are also verified. The results of closed-loop coupled test will be used as the technology development for the liquid rocket engine.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.563-568
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• 2010

Turbopump-gas generator open-loop coupled tests are performed during the development of a 30tonf-LOx/Kerosene rocket engine. In the turbopump-gas generator open-loop tests, the propellants to gas generator are supplied from the outlets of turbopump, while the gas exhausted from the gas generator is vented out to the atmosphere, instead of being used to turbine driving. This paper presents the objectives, procedure, and results of the open-loop coupled test, in addition to a schematic representation of the test apparatus and the operating conditions for the test facility system and control system. The results of turbopump-gas generator open-loop coupled test confirm chill-down procedure, startup characteristics, nominal operability and smooth shutdown of the open-loop coupled Test Plant in test conditions simulating engine system operation environment.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.253-261
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• 2020

In this paper, we present an experimental investigation of the frequency characteristics and a visual inspection of an oxidizer pump with a modified rear-floating ring seal for a 7-tonf turbopump. An oxidizer pump typically operates at high rotational speeds and under cryogenic conditions. Despite its low hydraulic efficiency, the floating ring seal is frequently employed as a leakage control solution for turbomachinery because it effectively reduces abrasion by friction. When the oxidizer pump starts up, the floating ring moves excursively but locks up stably against the pump casing when the contact pressure increases. The compressive force on the floating ring depends on the hydrodynamic forces induced by the flow through the floating ring. This force is controlled by the nose position of the floating ring. Based on a validation test for a 7-tonf turbopump with two types of floating rings, we concluded that the floating ring with a small diameter nose can move easily with a low contact pressure in the cooling path. This leads to instability of the pressure fluctuation around the floating ring. In contrast, a floating ring with a large diameter nose has a high contact pressure and attaches strongly to the casing, which causes wear and frictional oxidation between the contact surfaces of the impeller and the floating ring.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.196-200
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• 2006

This paper describes the current development status of the major subsystems, turbopump and gas generator, for a turbopump-fed liquid oxygen-kerosene rocket engine system. As a secondary stage of the liquid rocket engine development test, turbopump-gas generator powerpack tests are planned. The schematics of the test hardware and the test facility for the TP+GG coupled test are presented. The results of a preliminary analysis for operating regimes of the TP+GG coupled test are also presented.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.91-100
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• 2016

Efficiency characteristics of centrifugal turbopumps for a liquid rocket engine were investigated. Predicting the performance of pumps for a turbopump assembly test, the variation on pump efficiency by working fluids was analyzed from pump component tests. Water and liquid nitrogen (LN2) were used for the component test, kerosene (Jet A-1) and liquid oxygen (LOX) were adapted for the turbopump assembly (TPU) test as working fluids. Overall performance of the pumps was investigated covering design/off-design operating points and the pump efficiency on the environment of real media (LOX/kerosene) could be modified from the pump component tests.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.1077-1079
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• 2017

The cavitation in the turbopump inducer progresses from the inception to the critical point, and finally develops to a breakdown which sharply declined in head. In this paper, we evaluated characteristics and predicted empirical equations about the cavitation inception of a turbopump inducer. The empirical equation of the cavitation inception for the elliptical plate was relatively well predicted to the turbopump inducer. However, in case of the marine propeller, it showed a big difference due to Reynolds number under the operating point.

• 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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• 2008.11a
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• pp.125-128
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• 2008

As a interstage of the 30tonf level LOx/kerosene liquid rocket engine development, turbopump-gas generator open-loop coupled tests are performed. Test schematic and test results of open-loop coupled tests are presented. In engine system operation environment simulating combustion chamber by flow control orifice, chill-down procedure, startup characteristics, nominal operability of turbopump+gas generator open-loop coupled Test Plant are confirmed The results of open-loop coupled test were used for the preparation on turbopump+gas generator closed-loop test.