Abstract
The magnitude of the axial force acting on turbopump bearings has a great influence on the operational reliability and service life of a turbopump. In the turbopump under current investigation the cavity vanes are introduced to the pump shroud casing to control the axial thrust of the turbopump. To investigate the effect of the cavity vanes, 3D computational flow analyses for a propellant pump stage including an inducer, impeller, volute and secondary flow passages are performed with and without the vanes. The results show that the cavity vanes are very effective in reducing the magnitude of axial thrust without notable changes on the overall performance of the turbopump.