• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.205-210
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• 2007

A LOX pump rotordynamic design was performed for a 75 ton thrust liquid rocket engine. Axial positions of an inducer, an impeller and bearings on a shaft are decided on the basis of the experience achieved by previously developed turbopump which has the similar layout. The result of pump hydraulic design was reflected in the present study to decide axial length of the inducer and impeller. A distance from the rear bearing to the impeller was considered as a design parameter for load distribution of the bearings. Asynchronous eigenvalue analysis was performed as a function of rotating speeds and bearing stiffness to investigate critical speed of the LOX pump. From the numerical analysis, it is found that the LOX pump with the proper bearing loads safely operates as a sub-critical rotor of which critical speed is high enough compared to the operating speed 11,000 rpm.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.122-128
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• 2011

A series of water tests of a Lox pump for liquid rocket engines are performed at a room temperature. According to the hydraulic test results, the head coefficient is slightly decreased when the rotational speed of the pump is increased. However the efficiency is high at the high-speed test. Also, according to the cavitation test results, the cavitation performance of the pump is found to be decreased when the flow ratio is less than 92%. Furthermore, the vibration characteristic is analyzed using measured high frequency data.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.77-80
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• 2010

A series of hydraulic tests of a Lox pump are performed using water at a room temperature. According to the test results, the Lox pump satisfies its design requirement but both the head and the efficiency do not fully follow the conventional similarity rule. The deviation of the head from the rule is assumed to be due to the increased volute loss at high rotational speed. Furthermore, it is found that when the pump rotates with the flow ratio less then the design requirement the leakage flowrate seems to be increased.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.98-104
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• 2015

Excessive thrust acting on the rotor of pump can cause the damage of pump or the decrease of pump lifetime. Therefore, for ensuring the safety of LOX pump of a liquid rocket engine, the thrust of pump rotor is estimated by similarity tests. Axial thrust is indirectly measured by an axial thrust measurement unit positioned outside pump. Radial thrust is calculated based on pressure distribution of volute scroll. As a result, axial and radial thrust are increased when the flowrate of pump decreases. However, both thrusts do not affect the stability of pump rotor since their values are not large.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.26-31
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• 2009

Three Lox pumps and one fuel pump are manufactured for turbopump real-propellent tests and water tests of the pumps are performed in order to estimate the performance characteristics of the pumps. According to the test results, the test region(flow ratio, cavitation number) of the pumps at the water tests cover the operating region at the real-propellent tests and also all the pumps satisfy the design requirement. The head of the Lox pumps shows a 2% difference among them due to the internal geometry, but the efficiency and overall cavitation performance are almost same. It is found that the fuel pump has a similar head and efficiency compared with the previous model of the same internal geometry, while it has a little inferior cavitation performance.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.279-282
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• 2006

Upon a turbopump's running, cavitation may occur at the inlet of the LOx pump by pressure drop and heat transfer along the LOx feeding line. Since the cavitation can cause serious damage to the pump or to stop running, the absence of the cavitation at the inlet of a turbopump should be confirmed before the using the turbopump. In the present study, the calculation of the volume fraction of LOx gas phase at the inlet of the pump are performed with different temperatures of LOx in the tank, pressure drops and heat transfers along the feeding line. This calculation method can be applied to define the limits of thermal and hydraulic characteristics during the design of a LOx feeding system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.1093-1098
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• 2017

High frequency signals are analyzed which are measured at the inlet / outlet pipeline and pump casing during cavitation tests of the LOx pump for the liquid rocket engine. RMS values of data are shown according to the cavitation number. RMS values of the synchronous frequency, its harmonic frequencies and frequencies of cavitation instabilities are also calculated. The pressure pulsations of the inlet and outlet pipeline are affected by cavitation instabilities. 3x component is predominant in the outlet pulsation sensor since 3x component generated at the inducer is amplified at the impeller. The cavitation instability is also found at the accelerometer signal of the casing.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.72-80
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• 2004

LOX pump is one of the sub-assemblies constructing turbopump unit. In the current study, static structural analysis on such rotating parts as impeller and inducer has been carried out. Three major factors which can affect the structural stability of the rotating parts of LOX pump, are temperature, pressure, and centrifugal force. The effect of each factor was preliminarily investigated, then the analysis under the consideration of the combined loading conditions has been carried out. The major factor that affects the structural stability was proved to be temperature. The analyses of the combined cases showed that the designed impeller and inducer had reasonable safety margins, which means that the impeller and the inducer will be stable in static structural strength. Although there was no problem in the structural strength of the impeller and the inducer, a model analysis should be followed in order to verify the interference between the rotating part and the inner surface of casing.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.174-180
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• 2006

The present paper describes transient thermal and mechanical analyses of a lox/kerosene type turbopump in a LRE(Liquid Rocket Engine). Turbopumps are used to pressurize propellants to achieve higher specific impulse of LRE. The turbopump under development has been designed and verified by structural analyses using finite element methods. Some parts of the turbopump operate under cryogenic environments, while the others work under ambient and high temperature environments. Therefore, numerical analysis at a turbopump system level is essential. In this study, casing assemblies of lox pump and fuel pump were analyzed to determine strength test and air-tightness test conditions. Also, some operational stress and strains of fuel pump casings were measured and analyzed. Based on these results, stress concentration of fuel pump casings during the operation could be successfully predicted.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.523-526
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• 2006

A series of hydraulic and cavitation tests are performed in water environment in order to verify the hydraulic and cavitation performance of three types of LOX pumps. All the performances of the pumps are found to be satisfied with each design requirement. In the hydraulic tests, the head and efficiency are increased as the gap between floating ring seals and the impeller shoulder is decreased. In the cavitation tests, some pumps show decrease in the cavitation performance as the flowrate of the pump is decreased.