• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.100-106
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• 2020

Turbopumps for liquid rocket engines are exposed to various cavitation instabilities under their operating conditions. The instabilities affect the stability of the turbopumps. To make sure of the stability of the turbopump of KSLV-II, the present work examined the characteristics of the cavitation instabilities during the turbopump assembly test. In the test, the LOx pump was operated under super-synchronous rotating cavitation and attached to uneven cavitation. In the vibration analysis of the fuel pump, the characteristic frequency by the super-synchronous cavitation of the LOx pump was clearly shown.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.93-100
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• 2020

The turbopump of the liquid rocket engine adapts an inducer to minimize the cavitation due to the variations of the propellants supply condition. However, the inducer introduces cavitation instabilities which are well-known problems in the engine development. In this paper, operational characteristics by the cavitation instabilities are analyzed and the reliability of the engine is checked when the first stage engine of the KSLV-II is tested at the low inlet pressure conditions. The characteristic frequencies representing the cavitation instabilities of the LOx pump are clearly found in various high frequency sensor signals around the entire engine in addition to the LOx and fuel pump.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.61-67
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• 2018

High-frequency signals are analyzed at the inlet/outlet pipeline and pump casing during cavitation tests of the LOx pump for liquid rocket engines. Root-mean square values of all data are investigated with respect to cavitation number. The values of synchronous, harmonic, and cavitation instability frequencies are also calculated. Pressure pulsations of the inlet and outlet pipelines are affected by cavitation instabilities. The 3x component (i.e., the blade-passing frequency of the inducer) is predominant in the outlet pulsation sensor. This seems to be related to the fact that the number of impeller blades is a multiple of the number of the inducer blades. The cavitation instability is also measured at the accelerometer of the pump casing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.1099-1102
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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 fuel pump for the liquid rocket engine. RMS values of each data are shown according to the cavitation number and compared with those of the LOx pump tests and the impact of the cavitation instability is also explored. Analogies about the cavitation number are confirmed between high frequency data of both pumps. In addition, the cavitation instability is found in all the signals and has an affect on the outlet pressure pulsation of the fuel pump.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.2434-2439
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• 2008

This paper was studied on the cavitation instability of a Solution Pump Inducer in an absorption chiller-heater. Inlet pressure of LiBr and rotational speed at nominal mode are 2,800 Pa and 3,500 rpm respectively. Due to the marginal operation of available NPSH, the cavitation performance of the inducer is critical for the stable operation without the deterioration of head performance. In the study, cavitation performance and its mode of instability was investigated experimentally. Water was used as the working fluid and the test inducer was scaled up as 1.75 times for detail measurements and flow visualization. Inlet pressure was controlled by a vacuum pump. This research focused on types of cavitation instability and phenomena to investigate the possibility of harmful damage due to cavitation instability. Casing wall pressure and instantaneous inlet pressure was measured to observe the unsteady flow characteristics. Through the visualization and spectrum analysis of pressure, the occurrence region and intensity of asymmetric cavitation and cavitation surge are analyzed in the test inducer.