• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.46-50
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• 2012

A high-speed centrifugal pump requires more attention to the control of its axial thrust due to the high discharge pressure than a conventional industrial pump. Vanes employed toward the rear cavity of the impeller can be an effective device to control the axial thrust of the pump. The vanes disturb circumferential flow of the cavity and it can modify the axial force acting on the impeller. In this paper, three types of vanes are installed in the high-speed centrifugal pump for liquid rocket engines and the thrust of the pump is measured with an additional thrust measurement unit. According to the results, shapes of cavity vanes have effects on the axial thrust of the pump. As the height of vanes increases, the outlet pressure of the rear floating ring seal decreases which results in a decrease of the thrust. On the other hand, head of the pump is almost same regardless of cavity vanes. Also, the pressure drop of the bypass pipeline increases when vanes are removed.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.9 no.2 s.35
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• pp.39-43
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• 2006

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.