• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.616-623
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• 2012

Turbopump is a key component in liquid rocket engines, and reducing weight while maintaining structural safety is one of the major concerns of turbopump designers. To reduce the weight aluminium alloy castings instead of steel casings are introduced. The casting process is especially useful for enhancement of productivity and for reduction of product costs. But, since castings are used in space vehicle engines, reliability cannot be compromised therefore proper design, production process and thorough investigation should be performed to ensure structural integrity. In this study inlet casings for a fuel pump are casted with A356.0-T6 alloy and using one of them a burst test is conducted to ensure structural integrity. Structural analysis is performed for simulation, and with multiple strain gages strains are measured and compared with predictions.