• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.81-85
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• 2023

This study presents an experimental investigation of the effects of surface roughness on gas foil thrust bearing (GFTB) performance. A high-speed motor with the maximum speed of 80 krpm rotates a thrust runner and a pneumatic cylinder applies static loads to the test GFTB. When the motor speed increases and reaches a specific speed at which a hydrodynamic film pressure generated within the gap between the thrust runner and test GFTB is enough to support the applied static load, the thrust runner lifts off from the test GFTB and the friction mechanism changes from the boundary lubrication to the hydrodynamic lubrication. The experiment shows a series of lift-off test and load-carrying capacity test for two thrust runners with different surface roughnesses. For a constant static load of 15 N, thrust runner A with its lower surface roughness exhibits a higher start-up torque but lower lift-off torque than thrust runner B with a higher surface roughness. The load capacity test at a rotor speed of 60 krpm reveals that runner A results in a higher maximum load capacity than runner B. Runner A also shows a lower drag torque, friction coefficient, and bearing temperature than runner B at constant static loads. The results imply that maintaining a consistent surface roughness for a thrust runner may improve its static GFTB performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.569-572
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• 2010

In order to study the performance characteristics of the thrust vector nozzle, the test facility and instrumentation system were designed. In this system, axial thrust, moment, exhaust gas velocity and pressure will be measured by using the scale down experimental model devices. The test facility are composed of high pressure air storage system, flow measuring and control system, test nozzle and thrust measurement system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.73-84
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• 2004

In general, static firing test is conducted before flight in order to obtain data such as thrust. pressure, temperature and strain, which show the characteristics of rocket motors. But the measured thrust of the obtained data is especially distorted by the effects of dynamic characteristics of thrust stand so that it is difficult for us to determine the exact value of peak thrust and rising time etc., which represent the performance of rocket motor. This paper, therefore. verified the causes of distortion of measured thrust, and proposed the theoretical method to estimate the true thrust from the distorted thrust. And also the proposed method was applied to virtual thrust stand using computer simulation, and showed good result. As a result of that, the proposed method was proven to be valid and applicable to estimate distorted thrust.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.289-294
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• 2007

Solid Rocket Motor(SRM) has advantages such as - high specific impulse, operational safety and simplicity in design and manufacturing process, but thrust magnitude can't be controlled. For studying of pintle nozzle that can control the thrust magnitude of SRM, cold flow test and numerical analysis about needle type pintle shape were performed and results were presented in this paper. As the results of this study, pintle tip's shape and nozzle contour were important design parameters because thrust performance and variable thrust range of pintle nozzle depend on them. Especially, the thrust of needle typed pintle nozzle adopted in this test was predicted 13% higher than normal nozzle without pintle.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06e
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• pp.613-618
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• 2001

For the evaluation of operability of MOV(Motor Operated Valve), the precision prediction of thrust/torque acting on the valve is important. In this paper, the analytical prediction method of thrust/torque was proposed. The design basis stem thrust calculation typically considers the followings: Packing thrust, Stem rejection load, design basis differential pressure load. In general, test results show that temperature, pressure, fluid type, and differential pressure, independently and combination, all have an effect on the friction factor. The prediction results of thrust/torque are well agrement with dynamic test results.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.300-306
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• 2018

In this study, the performance of foil thrust bearings was investigated by performing bearing take-off and load capacity tests, using an in-house designed and manufactured vertical bearing test rig. The mean take-off rotational speed and maximum load capacity of the bearing specimen were ~18,000 rpm and ~80 kPa, respectively. The vertical bearing test rig was observed to yield higher coefficients of friction and frictional torques than a horizontal bearing test rig under identical test conditions. This was a result of its structural characteristics, in that the bearing specimen is placed atop the thrust runner, which keeps it from being separated from the runner after the bearing take-off. In addition, bearing take-off was observed at a higher runner rotational speed as this structure keeps air from flowing between the top foil and runner surfaces, which requires a higher runner speed. The parallel alignment between the bearing specimen and runner surfaces can be maintained within a certain range more easily in a vertical test rig than in a horizontal test rig. Because of these advantages, Korean Industrial Standard, KS B 2060, recommends a vertical bearing test rig as the standard test device for foil thrust bearings.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.1188-1191
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• 2017

Thrust is one of the crucial performance parameter of a combustion chamber in the combustion chamber development test. So it is very important to measure an accurate thrust. Thrust calibration test was performed to identify the system characteristics, resistance and linearity of a vertical thrust measurement system(TMS) for accurate thrust measurement. It has been found 6.9% ~ 8.6% errors between the measured thrust by TMS calibration equations and theoretical thrust. It has been confirmed that the TMS calibration is necessary to be performed with the propellant lines connected to the combustion chamber for accurate thrust measurement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.574-577
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• 2012

Thrust measuring is one of the crucial factor to decide the performance of a liquid rocket engine when the engine development test, especially for the combustion chamber, is implemented. Calculating the thrust from a combustion pressure is used when direct measuring the thrust is impossible, but direct measuring the thrust is necessary and various methods for doing it more precisely should be considered. This paper introduces the preliminary design concept about the new thrust measurement system for the vertical firing test stand, which is introduced domestically for the first time, of a liquid rocket engine combustion chamber.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.8-14
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• 2008

Solid Rocket Motor(SRM) has advantages such as - high specific impulse, operational safety and simplicity in design and manufacturing process but thrust magnitude can't be controlled. For studying of pintle nozzle that can control the thrust magnitude of SRM, cold flow test and numerical analysis about needle type pintle shape were performed and results were presented in this paper. As the results of this study, pintle tip's shape and nozzle contour were important design parameters because thrust performance and variable thrust range of pintle nozzle depend on them. Especially, the thrust of needle typed pintle nozzle adopted in this test was predicted 13% higher than normal nozzle without pintle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.603-607
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• 2009

A Ni/Cr plating process has been developed for applying to inner wall of liquid rocket engine(LRE) thrust chamber. Ni plating conditions were selected through thermal shock test and endurance verification of the plating layers was performed through hot firing test of a subscale thrust chamber with Ni/Cr plating. Test results showed that a crack or separation of the plating layers was not found. Judging from the results, Ni/Cr plating could be applied to LRE thrust chamber as a substitute of air plasma sprayed ceramic coating which is presently being used.