• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.29-38
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• 2015

In this study, 3-dimensional URANS simulation was performed to analyze the effect of the nozzle-rotor axial gap spacing of a supersonic impulse turbine on turbine performance. The computations were conducted for four different axial gap cases corresponding to about 6%, 10%, 20% and 30% of the blade height, respectively. The results show a good agreement with previous studies and the turbine efficiency decreases drastically in certain range. It is examined that the turbine performance characteristics could change depending on the influence of leading edge shock to the nozzle outlet. It is also found that the entropy rise distributions along the span differ from each other.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.33-41
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• 2014

In a supersonic turbine, A rotor overlap technique reduced the chance of chocking in the rotor passage, and made the design pressure ratio satisfied. However, the technique also made additional losses, like a pumping loss, expansion loss, etc. Therefore, an approximate optimization technique was appled to find the optimal shape of overlap which maximizes the improvement of the turbine performance. The design variables were shape factors of a rotor overlap. An optimal design for rotor overlap reduces leakage mass flow rate at tip clearance by about 50% and increases about 4% of total-static efficiency compared with the base model. It was found that the most effective design variable is the tip overlap and that the hub overlap size is the lowest.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.235-239
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• 2005

A 30-tonf-class fullscale thrust chamber for the application to a LEO SLV has been combustion tested over the wide ranges of a mixture ratio and a chamber pressure. The thrust chamber designed for an open cycle engine with a turbopump was tested with a ablative combustion chamber instead of a regenerative chamber to first evaluate its performance and function. The test results revealed stable combustion characteristics. The hardware survived the harsh environment and showed very sound functional characteristics. The estimated combustion efficiency of the chamber turned out to be 95% and a specific impulse at sea level was estimated as 254sec, which are comparable to or above the predicted design values.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.561-565
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• 2009

The performance of supersonic impulse turbine was investigated experimentally. Experiment was performed with the compressed air instead of the high temperature burned gas because of the limitation of test facility and danger. As a result of the experiment with the compressed air, the performance in the real gas(burned gas) was predicted by the similarity method. The nozzle area of prototype turbine was calculated based on the real gas. So, it is difficult to satisfy the similarity conditions completely. Two similarity conditions were set and the design point for real gas was existed between two similarity conditions. And, the new turbine test model with calculated nozzle area based on the compressed air was tested. Therefore, similarity point of the new turbine test model was also existed between above two similarity points. It means that the design point for real gas was similar to the test point with the new turbine model.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.54-63
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• 2022

A 3-tonf class liquid rocket engine that powers the upper stage of a small launcher and lifts 500 kg payload to 500 km SSO is designed. The small launcher is to utilize the flight-proven technology of the 75-tonf class engine for the first stage. A combination of liquid oxygen and liquid methane has been selected as their cryogenic states can provide an extra boost in specific impulse as well as enable a weight saving via the common dome arrangement. An expander cycle is chosen among others as the low-pressure operation makes it robust and reliable while a specific impulse of over 360 seconds is achievable with the nozzle extension ratio of 120. Key components such as combustion chamber and turbopump are designed for additive manufacturing to a target cost. The engine system provides an evaporated methane for the autogenous pressurization system and the reaction control of the stage. This upper stage propulsion system can be extended to various missions including deep space exploration.