Liquid rocket boosters for the Space Shuttle - An outline of trade issues and analysis techniques

1988 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. KELLY
Keyword(s):  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Liquid Rocket

Cold Flow Testing of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Alternate Turbopump Development High Pressure Fuel Turbine Model

1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Gaddis ◽  
Susan T. Hudson ◽  
P. Dean Johnson
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Rocket Engine ◽  
Performance Model ◽  
Test Article ◽  
Turbine Performance ◽  
Reynolds Number Effects ◽  
Liquid Rocket ◽  
Turbine Design ◽  
Main Engine

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has established a “cold” airflow turbine test program to experimentally determine the performance of liquid rocket engine turbopump drive turbines. Testing of the space shuttle main engine (SSME) alternate turbopump development (ATD) fuel turbine was conducted for “back-to-back” comparisons with the baseline SSME fuel turbine results obtained in the first quarter of 1991. Turbine performance, Reynolds number effects, and turbine diagnostics, such as stage reactions and exit swirl angles, were investigated at the turbine design point and at off-design conditions. The test data showed that the ATD fuel turbine test article was approximately 1.4 percent higher in efficiency and flowed 5.3 percent more than the baseline fuel turbine test article. This paper describes the method and results used to validate the ATD fuel turbine aerodynamic design. The results are being used to determine the ATD high pressure fuel turbopump (HPFTP) turbine performance over its operating range, anchor the SSME ATD steady-state performance model, and validate various prediction and design analyses.

Radial Inlet and Exit Design for a 10 MWe sCO2 Axial Turbine

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan D. Cich ◽  
J. Jeffrey Moore ◽  
Michael Marshall ◽  
Kevin Hoopes ◽  
Jason Mortzheim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Density ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Rocket Engine ◽  
Thermal Mass ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Axial Turbine ◽  
Mechanical Constraints ◽  
Liquid Rocket

Abstract An enabling technology for a successful deployment of the sCO2 closed-loop recompression Brayton cycle is the development of a high temperature turbine not currently available in the marketplace. This turbine was developed under DOE funding for the STEP Pilot Plant development and represents a second generation design of the Sunshot turbine (Moore, et al., 2018). The lower thermal mass and increased power density of the sCO2 cycle, as compared to steam-based systems, enables the development of compact, high-efficiency power blocks that can respond quickly to transient environmental changes and frequent start-up/shut-down operations. The power density of the turbine is significantly greater than traditional steam turbines and is rivaled only by liquid rocket engine turbo pumps, such as those used on the Space Shuttle Main Engines. One key area that presents a design challenge is the radial inlet and exit collector to the axial turbine. Due to the high power density and overall small size of the machine, the available space for this inlet, collectors and transition regions is limited. This paper will take a detailed look at the space constraints and also the balance of aero performance and mechanical constraints in designing optimal flow paths that will improve the overall efficiency of the cycle.

scholarly journals Recent Experimental Efforts on High-Pressure Supercritical Injection for Liquid Rockets and Their Implications

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Chehroudi
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Critical Point ◽  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Specific Impulse ◽  
Liquid Oxygen ◽  
Liquid Jets ◽  
Rocket Engines ◽  
Liquid Rocket Engines ◽  
Liquid Rocket ◽  
Air Force Research Laboratory

Pressure and temperature of the liquid rocket thrust chambers into which propellants are injected have been in an ascending trajectory to gain higher specific impulse. It is quite possible then that the thermodynamic condition into which liquid propellants are injected reaches or surpasses the critical point of one or more of the injected fluids. For example, in cryogenic hydrogen/oxygen liquid rocket engines, such as Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) or Vulcain (Ariane 5), the injected liquid oxygen finds itself in a supercritical condition. Very little detailed information was available on the behavior of liquid jets under such a harsh environment nearly two decades ago. The author had the opportunity to be intimately involved in the evolutionary understanding of injection processes at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), spanning sub- to supercritical conditions during this period. The information included here attempts to present a coherent summary of experimental achievements pertinent to liquid rockets, focusing only on the injection of nonreacting cryogenic liquids into a high-pressure environment surpassing the critical point of at least one of the propellants. Moreover, some implications of the results acquired under such an environment are offered in the context of the liquid rocket combustion instability problem.

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