Stress of a Rocket Turbine under Different Loads Using Finite Element Modeling
Turbopump unit is a key component of the liquid rocket engine assembly and in this paper stresses of a turbopump turbine are investigated using finite element (FE) analysis. Three-dimensional solid modeling of a group of blades and a sector of the disc was first created on CAD software and subsequently exported to a FE package for analysis. The FE results reveals that the maximum stresses in the blades result from rotational and thermal loads owing to the relatively high operating speed and temperature of the turbine and they are located at the root of the blades. Also, the maximum stresses in the disc result from rotational and thermal loads, but with higher values than those in the blades and they are located at the center of the disc. The result of this study may serve as a guideline in the selection of the materials for both the disc and blades.