Mitsuru Shimagaki

Thermodynamic Effect on a Cavitating Inducer in Liquid Nitrogen

For experimental investigations of the thermodynamic effect on a cavitating inducer, it is nesessary to observe the cavitation. However, visualizations of the cavitation are not so easy in cryogenic flow. For this reason, we estimated the cavity region in liquid nitrogen based on measurements of the pressure fluctuation near the blade tip. We focused on the length of the tip cavitation as a cavitation indicator. Comparison of the tip cavity length in liquid nitrogen (80 K) with that in cold water (296 K) allowed us to estimate the strength of the thermodynamic effect

Numerical Simulation for Vortex Structure in a Turbopump Inducer: Close Relationship With Appearance of Cavitation Instabilities

Unsteady cavitation phenomena such as rotating cavitation and cavitation surge are often observed in a turbopump inducer of a rocket engine, sometimes causing undesirable oscillation of the system. Investigation of their mechanism and prediction of such unsteady phenomena are, therefore, crucial in the design of inducers. As many experiments have shown, the appearance of cavitation instability is highly related to the flow rate as well as to the inlet casing geometry. Experimental observations have shown that a very complex flow structure, including such phenomena as backflow and vortices, appears upstream of the inducer. In this work, therefore, we conducted 3D unsteady computational fluid dynamics simulations of noncavitating flow in a turbopump inducer, mainly focusing on the vortex structure, for three types of inlet casing geometry with various flow rates. Simulation results showed that the vortex structure for the geometry of the inlet casing and that for the flow rate differed. Especially, it was found that development of the tip leakage vortex was dependent on the inlet casing geometry and the flow rate. This tendency is analogous to that observed between the appearance of rotating cavitation and the casing geometry and flow rate in cavitation tunnel tests. This result strongly implies that the tip leakage vortex is responsible for the appearance of rotating cavitation. By adding a gutter to the inlet casing, it was found that backflow was completely confined to the gutter regardless of flow rates. This numerical result implies that the volume of cavity generated in the backflow region should be stable despite a change of the flow rate, resulting in the suppression of increase of the mass flow gain factor. This result also supports the experimental result that cavitation surge was effectively suppressed using such a casing with a gutter.

Influence of Thermodynamic Effect on Synchronous Rotating Cavitation

Synchronous rotating cavitation is known as one type of cavitation instability, which causes synchronous shaft vibration or head loss. On the other hand, cavitation in cryogenic fluids has a thermodynamic effect on cavitating inducers because of thermal imbalance around the cavity. it improves cavitation performances due to delay of cavity growth. However, relationships between the thermodynamic effect and cavitation instabilities are still unknown. To investigate the influence of the thermodynamic effect on synchronous rotating cavitation, we conducted experiments in which liquid nitrogen was set at different temperatures (74 K, 78 K, and 83 K). We clarified the thermodynamic effect on synchronous rotating cavitation in terms of cavity length, fluid force, and liquid temperature. Synchronous rotating cavitation occurs at the critical cavity length of Lc/h ≅ 0.8, and the onset cavitation number shifts to a lower level due to the lag of cavity growth by the thermodynamic effect, which appears significantly with rising liquid temperature. Furthermore, we confirmed that the fluid force acting on the inducer notably increases under conditions of synchronous rotating cavitation.

Multi Objective Optimization of a Supersonic Axial Turbine Blade Row Shape for a Rocket Engine Turbopump

A rocket engine should be small and low weight, therefore, a turbopump for a rocket engine must be smaller and have higher rotation speed than a conventional pump. However, to achieve high thrust, the required power of the pump should be high enough to achieve high specific impulse and thrust. To attain these requirements, a study of design optimization with generic algorithm was applied to blade row shape of the supersonic axial turbine. In this study, a multi-objective optimization was carried out to obtain a tradeoff tendency between multi-objective functions, turbine performance and turbine structural strength. In the present optimization, unsteady CFD was carried out in each optimization population to estimate turbine efficiency more clearly since shock interaction between stator and rotor is one of the most important points for supersonic turbine performance estimation. The optimized result showed that there is a strong tradeoff between turbine efficiency and diameter. The tradeoff information can be used to improve turbopump performance to satisfy requirements as a component of a rocket engine.

Interaction between Uneven Cavity Length and Shaft Vibration at the Inception of Synchronous Rotating Cavitation

Asymmetric cavitation is known as one type of the sources of cavitation induced vibration in turbomachinery. Cavity lengths are unequal on each blade under condition of synchronous rotating cavitation, which causes synchronous shaft vibration. To investigate the relationship of the cavity length, fluid force, and shaft vibration in a cavitating inducer with three blades, we observed the unevenness of cavity length at the inception of synchronous rotating cavitation. The fluid force generated by the unevenness of the cavity length was found to grow exponentially, and the amplitude of shaft vibration was observed to increase exponentially. These experimental results indicate that the synchronous shaft vibration due to synchronous rotating cavitation is like selfexcited vibrations arising from the coupling between cavitation instability and rotordynamics.

Influence of Thermodynamic Effect on Blade Load in a Cavitating Inducer

Distribution of the blade load is one of the design parameters for a cavitating inducer. For experimental investigation of the thermodynamic effect on the blade load, we conducted experiments in both cold water and liquid nitrogen. The thermodynamic effect on cavitation notably appears in this cryogenic fluid although it can be disregarded in cold water. In these experiments, the pressure rise along the blade tip was measured. In water, the pressure increased almost linearly from the leading edge to the trailing edge at higher cavitation number. After that, with a decrease of cavitation number, pressure rise occurred only near the trailing edge. On the other hand, in liquid nitrogen, the pressure distribution was similar to that in water at a higher cavitation number, even if the cavitation number as a cavitation parameter decreased. Because the cavitation growth is suppressed by the thermodynamic effect, the distribution of the blade load does not change even at lower cavitation number. By contrast, the pressure distribution in liquid nitrogen has the same tendency as that in water if the cavity length at the blade tip is taken as a cavitation indication. From these results, it was found that the shift of the blade load to the trailing edge depended on the increase of cavity length, and that the distribution of blade load was indicated only by the cavity length independent of the thermodynamic effect.

Investigation of Backflow Structur e in a Turbopump Inducer with the PIV Method

Backflow is related to the occurrence of both backflow vortex cavitation due to interaction with the main flow and a variety of unsteady cavitations. Understanding backflow mechanisms is essential for clarifying unsteady cavitation phenomena. We examined inlet flow of the inducer under non-cavitation conditions with the PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) method. When the backflow occurred upstream of the blade tip, steady vorticity was extensively distributed near the blade tip. On the other hand, when the region of backflow was narrow, steady vorticity was distributed over a narrow region and Reynolds stress was extensively distributed father from the region of steady vorticity. Notable velocity fluctuations were found to occur near the edge of the backflow. The steady region and the unsteady region were observed to be different in the inlet of the inducer.

Computational Analysis of Unsteady Flow in a Partial Admission Supersonic Turbine Stage

Turbines used in upper stage engine for a rocket are sometimes designed as a supersonic turbine with partial admission. This study deals with numerical investigation of supersonic partial admission turbine in order to understand influences on the unsteady flow pattern, turbine losses and aerodynamic forces on rotor blades due to partial admission configuration. Two-dimensional CFD analysis is conducted using “Numerical Turbine” code. Its governing equation is URANS (Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulation) and fourth-order MUSCL TVD scheme is used for advection scheme.The unsteady simulation indicates that strongly non-uniform circumferential flow field is created due to the partial admission configuration and it especially becomes complex at 1st stage because of shock waves. Some very high or low flow velocity regions are created around the blockage sector. Nozzle exit flow is rapidly accelerated at the inlet of blockage sector and strong rotor LE shock waves are created. In contrast, at rotor blade passages and Stator2 blade passages existing behind the blockage sector, working gas almost stagnates. Large flow separations and flow mixings occur because of the partial admission configuration. As a result, additional strong dissipations are caused and the magnitude of entropy at the turbine exit is approximately 1.5 times higher than that of the full admission.Rotor1 blades experience strong unsteady aerodynamic force variations. The aerodynamic forces greatly vary when the Rotor1 blade passes through the blockage inlet region. The unsteady force in frequency domain indicates that many unsteady force components exist in wide frequency region and the blockage passing frequency component becomes pronounced in the circumferential direction force. Unsteady forces on Rotor2 blades are characterized by a low frequency fluctuation due to the blockage passing.Copyright

Effects of Swirl Brakes on the Leakage Flow Between the Casing and the Shroud of a Centrifugal Impeller

CFD simulations were performed for the leakage flow in the gap between the casing and the shroud of a centrifugal impeller. The effects of swirl brakes created in the casing on the leakage flow were numerically investigated. The leakage flow swirling due to impeller rotation was trapped inside a swirl brake and interacted with the walls of the swirl brake, generating a very complex flow and a vortex structure inside. By the interaction with swirl brakes, the leakage flow rapidly lost its angular momentum mainly in the outer region of the swirl brake. The loss of swirl resulted in a decrease of the pressure difference in the radial direction due to the centrifugal force effect. The radial distribution of pressure in the gap between the casing and the shroud was largely modified, and thus the axial thrust force on the impeller was changed as well. The thrust balance of the impeller can be adjusted by an appropriate design of swirl brakes and the instability of rotating shaft can be reduced by decreasing the swirl of the leakage flow.Copyright

Simulation of Cavitating Inducer in Rocket Engine Turbopump

CFD simulations were applied to cavitating flows around an inducer of a liquid rocket engine turbopump. Unsteady simulations were performed for the full 3D model of an inducer using a cavitation model. The inducer has been tested with water in the cavitation tunnel at JAXA-KSPL to examine suction performance and unsteady cavitation phenomena such as rotating cavitation and cavitation surge. Experiments were conducted under various flow conditions to examine a break-down point of the suction performance and unsteady cavitation phenomena. They have suggested that the casing geometry affected the onset of unsteady cavitation phenomena. Simulations were, therefore, performed for various cavitation numbers. The steady state was firstly calculated without a cavitation model, and then the unsteady calculation was done with the bubble two-phase flow model as a cavitation model. The effect of different model parameters on cavity structure was also examined. In the calculated results, it was clearly observed that the cavity structure grew on the blade surface and accompanied with vortices. These cavities showed dynamic change of their shapes as the rotation of the inducer. The calculated head coefficient showed decrease for small cavitation numbers with similar gradient to that observed in the experiment.Copyright