Estimating Inducer Blade Damping in Water with On-Blade Strain Measurements
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Mulder, Andrew↗
Engineering topics
Mulder, Andrew
Publications and source records attributed to Mulder, Andrew.
Estimating Inducer Blade Damping in Water with On-Blade Strain Measurements
This paper describes the testing, methodology, and results for estimating critical damping ratios of inducer blade structural natural frequencies. A sub-scale inducer water flow test was performed with on-blade strain gauge measurements. Data were acquired in quiescent air and water, and also at several shaft speeds and operating conditions. Two methods were used to provide active excitation to the blades. The first was to impart a mechanical impulse to the inducer shaft and observe the strain gauge response. The second was to install a stator plate upstream of the inducer to create a non-uniform but regular pressure field at the inducer inlet. There are challenges with using either approach, but damping information was extracted using both methods. Results showed that the critical damping ratio for a given blade mode increased from air to quiescent water, and also increased when the inducer was spinning.
Mulder, Andrew↗
Reduced Order Modeling of SLS Liquid Hydrogen Pre-Valve Flow Guide to Enable Rapid Transient Analysis
NASA is developing a new launch vehicle, called the Space Launch System (SLS), which is intended on taking humans out of low earth orbit to destinations including the moon, asteroids, and Mars. The propulsion system for the core stage of this vehicle includes four RS-25 Liquid Hydrogen/Oxygen rocket engines. These engines are upgraded versions of the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME); the upgrades include higher power levels and affordability enhancements. As with any new vehicle, the Main Propulsion System (MPS), which include the feedlines and ancillary hardware connecting the engines to the fuel and oxidizer tanks, had to be redesigned (figure 1 - export clearance in progress), as the previous MPS for the SSME's was inherently part of the Space Shuttle System, which had a completely different overall configuration.
Brown, Andrew M.↗
Effects of Alternate Leading Edge Cutback on the Space Shuttle Main Engine Low Pressure Fuel Pump
A higher order cavitation oscillation observed in the SSME low pressure fuel pump has been eliminated in water flow testing of a modified subscale replica of the inducer. The low pressure pump was modified by removing the outboard sections of two opposing blades of the four-bladed inducer, blending the "cutback" regions into the blades at the leading edge and tip, and removing material on the suction sides to decrease the exposed leading edge thickness. The leading edge tips of the cutback blades were moved approximately 25 degrees from their previous locations, thereby increasing one blade to blade spacing, decreasing the second, while simultaneously moving the cutback tips downstream. The test was conducted in MSFC's inducer test loop at scaled operating conditions in degassed and filtered water. In addition to eliminating HOC across the entire scaled operating regime, rotating cavitation was suppressed while the range of both alternate blade and asymmetric cavitation were increased. These latter phenomena, and more significantly, the shifts between these cavitation modes also resulted in significant changes to the head coefficient at low cavitation numbers. Reverse flow was detected at a slightly larger flow coefficient with the cutback inducer and suction capability was reduced by approximately 1 velocity head at and above approximately 90% of the reference flow coefficient. These performance changes along with more intense reverse flow are consistent with poor flow area management and increased incidence in the cutback region. Although the test demonstrated that the inducer modification was successful at eliminating the higher order cavitation across the entire scaled operating regime, different, previously unobserved, cavitation oscillations were introduced and significant performance penalties were imposed.
Mulder, Andrew↗
Rotating Balances Used for Fluid Pump Testing
Marshall Space Flight Center has developed and demonstrated two direct read force and moment balances for sensing and resolving the hydrodynamic loads on rotating fluid machinery. These rotating balances consist of a series of stainless steel flexures instrumented with semiconductor type, unidirectional strain gauges arranged into six bridges, then sealed and waterproofed, for use fully submerged in degassed water at rotational speeds up to six thousand revolutions per minute. The balances are used to measure the forces and moments due to the onset and presence of cavitation or other hydrodynamic phenomena on subscale replicas of rocket engine turbomachinery, principally axial pumps (inducers) designed specifically to operate in a cavitating environment. The balances are inserted into the drive assembly with power to and signal from the sensors routed through the drive shaft and out through an air-cooled twenty-channel slip ring. High frequency data - balance forces and moments as well as extensive, flush-mounted pressures around the rotating component periphery - are acquired via a high-speed analog to digital data acquisition system while the test rig conditions are varied continuously. The data acquisition and correction process is described, including the in-situ verifications that are performed to quantify and correct for known system effects such as mechanical imbalance, "added mass," buoyancy, mechanical resonance, and electrical bias. Examples of four types of cavitation oscillations for two typical inducers are described in the laboratory (pressure) and rotating (force) frames: 1) attached, symmetric cavitation, 2) rotating cavitation, 3) attached, asymmetric cavitation, and 4) cavitation surge. Rotating and asymmetric cavitation generate a corresponding unbalanced radial force on the rotating assembly while cavitation surge generates an axial force. Attached, symmetric cavitation induces no measurable force. The frequency of the forces can be determined a priori from the pressure environment while the magnitude of the hydrodynamic force is proportional to the pressure unsteadiness.
Skelley, Stephen↗
Powerpack Testing of the J2-X Oxidizer Turbopump
The J-2X PPA-2 (Powerpack 2) test series was conducted from February through December 2012 on the A1 test stand at NASA Stennis Space Center in a joint effort between Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The series consisted of 13 tests for a total hotfire duration close to 6500 seconds. Among the chief test objectives was characterization of the capabilities of the new J-2X turbopumps. This paper concentrates on the test results pertaining specifically to the Oxidizer Turbopump (OTP) operation in liquid oxygen (LOX). The two bladed inducer configuration that was tested had a 0.81% blade height tip clearance and incorporated the B-groove modification to the inducer tunnel outboard of the inducer leading edge. Data was collected on inducer suction performance, pump radial loading, and the pump dynamic environment in LOX. Comparisons were made to prior data collected on two geometrically similar subscale inducers tested in water at NASA MSFC (70% scale) and Concepts NREC (52% scale). In overview, the results of the powerpack testing were consistent with the radial load assessment from the water tests. The inducer performed differently in the other two categories, however. The inducer suction performance capability in LOX was notably improved. This was expected and is probably attributable to thermal suppression head (TSH) effects. While the dynamic environment was similar in most aspects to water test observations, the higher order cavitation (HOC) during the powerpack testing was much more benign.
Jambusaria, Mitul↗
Water Flow Testing and Unsteady Pressure Analysis of a Two-Bladed Liquid Oxidizer Pump Inducer
The unsteady fluid dynamic performance of a cavitating two-bladed oxidizer turbopump inducer was characterized through sub-scale water flow testing. While testing a novel inlet duct design that included a cavitation suppression groove, unusual high-frequency pressure oscillations were observed. With potential implications for inducer blade loads, these high-frequency components were analyzed extensively in order to understand their origins and impacts to blade loading. Water flow testing provides a technique to determine pump performance without the costs and hazards associated with handling cryogenic propellants. Water has a similar density and Reynolds number to liquid oxygen. In a 70%-scale water flow test, the inducer-only pump performance was evaluated. Over a range of flow rates, the pump inlet pressure was gradually reduced, causing the flow to cavitate near the pump inducer. A nominal, smooth inducer inlet was tested, followed by an inlet duct with a circumferential groove designed to suppress cavitation. A subsequent 52%-scale water flow test in another facility evaluated the combined inducer-impeller pump performance. With the nominal inlet design, the inducer showed traditional cavitation and surge characteristics. Significant bearing loads were created by large side loads on the inducer during synchronous cavitation. The grooved inlet successfully mitigated these loads by greatly reducing synchronous cavitation, however high-frequency pressure oscillations were observed over a range of frequencies. Analytical signal processing techniques showed these oscillations to be created by a rotating, multi-celled train of pressure pulses, and subsequent CFD analysis suggested that such pulses could be created by the interaction of rotating inducer blades with fluid trapped in a cavitation suppression groove. Despite their relatively low amplitude, these high-frequency pressure oscillations posed a design concern due to their sensitivity to flow conditions and test scale. The amplitude and frequency of oscillations varied considerably over the pump s operating space, making it difficult to predict blade loads.
Schwarz, Jordan B.↗
Fluctuating Pressure Environments and Hydrodynamic Radial Force Mitigation for a Two Blade Unshrouded Inducer
Fluctuating pressure data from water flow testing of an unshrouded two blade inducer revealed a cavitation induced oscillation with the potential to induce a radial load on the turbopump shaft in addition to other more traditionally analyzed radial loads. Subsequent water flow testing of the inducer with a rotating force measurement system confirmed that the cavitation induced oscillation did impart a radial load to the inducer. After quantifying the load in a baseline configuration, two inducer shroud treatments were selected and tested to reduce the cavitation induced load. The first treatment was to increase the tip clearance, and the second was to introduce a circumferential groove near the inducer leading edge. Increasing the clearance resulted in a small decrease in radial load along with some steady performance degradation. The groove greatly reduced the hydrodynamic load with little to no steady performance loss. The groove did however generate some new, relatively high frequency, spatially complex oscillations to the flow environment.
Mulder, Andrew↗
Fluctuating Pressure Environments and Hydrodynamic Radial Force Mitigation for a Two Blade Unshrouded Inducer
Fluctuating pressure data from water flow testing of an unshrouded two blade inducer revealed a cavitation induced oscillation with the potential to induce a radial load on the turbopump shaft in addition to other more traditionally analyzed radial loads. Subsequent water flow testing of the inducer with a rotating force measurement system confirmed that the cavitation induced oscillation did impart a radial load to the inducer. After quantifying the load in a baseline configuration, two inducer shroud treatments were selected and tested to reduce the cavitation induced load. The first treatment was to increase the tip clearance, and the second was to introduce a circumferential groove near the inducer leading edge. Increasing the clearance resulted in a small load decrease along with some steady performance degradation. The groove greatly reduced the hydrodynamic load with little to no steady performance loss. The groove did however generate some new, relatively high frequency, spatially complex oscillations to the environment.
Mulder, Andrew↗