Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench

Julian Pauw, Lucrezia Veggi, Bernd Wagner, Joydip Mondal, Maximilian

Klotz, Oskar Haidn

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Julian Pauw, Lucrezia Veggi, Bernd Wagner, Joydip Mondal, Maximilian Klotz, et al.. Design Pro-
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Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench
Julian D. Pauw1 *, Lucrezia Veggi1 , Bernd Wagner2 , Joydip Mondal1,3 , Maximilian Klotz1 ,
Oskar J. Haidn1

AT
Abstract
ROT ING M
O
N The high complexity of turbopumps for liquid rocket engines and their demanding requirements
AC
SYMPOSIA

necessitate that their design process is accompanied by extensive experimental investigations and
HINERY

validation tests. This paper presents the design procedure for a rocket turbopump test bench, where
water is used as a surrogate for the cryogenic fluids usually used in rocket engines. Scaling methods,
that allow for a comparison of tests under varying conditions, are reviewed from literature and
applied to derive the necessary dimensions of the test bench. The resulting test bench design is
ISROMAC 2017 shown in detail and its capabilities to support the turbopump design process are assessed. Further,
the operational envelope of the derived test bench design is evaluated with respect to later tests of
International
Symposium on
different pumps.
Transport Phenomena Keywords
and turbopump — liquid oxygen scaling — test bench design
Dynamics of Rotating
Machinery 1 Technical University of Munich, Department of Mechnical Engineering, Chair of Turbomachinery and Flight Propulsion,
Divison Space Propulsion, Munich, Germany
Maui, Hawaii 2 Institute of Space Propulsion Lampoldshausen, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Hardthausen, Germany
3 Cryogenic Engineering Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India
December 16-21, 2017 *Corresponding author: julian.pauw@ltf.mw.tum.de

1. INTRODUCTION are stored in liquid state under boiling conditions on-board

the launcher and thus ground tests with cryogenic fluids are
The turbopumps of a liquid rocket engine (LRE) supply the
of very complex nature. Besides the difficult generation and
combustion devices with fuel and oxidizer at high mass flow
storage of the cryogenic fluids, the demands on the turbo-
rates and at a high pressure level. Typically, fuel and oxidizer
pump under development are very high as the design needs
are pumped by separate pumps. The turbopumps increase
to withstand high temperature loads and it needs to take
the pressure from a low pressure level in the tank to a high
into consideration material choices for cryogenic tempera-
pressure level needed for the combustion process. Conse-
tures for every tests. Consequently, tests with fluids that are
quently, the turbopumps are a substantial part of the rocket
liquid at ambient temperature are highly desirable. Further,
engine. The dimension and the performance of the turbo-
it would be beneficial to perform tests at lower rotational
pumps depend highly on the desired engine operation point,
speeds without loosing information on the flow behaviour in-
the engine cycle and the requirements of the combustion
side the pump. Test benches operated with water at ambient
chamber.
temperature have been established as a very good solution
The work performed at the Division Space Propulsion of the
to this problem. A drawback of tests at ambient temperature
Technical University of Munich (TUM) is embedded into the
with water is that the cavitational behaviour of turbopumps
research project KonRAT, i.e. rocket propulsion engine com-
cannot be captured. Especially, the so called thermodynamic
ponents for applications in aerospace transportation systems.
suppression head (TSH), an effect that can be observed at
The project aims at establishing competences in the devel-
tests with cryogenic fluids, is not present at ambient temper-
opment of turbopumps. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Key objective at the
ature tests with water. A solution is provided by the findings
Division Space Propulsion, TUM, is the investigation of the
of several research groups which show that similarity of the
design process of turbopumps and the investigation of fluid
cavitational performance can be reached by heating the water
phenomena. Both parts are carried out numerically as well
up [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11].
as experimentally.
The Division Space Propulsion, TUM, has established a design In literature, many different scaling and similarity methods
process for rocket engine turbo pumps based on well-known are present. This paper will present a set of those methods
literature and commercially available software tools [1]. In based on a literature survey and makes use of the methods
order to fully understand all design parameters and to ensure in order to define the operating conditions of a test bench for
that those parameters desired can be reached, experimental a liquid oxygen turbo pump developed at TUM. The derived
validation of those design parameters is an indispensable test bench will be shown in detail and its properties will be
step in the design loop of every rocket engine turbopump. evaluated for later usage. This is mostly done by making use
The fuel and the oxidizer of cryogenic liquid rocket engines of a numerical test bench representation in the commercially
 Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench — 2/11

available software tool EcosimPro® . In order to be able to use to model flows with free surfaces where gravitational forces
the test bench for other configurations as well, an outlook on have a large impact.
the generalized operational envelope of the test bench will
complete this paper, so that the possible use for future test
inertia force v2
campaigns with different configurations can be estimated. Fr = = (4)
gravitational force gLc
2. SCALING METHODS The Reynolds number relates between the acting inertia
In order to test a pump in a test facility at conditions that forces and the viscous forces. Equivalent Reynolds num-
differ from the normal operating conditions, the similarity of bers predict a similar development of boundary layers inside
the flow passing through the pumps needs to be established two compared pumps. The generation of boundary layers
both at the test bench and at the operational conditions. Ac- is closely linked to the surface roughness of the parts that
cording to [12, 13, 14], this similarity can be reached if four conduct the flow. Especially for geometrically scaled models
different parameters are comparable: (1) the geometry un- it is difficult to generate a comparable surface roughness of
der investigation, (2) a comparable establishment of velocity all pump components. For the purpose of comparing differ-
triangles at pump inlet and outlet, (3) a similar dynamic be- ent radial machines, the Reynolds number is often defined as
haviour of the pump and (4) comparable thermodynamic the product of peripheral velocity U3 at the impeller outlet
properties of the fluids. and the corresponding tip radius R3 divided by the kinematic
viscosity υ. When comparing the scaled measurements in
Following Sigloch [13, 14], geometric comparability of two detail, it is strongly recommended to calculate the Reynolds
turbo machines is fulfilled if the dimensions of the parts number locally to guarantee comparable boundary layers all
conducting the flow follow a certain ratio in all spatial di- over the pump [14, 13, 15, 16].
mensions. This offers not only comparable interaction of
the fluid with the static and dynamic parts of the machine, 2
U3 Rt,3 ωRt,3
inertia force
but also yields similar velocity triangles at every correspond- Re = = = (5)
viscous force υ υ
ing point for friction-free conditions because the velocity
vectors are then governed by passage dimensions and the The Euler number describes the ratio between pressure forces
rotational speed only. It is important to make sure that not and inertia forces. For the scaling of pumps, it is inevitable
only the rotor and blade geometries are comparable, but also to keep the Euler number the same for model and prototype.
the gap geometries and clearance distances between rotor
and housing.
pressure force ∆p
Eu = = 2 (6)
inertia force ρv
dimension of prototype Xm
λgeometr y = = (1) Further, the thermal properties of the fluids, i.e. the spe-
dimension of model Xa
cific heat, the enthalpy and the thermal diffusivity, largely
influence the flow characteristics. This is especially true for
velocities of prototype vm machines that exhibit a large pressure difference. It is advis-
λvelocity = = (2) able to make use of fluids with comparable properties and to
velocities of model va
closely track property changes.
In the case of single-phase flows, i.e. in the case of non-
cavitating flows, the forces acting on the pump are the fol- The above scaling methods need to be incorporated in order
lowing: inertia forces, pressure forces, viscous forces and the to design a test bench that can be used to test a LOX turbop-
gravitational force. Additionally, forces resulting from the ump with water. For ground tests of liquid rocket engine
elasticity of the mechanical system, especially the shaft, can turbopumps, the gravitational effects are negligible. The dif-
act on the pump components. The flow through two different ferences in height and the resulting effects are comparably
pumps can only be considered similar if the ratio of the forces small. The Froude scaling is thus irrelevant. The Reynolds
acting on these pumps is constant in all spatial directions. scaling is of high importance. At least for this application, it
is sufficient to achieve fully turbulent conditions in the model
forces at prototype Fm and the prototype because the boundary layers that develop
λF or ce = = (3) at turbulent conditions are assumed to be comparable. Fully
forces at model Fa
turbulent conditions can be considered for Ret,3 > 106 . Due
The forces acting in pumps with single-phase flows can be to the high rotational speeds of liquid rocket engine turbop-
related by the Froude number, the Reynolds number and the umps, this requirement can be fulfilled without any problems.
Euler number. These characteristic numbers should be the Figure 1 sums up the properties that need to be scaled for
same for the model and the prototype. liquid rocket engine turbopumps.
The Froude number is defined as the ratio of inertia forces to Obeying the above given similarity conditions, the operating
gravitational forces. It is commonly used in hydro-mechanics properties can be transferred between model and prototype
 Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench — 3/11

feasible. The minimal required NPSHR has to be smaller than

the available NPSH A.
Comparable Thermodynamic
boundary layers scaling of fluid

NPSHR ≤ NPSH A (11)

Geometric
Similar velocity
In order to show comparable behaviour with water as a sur-
scaling of
rotating parts Fluid- triangles rogate compared to cryogenic fluids in terms of cavitation, it
dynamic is necessary to match the same flow coefficient ϕ as well as
scaling of
flow
the cavitation number σ [14, 15].

2Q
ϕ= (12)
ADt ω
Figure 1. Comparable properties for fluid-dynamic
similarity
(pst − pv )
σ= (13)
2ρl Dt2 ω2
with the help of well-known scaling laws for pumps[14].
However, in experiments with several fluids, especially with
For the volume flow rate: cryogenic fluids, that operate close to their critical point like
liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, it was possible to observe
Qm Qa
= (7) that the inducers of pumps are operating without cavitation
Nm Dt,m 3 Na Dt,a 3 at NPSH values smaller than the NPSHR which would be
expected for an ideal fluid. This effect is commonly called
For the head rise:
thermal suppression head (TSH). By definition, the TSH cal-
Hm Ha culates to the difference between the available NPSH A and
= (8)
Nm 2 Dt,m 2 Na 2 Dt,a 2 the NPSHideal f luid that would be expected for an ideal fluid.
NPSHideal f luid equals the NPSHt ank minus friction losses
For the input power: in the inlet tubing [18].
Pm Pa
= (9)
Nm 3 Dt,m 5 ρm Na 3 Dt,a 5 ρa TSH = NPSHavailable − NPSHideal f luid (14)

The mechanism of bubble formation, growth and collapse in

2.1 Scaling of Cavitation Phenomena cavitation depends largely on the instantaneous heat trans-
The scaling methodology above is valid for ideal fluids, i.e. fer between the bubble and the surrounding fluid, the size
non-cavitating single-phase flows. In operational regimes of the pump and the speed of the pump. Thus, additional
where cavitation at the pump blades occurs, a two-phase flow scaling methods are needed to allow for a prediction of the
is present as a phase change is triggered by a pressure drop mechanisms related to thermodynamic effects. Several pa-
where the local fluid pressure is below the vapour pressure rameters and models have been suggested in order to de-
of the fluid. Usually, a certain amount of cavitation can be scribe and predict the occurrence of cavitation in this regard
accepted for every pump, but excessive cavitation results in [19, 12, 20, 21, 22, 23].
a head break down of the whole pump and defines an oper- Brennen [24], by simply looking at a heat balance between
ational limit of the pump when the local static pressure is the vapor and liquid phases, established a dimensional param-
much smaller than the vapor pressure of the pumped liquid. eter that, as he claimed, should be identical for replicating
In rocket engine turbopumps, cavitation usually first occurs identical cavitation behavior in two liquids. He assumed that
at the leading-edge of the inducer and it is for most appli- the heat-transfer between the bubble and its surrounding is
cations best described by heterogeneous nucleation due to of conductive nature. The developed parameter Σ is widely
fluid impurities [17]. By definition, the net positive suction used. Thereby, he tried to show the different ranges within
head (NPSH) calculates to the difference between the total which the cavitation behavior of different fluids resembled
pressure and the fluid’s vapor pressure at the inlet divided the cavitation behaviour of water.
by the local density of the fluid. [18].
ρ2v h2f g
Σ = 2√ (15)
Pst − Pv ρl αl Cp,l Tl
NPSH = (10)
ρg
Ehrlich and Murdock [25] further developed this parameter
The required net positive suction head (NPSHR ) is commonly to a non-dimensional thermal scaling parameter called Di-
defined as the point where operation of the pump is still mensionless Bubble (DB) parameter by considering bubble
 Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench — 4/11

growth over a time-varying pressure field. The resulting DB Table 2. LOX turbopump detailed design parameters
parameter is similar to the formulation suggested by Ruggeri
and Moore [20] and is considered very convenient for esti- Property Value Unit
mating the thermal operational boundaries of the test bench
at an early stage in the test bench design process, as it is Pump Characteristics
√
based solely on thermodynamic properties of the bulk fluid Specific speed NS 24.34 r pm · m2/ s
rather than empirical correlations. For the detailed investiga- Design head coefficient ψst, pump 0.56 -
tion of a specific pump, it is of high importance to take into Hydraulic efficiency ηhyd 0.88 -
account all available prediction models, especially those for Pump overall efficiency ηtot 0.75 -
which better validation data is available in literature. Shaft power Psha f t −197 kW

√ Inducer Characteristics
Rt ω3/2 Cp,l Tl ρ2l αl √
DB = (16) Design suction specific speed NSS 421.42 r pm · m2/ s
h2f g ρ2v Design head coefficient ψtot,inducer 0.11 -
Design flow coefficient ϕinducer 0.089 -
Number of blades Zinducer 2 -
3. TEST OBJECT Hub-to-tip ratio, inlet Dh,1 /Dt,1 0.40 -
Hub-to-tip ratio, outlet Dh,2 /Dt,2 0.64 -
One main goal of the test bench under construction is to
Tip diameter Dt,1 70.83 mm
establish a result validation loop within the numerical design
process for turbopumps at TUM. The pump to be developed Impeller Characteristics
is a liquid oxygen turbopump designed for a liquid hydrogen
and liquid oxygen expander cycle engine. The desired opera- Design head coefficient ψtot,impeller 0.50 -
tional parameters are given in Table 1. The resulting thrust Design flow coefficient ϕimpeller 0.10 -
level is in the order of magnitude of the VINCI upper stage Number of blades Zimpeller 6 -
engine. Tip-to-outlet ratio Dt2 /Dt3 0.72 -
Hub-to-outlet ratio Dh2 /Dt3 0.46 -
Tip diameter Dt3 100.284 mm
Table 1. LOX turbopump nominal operating conditions

Property Value Unit

Rotational speed N 20000 rpm
Nominal mass flow rate m 25 kg/s
Total pressure at pump inlet pt,1 2.5 bar
Temperature at pump inlet T1 90 K
Total pressure at pump outlet pt,3 70 bar

A radial-type impeller was selected based on the suction

specific speed NSS value of the pump. Additionally, in order
to avoid cavitation in the radial impeller stage, a high head
inducer with cylindrical tip shape was positioned in front
of the impeller. [1, 5] A summary of the design details at
nominal operating conditions with liquid oxygen is given in
Table 2.
A preliminary CAD sketch of the pump assembly with in- Figure 2. Preliminary CAD view of the developed
ducer, impeller and turbine is shown in Figure 2. The test turbopump at TUM without housing and volute. The pump
bench is designed in such a way as to investigate the pump components are highlighted.
detached from the turbine system. The parts of the pump
assembly that are relevant for the test bench design are high-
identifies the test objectives which are of interest and the
lighted.
implementation in the test bench.

4. TEST BENCH DESIGN 4.1 Test Objectives

The main properties of the test bench can be selected based One of the key objectives of the test facility is to provide
on the dimensions of the pump under development and the performance validation data for the turbopump development
general scaling methods for pumps, which have both been at the Division Space Propulsion, TUM. This can be yielded
introduced in the sections before. The following section by measuring the pump’s head rise at varied volume flow
 Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench — 5/11

F Water Pipe
Main Throttle Massflowmeter Pump Shaft
Valve

Temperature
Pressure
Optional Water Heating System Pressure

Temperature
Electrical
Water Heater
Main Tank
Inducer &
Bearing
Pressure Control Impeller under
Auxiliary Pump Unit
System Investigation Motor

Bearing

Torque

Speed
F

Data
Massflowmeter

Temperature
Pressure
Figure 3. Drawing of the test bench layout

rates and rotational speeds in order to generate a pump per- The scaled design head rise at Nmax equals
formance chart. Therefore, it is necessary to acquire the
following data: the pressure difference over the investigated
pump, the mass flow rate, the shaft torque and the rotational Ha Nm 2
Hm, Nma x ≈ = 33.30 m (18)
speed of the shaft. The torque measurements give informa- Na 2
tion about the efficiency of the pump under investigation.
At the same operating point, the shaft power calculates to
A second goal is to experimentally observe the cavitation
behaviour of the inducer and the pump with water tests in
order to predict the cavitation behaviour under liquid oxygen Pa Nm 3 ρm
conditions. Therefore, as evident from the cavitation scaling Pm, Nma x ≈ = 3.29 kW (19)
Na 3 ρ a
theory, the water needs to be heated up in order to operate
the facility with a liquid which is close to its boiling point. The dimensions of the new test facility have to be chosen
in such a way that those parameters can be satisfied. A
wider range of operation above those limits is desirable for
potentially subsequent expansions of the test facility.
4.2 Test Facility Dimensioning
In order to test the cavitation performance of the pump in-
For an operation of the pump in non-cavitating conditions, ducer, it is necessary that the mass flow coefficient ϕ, the cav-
the scaling methods of equation 7, equation 8 and equation itation number σ and the thermodynamic properties match
9 have to be applied. The maximal rotational speed of the the ones of the LOX application. Further, the turbopump
motor that drives the pump has been chosen to Nmax = has to be operated in regions where Re > 106 . As for non-
5500 r pm. The following considerations will approve this cavitating conditions, the geometry of the LOX hardware is
choice. Further, it is in good agreement with the rotational used without dimensional scaling.
speeds of comparable test facilities. Consequently, sub-scale The minimal necessary rotational speed for which Re = 106
tests will be performed. The geometry stays the same as is satisfied can be described, according to Equation 5, by
in the LOX hardware. The hardware designed for the LOX
turbopump will be used on the test bench without any scaling:
λgeom = 1. The efficiency of the pump on the test bench and υRe
ω≥ 2
= 400.55 r ad/s or N ≥ 3825.00 r pm (20)
the efficiency of the original LOX pump are assumed to be Rt,3
equal: ηm = ηa .
The thermodynamic properties are assumed to be compara-
With the properties of the pump under development at TUM, ble if the Dimensionless Bubble (DB) parameter, as denoted
given in Table 1 and Table 2, the maximal mass flow rate at in Equation 16, is equal or close to equal. For the LOX tur-
Nmax based on the design point of the original LOX hardware bopump, with the operational parameters given in Table 1
calculates to and the dimensions of the impeller given in Table 2, this
parameter calculates to DBLOX,re f = 0.306 for the impeller
of the TUM design. The plot in Figure 4 shows the LOX
Q a Nmax DB reference value DBLOX,re f as a constant line. Together
Q m, Nma x ≈ = 24.75 m3/h (17) with this constant value, the DB value calculated for different
Na
 Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench — 6/11

rotational speeds is shown in dependence of the water tem- inductive mass flow meters. The decay of the water quality
perature. It is clearly visible that for each rotational speed is slowed down as well due to the fact that no permanent
of the turbopump on the test bench, a specific water tem- access of light is present in the system. A major drawback of
perature has to be set in order to satisfy the equality of the a closed-loop system is that, in case of occurring cavitation,
Dimensionless Bubble (DB) parameter. With increasing ro- vapour bubbles can persist in the system and be sucked into
tational speed, the required water temperature rises. For the inlet again.
the maximal chosen rotational speed of the motor Nmax , the The drawing in Figure 3 shows an overview of the circuit.
water temperature iteratively calculates to TNma x = 368 K. It Necessary sensor positions, actuators and their positions
has to be pointed out that this value for the bulk water tem- within the loop are shown as well.
perature at the pump inlet only serves as design constraint
The water reservoir is realized by a stainless steel tank with
to the water heating system at this early point in the test
a volume of Vt ank = 2000 l. It is designed to withstand the
bench design procedure.
mechanical and thermal loads of water at pt ank,max = 4 bar
and Tt ank,max = 100◦ C. The tank is equipped with a EPDM
104 membrane filled with pressurized air. This membrane has a
1500rpm
3100rpm volume of Vmembr ane = 500 l. The air pressure within this
5500rpm membrane and therefore also within the tank is variable and
LOX-Reference can be controlled and regulated electronically. In operational
102 modes where cavitation occurs, it is very likely that bubbles
are transported into the tank and might disturb the pump
DB [-]

measurements if they are sucked into the pump again. In

order to significantly reduce this effect, it is desirable to
100 maximize the residence time of the water in the reservoir.
This is attained by redirecting the inlet flow in circumferential
direction. In addition, the amount of dissolved oxygen can
be measured in order to attain a good repeatability of the
10-2 test conditions. Further, the tank can be depressurized up to
280 300 320 340 360 a negative pressure of pt,t ank = 0.9 bar to remove dissolved
Water Temperature [K]
oxygen. This is especially important for tests with heated
Figure 4. Dimenionless Bubble (DB) parameter at different water. For safety reasons, the tank is also equipped with an
rotational speeds. The DB reference value has been over-pressure valve. The controllable static inlet pressure
calculated for the a LOX pump as described in Table 1. The allows to perform NPSHR evaluations on the test pump.
LOX geometry is used without any changes for the water The inlet to the pump from the main reservoir and the outlet
tests. The DB values are calculated for pt,1 = 1 bar. piping from the pump to the main tank is created by stainless
steel tubes with circular cross-section and standard flange
connectors. The tube dimension has been chosen to equal the
4.3 Detailed Test Bench Design standard dimension DN80. This results in an internal pipe
Water is selected as the test medium. The use of water offers diameter of all tubes of Dtube = 80.8 mm. It is favourable
several advantages. The most important advantage is the easy to have a fully turbulent flow within the tubes present at
handling. This allows for a comparably cheap operation of all times. This is feasible with Dtube for mass flow rates
the test facility. Compared to tests with cryogenic fluids, the from m min = 0.6 kgs on. Based on the head rise scaling con-
safety of tests is also improved. Further, only very few mate- siderations in Equation 18, all tubes have been designed in
rial incompatibilities are known. The system is designed as a the pressure class DN80-PN25. Due to restrictions of the
closed circuit. This is especially advantageous for tests with sensors and auxiliary equipment in the loop, the static pres-
heated water: after preheating the water up to the desired sure in the inlet section, including the tank, is limited to
temperature, the heater only needs to keep the temperature p1,max = 4 bar. The pressure in the outlet section is limited
at the desired level. This can improve the temperature con- to p3,max = 10 bar. In order to avoid possible sources of
trol accuracy. The use of a closed water loop is also in good cavitation in the tubing, all transitions and redirections of
agreement with other test facilities for pumps at different flow are manufactured as smooth as possible. Further, all
institutes and national standards [6, 7, 8, 26, 27, 9, 10, 11, 28]. sources of flow disturbance are avoided in all tubes in front
As the water is supposed to stay within the circuit for the of sensors and in the tube in front of the pump inlet at a tube
duration of multiple test campaigns, deionized water is used. length of Lmin = 10 Dtube .
This is beneficial as depositions on water circuit components The head rise of the pump needs to be reduced to the pressure
are limited. Especially for heated water, the sedimentary level of the tank. This is done by a throttle valve configura-
deposition of limescale is reduced significantly [29]. It has tion in-between the pump and the tank. In order to reduce
to be taken into account that the water needs a minimal the risk of cavitation at the throttling system, two identi-
conductivity greater 20 µS/cm to guarantee the operation of cal valves are arranged in a daisy-chain configuration. Both
 Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench — 7/11

valves are equipped with an electronically controllable ac- tests with heated water. Therefore, a water heating system
tuation unit. This makes it possible to set the pressure drop is included in the test bench setup. This heating system is
across each valve independently. Further, the mass flow rate designed as a second auxiliary circuit that can be decoupled
can be controlled. This feature is needed in order to do a from the pump circuit. Thus, it is possible to heat the water
performance mapping of the pump under investigation and contained in the main tank to a desired temperature. The
it is a crucial requirement for cavitation scaling. water is heated up by an electrical heater with a power of
The mass flow rate is sensed at two locations. One inductive Pht,el = 60 kW. The water in the second auxiliary water
mass flow meter is placed in the inlet tubing directly in front circuit is driven by a separate pump. The heating system is
of the pump inlet. A second inductive mass flow meter is designed to control the temperature within ∆T1 = ±1 K and
placed after the pump. At the same position, a measurement can attain a maximal water temperature of Tmax = 100◦ C.
orifice is placed. This is where the pressure drop across a For means of flow control in the auxiliary heating circuit, the
defined through-flow area is measured. Thus, for a given fluid water temperature at the heater outlet, the static pressure at
density, the mass flow rate can be calculated in a second, inde- heater inlet and heater outlet as well as the mass flow rate
pendent way. This allows for a comparison of measurement are closely monitored. The mass flow rate is detected by a
results and the improvement of the measurement accuracy measuring orifice. The bladder inside the main tank serves
in all measurement ranges. as a compensation reservoir for volumetric changes due to
the heating of the water. A dedicated cooling system is not
For the controlled operation of the test bench, pressures and
implemented, but the insulation of the tank and the tubing
temperatures are captured at different locations of the water
is designed in a way that continuous heating is necessary to
circuit. The static pressure is monitored, as depicted in Figure
attain a constant high temperature.
3, in the pump inlet section, in the pump outlet section and
Figure 5 shows a CAD plot of the main circuit of the test
directly after the main throttle valve configuration. At all
facility that is currently being constructed at the Division
three locations, the pressure measurements are averaged over
Space Propulsion, TUM.
the circumference of the horizontally placed pipes in order
to compare for gravity effects. The measured static pressure
difference between pump inlet and pump outlet can be used
to calculate the head rise of the pump. The static pressure
difference over the throttling valve configuration allows for
a safe operation of the same. In addition, the tank pressure
is also monitored. Additionally, temperatures are detected at
all mentioned pressure sensor locations. Especially for tests
with heated water, these temperature readings yield valuable
information for the thermal control system.
The pump is driven by a three-phase alternating current (AC)
electric motor with a maximal power of Psha f t,max = 12 kW.
The motor reaches its maximal torque Tsha f t,max = 27 Nm
at its design speed Nr e f = 3100 r pm. The maximal speed of
the motor, without the use of any additional transmission, is
Nmax = 5500 r pm. The motor is connected to the shaft by a
flexible coupling that dampens the temporary high torque
during start-up. The shaft is held in position by a bearing
unit in overhung configuration - the bearings are positioned
between the pump and the drive unit. The bearing unit is de-
signed as an arrangement of a fixed bearing close to the pump Figure 5. CAD view of the turbopump test bench at TUM
and a floating bearing close to the drive unit. All loads on
the drive unit are closely monitored. This includes the torque
of the shaft, the rotational speed and the axial force acting 4.4 Numerical Design Methods
on the fixed bearing. Further, a bearing monitoring system In order to enhance the test facility development described
is established by permanent observation of the bearing race in the previous sections, the test bench was modelled nu-
temperatures. All bearings are run with grease lubrication merically in parallel with the physical setup. Therefore, the
and the grease quality is observed in fixed intervals. Further, water circuit including all pipes, valves and the tank have
the pump housing is equipped with three acceleration sen- been modelled in the software tool EcosimPro® . Especially
sors for the investigation of potential instabilities. The data all components that are foreseen to be electronically con-
obtained from those sensors can also be used to monitor the trolled were investigated numerically in detail. Therefore,
bearing operation. the heating system and the tank, including the membrane
As shown in section 2, in order to reproduce the cavitation bladder, were represented as detailed numerical models. For
behaviour of the LOX turbopump, it is necessary to run all components, the pressure drop across those components
 Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench — 8/11

10% 20% 30% 40% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

100 60

50
80
60%
50% 40 1500 rpm
3100 rpm
60
5500 rpm 70%
H [m]

H [m]
60% 30
80%
40
70% 90%
80% 20
100%
90%
20 100% 10

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Q [m3/h] Q [m3/h]

Figure 6. Numerically obtained system performance chart. Figure 7. Numerically obtained pump performance chart
The percentile values denote the level of opening of the for N = 1500 r pm, N = 3100 r pm & N = 5500 r pm. The
throttle valve configuration. system performance chart for different opening levels of the
throttle valve configuration are plotted in gray.

is implemented for different mass flow rates as core func-

tionality. Further, for investigations on the thermal control 5. SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK
of the test bench, empirical correlations for heat losses at The key characteristics of the developed test facility are sum-
all surfaces have been added. The software suite EcosimPro® marized in Table 3. The designed test bench provides a valu-
offers many tubing and piping elements readily available able facility to test radial pumps with inducers in a sub-scale
in its libraries that have been adapted to the properties of environment. According to the presented scaling methods,
the test bench. They can be combined in a modular way. the results obtained here can be used to predict the non-scaled
The EcosimPro® library ESPSS expands the building blocks pump performance of the original application. Additionally,
by components for rocket engines. This includes special tank the possibilities to heat up the water, to control the flow rate
configurations as well as a generic turbopump model. and to control the inlet pressure separately, allow for the
investigation of the occurrence of cavitation at the inducer
The graph in Figure 6 shows a numerically obtained system blades.
performance chart for different positions of the throttle valve
assembly. For the generation of this chart, the throttle valve Table 3. Operational Characteristics of the Test Facility at
configuration was opened at a fixed percentage and the mass TUM
flow rate was varied. The static pressure at the pump inlet
and the pump outlet was measured and the resulting head Property Value Unit
of the system was calculated. Especially the performance
Rotational speed N ≤ 5500 rpm
for the fully opened throttle valve configuration is of high
Pump Power P ≤ 12 kW
interest as this curve describes the minimal head that a pump
Inducer Diameter Dt,1 ≤ 80 mm
has to generate in order to be tested on the test bench.
Impeller Diameter Dt,3 ≤ 150 mm
Further, a numerical evaluation of the pump operation within ◦C
Fluid Temperature T ≤ 100
the circuit has been evaluated. Therefore, the generic pump
Total pressure at pump inlet ptot,1 ≥1 bar
model has been initialized with a specific speed of NS =
Total pressure at pump outlet ptot,3 ≤ 10 bar
24.34, a total head of Htot = 602.3 m, the design rotational
Cavitation Number σ 0.02 . . . 0.45 -
speed of NLOX = 20000 r pm and an estimated efficiency
Flow coefficient ϕ ≤ 0.11 -
of η = 0.887. The graph in Figure 7 shows the computed
pump characteristic for N = 1500 r pm, the motor design
speed Nre f = 3100 r pm and the maximal rotational speed The presented test facility has been designed to meet the test
of the motor Nmax = 5500 r pm. Additionally, the system criteria for the LOX-turbopump which is currently under de-
performance map is partially shown. This makes it possible velopment here at TUM. All dimensions and characteristics
to identify the resulting operation points. This chart has of the components have been chosen accordingly. Never-
been created by varying the opening level of the throttle theless, the test bench can be used to investigate any pump
valve configuration from 0% to 100%. The rotational speed of of similar constructive form, as long as it stays within the
the pump has been kept constant for each curve. The head constraints given in Table 3. Based on the Barber-Nichol’s
rise across the pump has been measured. chart for pumps [30], the operational boundaries of the test
 Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench — 9/11

Operational envelope of the test facility at TUM Hmax NSS,min Pmax Qmax

10-1
Specific Diameter DS

100

101

102
10-3 10-2 10-1 100 101 102 103 104
Specific Speed NS

Figure 8. Operational envelope of the turbopump test facility at TUM 1

1This figure is composed by overlaying the Barber Nichols chart for pumps [30] with the operational boundaries of the test facility at the
Division Space Propulsion, TUM.

bench have been plotted in a Specific Speed - Specific Diam- For the second approach, a detailed model of the inlet, the
eter (NS − DS ) chart. The visualization of the boundaries is inducer, the impeller, the diffusor and the volute of the pump
shown in Figure 8. For this figure, the maximal mass flow developed at TUM are under development.
rate has been chosen to m max = 25 kgs . In general, the mass
flow rate of the test facility is not limited, but, according
NOMENCLATURE
to the system performance chart in Figure 6, the necessary
minimal head rise of the investigated pump increases with Symbols
increasing mass flow rate. A area
α thermal diffusivity
The numerical implementation of all components with Cp specific heat
EcosimPro® in parallel with the physical construction of the D diameter
test facility has shown to be beneficial. It was possible to DB Dimensionless Bubble parameter
investigate component dimensions at question numerically η efficiency
and the a priori understanding of the test facility was greatly Eu Euler number
improved. Especially the dimensioning of the water heating F force
system and the development of the inlet pressure control Fr Froude number
system in the tank were supported by numerical studies. Im- g gravitational acceleration. g = 9, 81 m/s2
plementations of simple circuit components like straight and H head rise
bent pipes, valves and tanks are available and the empirical hf g heat of vaporization
correlations are of good quality for the full operating region λ scaling factor
of the test bench. The preliminarily calculated performance m mass flow rate 
chart derived from the generic pump model shows the same N rotational speed min−1

order of magnitude as the analytically scaled values. Any- √
Q
how, especially the implementation of the pump, based on NS specific speed. NS = N · H 0.75 √
Q
the generic pump component from the ESPSS library, does NSS suction specific speed. NSS = N · N PSH 0.75
not yield the desired amount of details. Two possibilities P power
have been identified in order to perform improved numer- p pressure
ical analyses: (1) Experimental measurement of the pump ψ head coefficient. ψ = 2gH/U32
performance map and implementing this information in a ϕ flow coefficient
module or (2) detailed modeling of the single pump compo- U peripheral velocity
nents. Both approaches are currently being followed at TUM. Q volume flow rate
 Design Procedure of a Turbopump Test Bench — 10/11

R radius sion systems - first minimal models and experimental

ρ density validation. Space Propulsion Conference, 2016.
Re Reynolds number [4] Ch. Wagner, B. Proux, A. Krinner, T. Thümmel, and
Σ cavitation parameter (Brennen) D. Rixen. Rotordynamik: Modellierung und Einfluss
T temperature von Schrägkugellagern für Hochdrehzahlanwendungen.
υ kinematic viscosity Second IFToMM D-A-CH Conference, 2016.
v velocity [5]
ω rotational speed [r ad/s] L. Veggi, J. D. Pauw, B. Wagner, and O. J. Haidn. A study
X length on the design of lox turbopump inducers. Manuscript
Z number of blades submitted for publication, 2017.
[6] D. A. Ehrlich, J. Schwille, R. P. Welle, J. W. Murdock,
Subscripts
A available and Hardy B. S. A water test facility for liquid rocket
a application prototype (not scaled) engine turbopump cavitation testing. Proceedings of the
c characteristic 7th International Symposium on Cavitation, 2009.
el electrical [7] E. Rapposelli, A. Cervone, Ch. Bramanti, and
h hub L. d’Agostino. A new cavitation test facility at cen-
ht heating circuit trospazio. 4th International Conference on Launcher
hyd hydraulic Technology Space Launcher Liquid Propulsion, 2002.
l liquid [8]
m model for tests E. Rapposelli, A. Cervone, and L. d’Agostino. A
R required new cavitating pump rotordynamic test facility. 38th
SS suction specific AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &
st static Exhibit, 2002. AIAA 2002-4285.
[9] J. Kim, H. H. Song, and S. J. Song. Measurements of the
t tip
tot total non-dimensional thermal parameter effects on cavita-
v vapor tion in a turbopump inducer. ISROMAC, 2016.
1 inducer inlet [10] S.-L. Ng. Dynamic response of cavitating turbomachines.
2 interface between inducer and impeller California Institute of Technology, 1976. Report No. E
3 impeller outlet 183.1.
Abbreviations [11]
NPSH Net Positive Suction Head Stephen Skelley. Summary of Recent Inducer Test-
AC Alternating Current ing at MSFC and Future Plans. presentation, 2003.
CAD Computer Aided Design Thermal and Fluids Analysis Workshop, August 18-22,
DB Dimensionless Bubble parameter NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center.
[12] O. E. Balje. Turbomachines: A Guide to Design, Selection,
LH2 Liquid Hydrogen
LOX Liquid Oxygen and Theory. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1981.
LRE Liquid Rocket Engine [13] H. Sigloch. Strömungsmaschinen: Grundlagen und An-
TSH Thermodynamic Suppression Head wendungen. Hanser, München, 2013.
TUM Technical University of Munich [14] J. F. Gülich. Centrifugal Pumps. Springer, Berlin Heidel-
berg, 2010.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS [15] C. Pfleiderer and H. Petermann. Strömungsmaschinen.
This project is supported by the Ludwig Bölkow Campus, Springer, Berlin, 7 edition, 2005.
funded by the Bavarian government. The authors greatly ap- [16]
preciate the good cooperation with the consortium partners. R. A. van den Braembussche. Radial compressor design
and optimization: March 2016. von Karman Institute,
Rhode-Saint-Genèse, 1994.
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