The Effect of Bearing Strut on the Performance of the Inducer

베어링 지지부가 터보펌프용 인듀서의 성능에 미치는 영향

Experimental and computational studies on an turbopump inducer with and without a bearing strut were performed to evaluate the effects of a strut on the performance of an inducer. Global performance data such as head rise and efficiency, and detailed flow characteristics such as surface static pressures were measured and compared with computational results. Generally a good agreement is observed between experimental and computational results, but some discrepancies are observed due to complex flow features such as backflows at the inlet and strut/inducer interactions. For the flow rates where the backflow region is large, installing a strut enhanced the hydraulic performance of the inducer by diminishing the size of the backflows. The results also show that the strut has negligible effect on the suction performance of the inducer.