TRANSIENT ROTORDYNAMIC ANALYSIS FOR THE SPACE-SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE HIGH-PRESSURE OXYGEN TURBOPUMP
Academic Article
Overview
Overview
abstract
A SIMULATION STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO EXAMINE THE TRANSIENT ROTORDYNAMICS OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE (SSME) HIGH PRESSURE OXYGEN TURBOPUMP (HPOTP) WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF IDENTIFYING, ANTICIPATING, AND AVOIDING ROTORDYNAMIC PROBLEM AREAS.SIMULATIONS WERE PERFORMED FOR STEADY-STATE OPERATIONS AT EMERGENCY POWER LEVELS AND FOR CRITICAL SPEED TRANSITIONS.NO PROBLEMS ARE INDICATED IN STEADY-STATE OPERATION OF THE HPOTP AT EMERGENCY POWER LEVELS.HOWEVER, THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT A RUBBING CONDITION WILL BE EXPERIENCED DURING CRITICAL SPEED TRANSITION AT SHUTDOWN.SPECIFICALLY, FOR THE PRESENTLY PROJECTED ROTOR DECELERATION RATE AND IMBALANCE DISTRIBUTION, RUBBING AT THE TURBINE FLOATING-RING SEALS IS PREDICTED.THIS CONDITION CAN BE CORRECTED TO SOME EXTENT BY EITHER REDUCING THE IMBALANCE AT THE HPOTP HOT-GAS TURBINE WHEELS, OR BY A MORE RAPID DECELERATION OF THE ROTOR THROUGH ITS CRITICAL SPEED.
