High-Head, Hydrogen Turbopump System

Hydrogen pumping system discharge pressures of 6,000 to13,000 psi are required to meet Phase II and III IHPRPT initiative goals for both upper stage and booster engines. There is a conflict between developing high hydrogen system discharge pressure and managing low hydrogen system inlet pressure and cavitation. A second conflict is the relationship between rotational speed, specific speed, and head coefficient (i.e. stage loading limits). A third conflict is rotational speed limitations. A key innovation of the proposed work is to further develop and combine high stage loading, compact diffuser/continuous crossover, and advanced bearing technologies to overcome these three conflicts. The Phase I project goal is to select a highly-loaded turbopump best suited to meet Phase II IHPRPT goals for a selected engine cycle. A multitude of differrent potential turbopump configurations will be considered by performing iterative turbopump scoping and engine cycle calculations. This will establish trade-off factors for single and multistage highly-loaded turbopumps. This work will be focused on determining the optimum liquid hydrogen pumping system for the selected engine cycle and specifying the preferred high pressure liquid hydrogen turbopump. Phase II plans include designing the preferred components, and manufacturing and rig-testing demonstration hardware.