The 4th International Symposium on Fluid Machinery and Fluid Engineering

November 24-27, 2008, Beijing, China

NO. 4ISFMFE-IL16

CAVITATION AND TURBOPUMP HYDRODYNAMICS

RESEARCH AT ALTA S.P.A. AND PISA UNIVERSITY

Angelo Cervone1, Lucio Torre2, Angelo Pasini3 and Luca d’Agostino4

1
Senior Engineer, Alta S.p.A., Via Gherardesca, 5, 56121, Ospedaletto - Pisa, Italy; a.cervone@alta-space.com
2
Project Manager, Alta S.p.A.; l.torre@alta-space.com
3
Ph. D. Student, Alta S.p.A.; a.pasini@alta-space.com
4
Professor, Aerospace Engineering Department – University of Pisa, Via G. Caruso, 56126, Pisa, Italy;
luca.dagostino@ing.unipi.it

ABSTRACT
The paper introduces and briefly outlines the research activities on cavitation and turbopump hydrodynamics conducted in the
last 20 years at the Department of Aerospace Engineering of Pisa University, at Centrospazio, a nonprofit space propulsion
laboratory established in 1989, and at Alta S.p.A., a private spin-off company founded in 2000 and active in the aerospace
sector. Both the experimental activities conducted in a dedicated facility called Cavitating Pump Rotordynamic Test Facility
(CPRTF) and the analytical/numerical work are described. A valuable experience has been gained by the research group
throughout the years, and important results have been obtained in the definition of experimental techniques for the detection
of flow instabilities, the understanding of thermal cavitation effects on pump performance and instabilities, and the
development of reduced order analytical tools for the preliminary design and performance prediction of axial inducers.

Keywords: Cavitation, turbopump, rocket engine, flow instabilities, axial inducer.

Greek symbols
NOMENCLATURE α Incidence angle [deg]
Latin symbols φ Flow coefficient [-]
b2 Impeller outlet width [m] σ Cavitation number [-]
e Whirl eccentricity [m] ψ Head coefficient [-]
fR Normalized rotordynamic radial force [-] Ω Pump rotational speed [rad/sec]
M Main motor torque [N*m] ω Whirl rotational speed [rad/sec]
P Main motor power [W] Acronyms
pt1 Total pressure at pump inlet [Pa] ASI Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (Italian Space Agency)
pt 2 Total pressure at pump outlet [Pa] CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics
CIRA Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali
Q
Volumetric flow rate [m3/sec]
CPRTF Cavitating Pump Rotordynamic Test Facility
rT 1 Tip radius at pump inlet [m] ESA European Space Agency
rT 2 Tip radius at pump outlet [m] ODE Ordinary Differential Equation
T Flow temperature [°C] STS Space Transportation System
TCT Thermal Cavitation Tunnel

1
INTRODUCTION
Chemical rocket propulsion and its derivative concepts
play a central role in the design of current space vehicles,
as well as future STSs (Space Transportation Systems),
being the only viable technology capable of generating the
relatively high levels of thrusts necessary for launch and
most primary propulsion purposes in a large number of
space missions. Currently, the main specifications for
STSs are concerned with reusability, operational life, rapid
maintenance, higher launch frequencies and more efficient
scale economies. Propulsion systems have therefore a
crucial impact on their design and total cost, and attention
is progressively shifting from solid propellant rockets,
which have comparatively lower specific impulse and
generate fixed thrust schedules, to liquid propellant rockets
and their derivatives, in view of their utilization both for
primary and upper-stage propulsion.
Propellant feed turbopumps are an essential component
of all primary propulsion concepts powered by liquid
propellant rocket engines. The quest for weight reduction
typically leads to the design of faster and lighter
turbopumps, often operated at supercritical conditions,
where the combined effects of rotordynamic instabilities
and cavitation represent the dominant fluid mechanical
phenomena that adversely affect the pumping performance
and dynamic stability of the machine (Brennen, 1994). In
particular, cavitation is the major source of degradation of
the suction performance, reliability, useful life and power
density, also causing other undesirable effects such as the
reduction of the overall efficiency and the drastic increase
of noise generation (Stripling and Acosta, 1962). Even
more importantly for space applications, cavitation can
provide the necessary flow excitation and compliance for
triggering dangerous rotordynamic and/or fluid mechanic
instabilities of the turbopump (Brennen and Acosta, 1973,
1976; Braisted and Brennen, 1980), or even, through the
coupling with thrust generation, of the entire propulsion
system (POGO auto-oscillations of liquid propellant
rockets, Rubin, 1966). The occurrence of flow instabilities
like rotating cavitation has been extensively reported in the
development of most high performance liquid propellant
rocket fuel feed systems, including the Space Shuttle Main
Engine (Ryan et al. 1994), the European Ariane 5 engine
(Goirand et al. 1992) and the LE-7 engine of the H-II and
H-II-A Japanese rockets (Kamijo et al., 1993). Recently,
Japanese researchers have postulated that the resonance of
higher-order surge instabilities with the first bending mode
of the inducer blades was responsible for the November
1999 fatigue failure of the H-II rocket liquid hydrogen
pump inducer (Tsujimoto and Semenov, 2002).
Research on cavitation and turbopump hydrodynamics
has been developed in the last 20 years at the Department
of Aerospace Engineering of Pisa University, at
Centrospazio, a nonprofit space propulsion laboratory
2
established in 1989, and at Alta S.p.A., a private spin-off
company founded in 2000 and active in the aerospace
sector. Analytical and numerical investigations have been
supported by an extensive experimental activity since 1999,
after the completion of the Cavitating Pump Rotordynamic
Test Facility (CPRTF), jointly funded by the Italian Space
Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
The most significant experimental activities carried out
in the CPRTF will be described in the paper, including: the
characterization of cavitating/noncavitating performance
and cavitation-induced flow instabilities of several
prototypes of axial inducers used in the rocket engines of
the Ariane launcher, the analysis of the pressure profile,
cavitation instabilities and thermal effects on a NACA
0015 two-dimensional hydrofoil, and the visual
characterization of cavitating flow and instabilities on
inducers by means of high-speed movies. Current and
future activities, mainly devoted to the detailed study of
thermal cavitation effects, flow instabilities and
rotordynamic forces on tapered helical inducers with
designs representative of those of modern space rocket
turbopumps, will be briefly outlined.
In addition, previous and present theoretical activities
carried out by the research group will be presented,
including: the development of a homogeneous-flow
isenthalpic cavitation model with thermal cavitation effects,
easily implementable in CFD cavitating codes, a
rotordynamic analytical model of cavitating inducers which
provided the first deductive explanation of the observed
coupled subsynchronous and supersynchronous free whirl
motions of cavitating turbopumps, and a reduced order
model for the preliminary design and noncavitating
performance prediction of tapered axial inducers.
EXPERIMENTAL ACTIVITIES
※ Test facility
The CPRTF (Figure 1) is a low-cost, versatile and
instrumentable cavitation test facility, operating in water at
temperatures up to 90 °C (Rapposelli et al., 2002). The
facility is intended as a flexible apparatus that can readily
be adapted to conduct experimental investigations on
virtually any kind of fluid dynamic phenomena relevant to
high performance turbopumps in a wide variety of
alternative configurations (axial, radial or mixed flow, with
or without an inducer). The CPRTF has been especially
designed for the analysis of unsteady flow phenomena and
rotordynamic impeller forces in scaled cavitation tests
under fluid dynamic and thermal cavitation similarity
conditions. It can also be configured as a small water tunnel
to be used for thermal cavitation tests for experimental
validation of numerical tools and simulations.
 Fig.1 The Cavitating Pump Rotordynamic Test Facility.

The test section (Figure 2) is equipped with a rotating
dynamometer, for the measurement of the instantaneous
forces and moments acting on the impeller, and with a
mechanism capable of adjusting and rotating the
eccentricity of the impeller axis in the range 0÷2 mm and
±3000 rpm, for rotordynamic experiments. The inlet
section, made in plexiglas, is transparent in order to allow
for the optical visualization of cavitation in the inducer. It
can be instrumented with several flush-mounted
piezoelectric pressure transducers, located at three axial
stations: the flow inlet and outlet sections and the inducer
blade channels (Figure 3). At each station up to eight
transducers can be mounted with a given angular spacing,
in order to cross-correlate their signals for coherence and
phase analysis. As a result, waterfall plots of the power
spectral density of the pressure fluctuations can be obtained
as functions of the cavitation number, in order to identify
the presence of flow instabilities in the flow conditions
under consideration. Cross-correlation of two pressure
signals from different locations allows to determine the
axial or azimuthal nature of each instability and, in the
second case, the number of rotating cells involved.
Fig.3 The transparent inlet section of the facility
instrumented with piezoelectric pressure transducers.
The water pressure at the inlet of the test section can be
adjusted by means of an air bag, while the temperature
regulation is obtained by a 5 kW electrical heater. A Silent
Throttle Valve is used for the variation of the pump load.
Two electromagnetic flowmeters, mounted on the suction
and discharge lines of the water loop, provide the
measurement of the inlet and outlet flow rates. The inlet
pressure is monitored by an absolute transducer mounted
immediately upstream of the test section, while a
differential transducer measures the pump pressure rise.
Photo cameras and high-speed video cameras are used to
allow for the optical visualization of the cavitating flow on
the test article.
The main specifications and operational parameters of the
CPRTF are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1 Main specifications and operational parameters of
the facility.

Pump rotational speed Ω = 0 ÷ 6000 rpm

Main motor power P ≤ 30 kW
Main motor torque M ≤ 100 Nm
Suction pressure pt1 = 0.01 ÷ 6 bar
Discharge pressure pt2 ≤ 11 bar
Volumetric flow rate Q
≤ 0.1 m s
3

Flow temperature T = 10 ÷ 90 °C
Whirl eccentricity e = 0 ÷ 2 mm
Whirl rotational speed ω = −3000 ÷ 3000 rpm
Impeller eye radius rT 1 ≤ 90 mm
Fig.2 Cut-out drawing of the CPRTF test section. Impeller outlet radius rT 2 ≤ 112 mm
Impeller outlet width b2 ≤ 30 mm

3
※ Characterization of space rocket inducers
Several space rocket inducers have been tested and
characterized in the CPRTF, with particular emphasis on
cavitating/noncavitating performance, flow instabilities and
their dependence on thermal effects. In particular, two
inducers used in the European Ariane 5 rocket turbopumps
have been extensively studied (Cervone et al., 2005,
2006b). The first is a prototype of the liquid oxygen
inducer of the Vulcain MK1 engine (first stage engine). It is
a four-bladed axial inducer made in Monel alloy, with a tip
radius rT = 84 mm , a profiled, variable-radius hub (36
mm inlet radius, 58 mm outlet radius) and backswept
blades with sharp leading edges, variable thickness and
nonuniform blade angle. The inlet tip blade angle is 7.7°
and the tip solidity is 2.1. The second one, called FAST2, is
a prototype of the liquid oxygen inducer of the VINCI
engine (second stage engine). It is a two-bladed stainless
steel axial inducer with a tip radius rT = 41.1 mm , an inlet
hub radius of 15 mm and outlet hub radius of 28 mm. The
inlet tip blade angle is 7.38°, the outlet tip blade angle is
21.24° and the tip solidity is 1.59. Both inducers, a picture
of which is shown in Figure 4, have been manufactured by
Avio S.p.A. in Italy.
Fig.4 Pictures of the MK1 (left) and FAST2 (right)
inducers.
With regard to flow instabilities, very few oscillating
phenomena were found on the MK1 inducer, including an
auto-oscillation and a smooth surge mode instability at low
frequency (about 1 Hz). In particular, no significant flow
oscillations were detected near the design point, thus
confirming the effectiveness of its design. On the other
hand, several interesting instability phenomena were
detected on the FAST2 inducer, including a rotating stall
cavitation at a frequency of 0.31 times the inducer rotating
speed and some higher-order longitudinal phenomena (at
4.4 Ω and 6.6 Ω), showing very similar characteristics to
those of the high-order cavitation surge instability observed
by Tsujimoto and Semenov (2002) on the Japanese LE-7
inducers. These higher order instabilities are evident in the
waterfall plot shown in Figure 5, where they are denoted by
f2 and f3.
Furthermore, several experiments were conducted on the
test inducers at higher values of the water temperature (up
4
to 70 °C), in order to investigate the influence of thermal
effects on the characteristics and range of occurrence of the
detected instabilities. It was observed that the rotating stall
cavitation was not affected by the flow temperature,
showing the same field of existence, intensity and
frequency of oscillations as in “cold” water experiments.
On the other hand, longitudinal instabilities seemed to be
significantly mitigated at higher temperatures, or even
disappeared in the case of the surge mode at 1 Hz. Their
range of occurrence was also affected, being evidently
shifted towards higher values of the cavitation number at
higher flow temperatures.
Fig.5 Waterfall plot of the power spectrum of the inlet
pressure fluctuations in the FAST2 inducer at
φ / φref = 0.9 , 4000 rpm and room water temperature.
※ Cavitation and thermal effects on hydrofoils
An extensive test campaign has been conducted in the
Thermal Cavitation Tunnel (TCT) configuration of the
facility on a NACA 0015 two-dimensional hydrofoil
(Cervone et al., 2006a). The main objectives of the tests
consisted in the characterization of the pressure profile on
the test body surface under different operational conditions
and the study of the “cloud cavitation” instability, whose
characteristics represent the basis for understanding many
of the oscillating flow phenomena observed in rotating
machines. Also in this case particular attention has been
paid to the influence of thermal effects, investigated by
means of tests conducted at elevated flow temperatures.
With reference to the flow pressure, Figure 6 compares
the profiles on the suction side of the hydrofoil under
cavitating conditions for three different freestream water
temperatures, at the same cavitation number and incidence
angle. At higher temperatures the absorption of the latent
heat at the cavity interface increases, reducing the vapor
pressure below the unperturbed saturation value. This trend
is well reflected in the figure: at 70 °C, due to pressure
decrement below the saturation value, the pressure
recovery occurs further upstream than at room temperature.

Fig.6 Influence of thermal cavitation effects on the suction
side pressure distribution of a NACA 0015 hydrofoil at
constant angle of attack α and cavitation number σ for
several water temperatures T .
By analyzing the cavity length and oscillations it was
shown that three different regimes of cavitation can be
recognized on the hydrofoil, corresponding to different
ranges of the cavitation number:
- Supercavitation (at lower cavitation numbers): the cavity
extends completely downstream of the hydrofoil, and little
cavity oscillations are observed.
- Bubble+Cloud cavitation (at intermediate cavitation
numbers): an initial zone of bubbly cavitation is present on
the hydrofoil, followed by a second zone where the bubbles
coalesce and strong cloud cavitation oscillations are
detected. The typical cavitation appearance in this case is
shown in Figure 7.
- Bubble cavitation (at higher cavitation numbers): after a
short transition zone, cloud cavitation disappears, and only
the traveling bubble cavitation zone remains, with
drastically reduced pressure oscillations.
At higher freestream temperatures the “Bubble+Cloud
cavitation” zone was observed to spread over a wider range
of cavitation numbers and to initiate at higher values of
σ , even if the frequency of the oscillations remained the
same. Similarly, supercavitation also began at higher
cavitation numbers.
Fig.7 Cavitation on the NACA 0015 hydrofoil in the
“Bubble+Cloud” case (α = 4°, σ = 1.25, T = 25°C ) .
5
※ Visual characterization of cavitating flows
The capabilities of the CPRTF have been recently
improved after the installation of an integrated system for
the optical analysis of cavitating flows (Cervone et al.,
2007). The core of the system is represented by a high-
speed video camera with a recording rate up to 16000 fps.
The required illumination level is provided by three
halogen lamps with a power of 1250 W. Alternatively, the
camera can be synchronized with a stroboscopic light
having a maximum flash frequency of 1000 lamps/second.
This optical instrumentation can be used for analyzing the
cavitating region on the test body and, in particular, for
studying in detail the oscillating behavior of the cavity
under flow instability conditions, in order to confirm and
better understand the results obtained from pressure
measurements. To this purpose a dedicated image
processing algorithm has been implemented, capable of
converting the movie frames into “black & white” images,
where white pixels correspond to the cavitation region and
black pixels to the noncavitating flow. More in detail, a
“threshold” segmentation technique has been used for
separating the cavitating regions from the remainder of the
image. The pixels whose intensity in the original image
exceedes a certain threshold value (selected by an
appropriate threshold identification method) are set as
white, while all other pixels are set as black. The resulting
images can then be easily analyzed by computational tools
in order to determine the extension and characteristics of
the cavitating region as functions of the time. Figure 8
shows an example of a frame before and after the
application of the algorithm.
Fig.8 Sample case of comparison between the original
frame and the processed binary image obtained by the
algorithm developed at Alta S.p.A.
The image processing algorithm was validated by applying
it to a 3-bladed, aluminum-made commercial inducer of
extremely simple helical geometry, with a tip radius of 81
mm, a hub radius of 22.5 mm, a tip blade angle of 9°, a tip
solidity of 3.05 and 2 mm thick back-swept blades with
blunt leading and trailing edges. Experiments based on
pressure oscillations measurements showed the occurrence
of rotating stall cavitation at a frequency of about 0.34
times the rotational speed. Movies of the cavitating inducer
were taken under the same flow conditions for which this
instability was detected and analyzed by means of the
above image processing algorithm. The cavity lengths
obtained by the algorithm were studied by Fourier analysis
and cross-correlation between the different blades. The
results showed the presence of a rotating phenomenon at
the same frequency and phase of the previously detected
rotating stall cavitation, thus confirming the effectiveness
of the optical analysis procedure.
※ Current and future work
The present experimental work carried out in the
CPRTF is mainly devoted to the extensive characterization
of cavitation instabilities, rotordynamic forces and thermal
cavitation effects on prototype inducers with geometries
representative of those of typical space rocket inducers.
The activity, sponsored by European Space Agency under a
Technology Research Program contract, is based on the
design, realization and testing of two different inducers, a
3-bladed and a 4-bladed one. Tests will be conducted at
different water temperatures (up to 75 °C), at design flow
coefficient as well as slightly off-design conditions, and
several values of the whirl eccentricity and whirl/rotating
speed ratio for the characterization of the rotordynamic
instabilities.
On the other hand, the main activities foreseen for the
next future include: the characterization of the dynamic
transfer matrix of axial inducers by means of tests
conducted under externally imposed flow oscillations; the
extension of the operational capabilities of the CPRTF in
order to carry out performance tests on axial inducers at
higher, full-scale rotating speeds (up to 20000 rpm).
ANALYTICAL AND NUMERICAL ACTIVITIES
The development of reduced order analytical models is
an important support tool for the experimental work,
capable of providing fast and sufficiently accurate
information about the cavitating/noncavitating behavior of
the test items and their design (as well as the design of
experimental facility upgrades and modifications). On the
other hand, numerical investigations are an useful support
tool for validating the results of both analytical models and
experimental activities.
An overview of the main theoretical activities conducted at
Alta S.p.A. in recent years is provided in this section of the
paper.
※ Development of cavitation models for CFD codes
Cavitating flows, with the presence of free surfaces
whose shape, location and evolution are not known “a
priori” and rate-controlled evaporation/condensation at the
interface, pose formidable obstacles in terms of both
physical and numerical modeling. Therefore, the
development of a simplified cavitation model which
6
includes only the essential physical phenomena represents a
useful tool to be integrated in today’s CFD codes.
The analytical model developed at Alta S.p.A. (Rapposelli
and d’Agostino, 2003) consists in a modified bubbly
isenthalpic flow model that naturally accounts, in an
approximate but physical-based way, for the effects of
thermal cavitation and the concentration of active nuclei.
The model, able to take into account the presence of both
nearly incompressible zones (pure liquid) and regions
where the flow becomes highly supersonic (liquid-vapor
mixtures), has been successfully validated using
experimental data for the measured choked mass flow rate
in convergent/divergent nozzles operating in water. The
model has also been tested for calculating the flow around
a modified NACA 66-109 hydrofoil at 20 °C and 100 °C,
in a pressure-based code that uses a 2D shock-capturing
semi implicit algorithm for the solution of the
viscous/inviscid equations for cavitating flows on body-
fitted grids (d’Agostino et al., 2001). In all cases under
consideration the simulations were in satisfactory
agreement with the measured data both in terms of the
characteristics of the cavitation region and the shape of the
surface pressure profile.
※ Rotordynamic analytical models of cavitating inducers
Because of their greater complexity, rotordynamic fluid
forces in whirling and cavitating turbopump impellers have
not received yet sufficient attention in the open literature
and a satisfactory understanding of their behavior is still
lacking. However, it is widely recognized that turbopump
cavitation in axial inducers can promote the onset of
dangerous self-sustained whirl instabilities, and the
available experimental evidence indicates that inducer
cavitation reduces the magnitude of the rotordynamic fluid
forces, significantly affecting the added mass of the rotor. A
second major effect of inducer cavitation is the introduction
of a complex oscillatory dependence of the rotordynamic
fluid forces on the whirl frequency, due to the occurrence
of resonance phenomena in the compressible cavitating
flow inside the blade channels under the excitation imposed
by the eccentric motion of the rotor. On the other hand, no
significant resonant phenomena seem to occur in whirling
radial impellers, where the limited available evidence
indicates that cavitation only has a marginal effect on
rotordynamic whirl forces.
For better understanding the physical phenomena at the
basis of these findings, an effort was started at Alta S.p.A.
for developing a simplified model of the cavitating flow on
whirling machines. The model is based on rather stringent
assumptions: the cavitation is considered as a thin layer
attached to the pump blades; the sound speed in the two-
phase mixture is calculated by applying the equations for
homogeneous liquid/vapor mixture with thermal effects; the
unperturbed flow is inviscid, incompressible and fully-
guided, with zero radial velocity and uniform axial velocity.
The resulting ODEs are obtained by writing the first-order
linearized Laplace equation in the rotating coordinate
system, and solved by separation of variables.
The model has been applied to both the cases of multi-
bladed axial helical inducers (d’Agostino and Venturini-
Autieri, 2002) and radial impellers with logarithmic-spiral
blades (d’Agostino and Venturini-Autieri, 2003). In
particular, for the case of axial inducers, the simplified
equations were able to successfully predict the occurrence
of resonance peaks for definite values of the whirl ratio,
and their dependence on the extent of cavitation. Figure 9
shows a sample case for the rotordynamic radial force on a
3-bladed inducer having a tip blade angle of 9°, a tip radius
of 50.5 mm and a constant hub radius of 20.2 mm.
Fig.9 Comparison of the normalized rotordynamic radial
force obtained by experiments (circles) and by the
simplified model (solid line) for a 9° helical inducer
(φ = 0.049, σ = 0.106, e = 0.254 mm) .
※ Reduced order model of inducer flow and performance
A reduced order model for the preliminary design and
noncavitating performance prediction of tapered axial
inducers has been recently developed (d’Agostino et al.,
2008a). In the incompressible, inviscid, irrotational flow
approximation, the model expresses the 3D flow field in
the blade channels by superposing a 2D cross-sectional
vorticity correction to a fully-guided axisymmetric flow
with radially uniform axial velocity. Suitable redefinition of
the diffusion factor for bladings with non-negligible radial
flow allows for the control of the blade loading and the
estimate of the boundary layer blockage at the specified
design flow coefficient, providing a simple criterion for
matching the hub profile to the axial variation of the blade
pitch angle. Carter’s rule is employed to account for flow
deviation at the inducer trailing edge. Mass continuity,
angular momentum conservation and Euler’s equation are
used to derive a simple 2nd order boundary value problem
7
which can be solved numerically for the far field
axisymmetric flow at the inducer discharge. Alternatively, a
closed form approximate solution is possible by suitable
simplification of the equations, which proved to yield
equivalently accurate results in the prediction of the
inducer performance. Starting from the results obtained for
the inducer flow, the noncavitating pumping performance
of the inducer is obtained by introducing suitably adapted
correlations of pressure losses and flow deviation effects.
The model has been successfully validated by comparing
its performance prediction to the experimental results
obtained in the CPRTF for the MK1 and FAST2 inducers,
as well as those related to several inducers tested in
Japanese facilities and documented in the open literature.
As an example, Figure 10 shows the results of this
comparison in the case of the MK1 inducer.
1
Ψt no-losses
0.8 Ψno-losses
Ψt
0.6 Ψ
Ψ/ Ψ o
Ψt ideal
MK1
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12
Φ/Φo
Fig.10 Comparison between the experimental
noncavitating performance of the MK1 inducer (red stars)
and the predictions of the analytical model (cyan circles).
Another important characteristic of the model is the
possibility of using it as a tool for the preliminary
geometric definition and operational design of new tapered
inducers for space rocket turbopumps (d’Agostino et al.,
2008b). In this case, the starting point of the design process
is represented by the required values for the main inducer
geometrical and operational parameters: number of blades,
tip radius, inlet tip blade angle, inlet and outlet hub radii,
axial length and design flow coefficient. The final result is
the detailed inducer geometry in terms of hub shape, blade
angle (or pitch) axial schedule, and tip solidity. As an
example, Figure 11 shows the rendering of a 3-bladed
inducer designed by means of the above model. The
inducer has a tip radius of 81 mm, a hub radius of 44.5 mm
at the inlet and 58.5 mm at the outlet, a tip blade angle of
6.9° at the inlet and 25.42° at the outlet and a tip solidity of
2.03.

Fig.11 Computer rendering of a 3-bladed inducer designed
by means of the reduced order analytical model.
CONCLUSIONS
In the last two decades a significant experience has
been gained by the Chemical Propulsion research group at
University of Pisa, Centrospazio and Alta S.p.A. in the
field of cavitation, flow instabilities and rotordynamic
phenomena on space rocket turbopumps. The combined use
of experimental activities and reduced order analytical
models, capable of capturing the most significant features
of the physical phenomena and their dependence on the
relevant geometrical and operational parameters, have
provided the possibility of characterizing the behavior of
different axial inducers and test bodies, developing
advanced test procedures, and better understanding some of
the fundamental principles on which the rational and
effective design of space rocket turbomachines components
can be based. Consequently, the main effort for the future
consists in the improvement of the design of the most
challenging among these components, in particular axial
inducers, both in terms of pumping performance and
reduction of the cavitation extent and its undesired negative
effects, including flow instabilities.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research activities presented in this paper have
been supported and funded by European Space Agency and
Italian Space Agency contracts, as well as collaborations
with Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali (CIRA) and
Avio S.p.A. The authors would like to express their
gratitude to Profs. Mariano Andrenucci, Renzo Lazzeretti
and Fabrizio Paganucci of the Dipartimento di Ingegneria
Aerospaziale, Università di Pisa, Italy, for their constant
and friendly encouragement. A special acknowledgement
goes to all the students and colleagues who have joined the
research group throughout the years, giving their precious
support and invaluable contributions.
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