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An academic approach to the multidisciplinary development of liquid-oxygen turbopumps for space applications

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Abstract

Since 2015, the Technical University of Munich and the German Aerospace Center have intensified their research on liquid-oxygen turbopumps for space propulsion applications in a joined project. Together, they concentrate on the special challenges concerning the design, construction and operation of parts of turbopumps, as well as the development and validation of tools to interpret and predict the aforementioned. This is accompanied by experimental works on the level of components of the pump, the bearing unit and seals. Alongside this, numerical tools are used which have been developed both commercially and at the Technical University of Munich. The research combines the expertise of several institutes in the fields of space propulsion, applied mechanics, rotordynamics and numerical mechanics in a multidisciplinary approach. The incorporation of student and doctoral theses allows for the investigation of the components of liquid-oxygen turbopumps in a very wide variety. High emphasis is put on the interaction between the turbopump subsystems. The present paper presents the work on each subsystem and the links between them.

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Acknowledgements

This project is supported by the Ludwig Bölkow Campus, funded by the Bavarian government. The authors greatly appreciate the good cooperation with the consortium partners.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division Space Propulsion, Chair of Turbomachinery and Flight Propulsion, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstr. 15, 85748, Garching, Germany

    Julian D. Pauw, Lucrezia Veggi & Oskar J. Haidn

  2. Chair of Applied Mechanics, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstr. 15, 85748, Garching, Germany

    Christian Wagner, Thomas Thümmel & Daniel J. Rixen

  3. Institute for Computational Mechanics, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstr. 15, 85748, Garching, Germany

    Christoph Ager, Andy Wirtz, Alexander Popp & Wolfgang A. Wall

  4. Institute of Space Propulsion, Lampoldshausen, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Im Langen Grund 1, 74239, Hardthausen, Germany

    Bernd Wagner

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  1. Julian D. Pauw
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  2. Lucrezia Veggi
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  3. Oskar J. Haidn
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  4. Christian Wagner
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  5. Thomas Thümmel
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  6. Daniel J. Rixen
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  7. Christoph Ager
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  8. Andy Wirtz
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  9. Alexander Popp
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  10. Wolfgang A. Wall
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  11. Bernd Wagner
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Correspondence to Julian D. Pauw.

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Pauw, J.D., Veggi, L., Haidn, O.J. et al. An academic approach to the multidisciplinary development of liquid-oxygen turbopumps for space applications. CEAS Space J 11, 193–203 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-018-0228-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-018-0228-2

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