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Modeling Unsteady Cavitation Effects and Dynamic Loads in Cryogenic Systems

Award Information
Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Branch: N/A
Contract: NNM05AA05C
Agency Tracking Number: 033132
Amount: $599,465.00
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: A4.06
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2003
Award Year: 2005
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2004-11-22
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2006-11-22
Small Business Information
6210 Keller's Church Road
Pipersville, PA 18947-1020
United States
DUNS: 929950012
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Ashvin Hosangadi
 Principal Investigator
 (215) 766-1520
 hosangad@craft-tech.com
Business Contact
 Paula Schachter
Title: Business Official
Phone: (215) 766-1520
Email: schachte@craft-tech.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

There currently are no analytical or CFD tools that can reliably predict unsteady cavitation dynamics in liquid rocket turbopumps. Cavitation effects, particularly at low-flow, off-design conditions, generate large amplitude pressure fluctuations that result in performance loss, and may interact with other components to generate damaging system-wide instabilities. The innovation proposed here is the development of a numerical tool that can predict amplitudes and frequencies of dynamic pressure loads in cryogenic turbopumps. This innovation will address the inclusion of advanced unsteady cavitation models for cryogenic fluids, development of boundary conditions that include interactions with other system components, and unsteady turbulence models for off-design conditions. The resulting product, a specialized version of the multi-element unstructured CRUNCH CFDREG code, will be a well-validated and reliable analysis tool that can be used to predict off-design performance of liquid rocket turbopumps. Furthermore, this tool can provide unsteady loading information necessary for stress and fatigue life modeling of inducer blades. It would also be able to quantify an inducer's mean head breakdown characteristics as a function of design variables. Thus this simulation software will be used for providing design support, as well as being an analysis tool for diagnosing cavitation related anomalies in operational systems.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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