Abstract
A low NPSH and high pressure fuel pump has been designed for a turbopump system. The fuel pump has an axial inducer and a centrifugal impeller. A meanline method has been established for the preliminary design and performance prediction of pumps at design or off-design points. KeRC(Kelyish Research Center) carried out a model testing of the fuel pump with water as a working fluid at the reduced speed. Predicted performances by the method are shown to be in good agreement with experimental results for cavitating and non-cavitating conditions. The established meanline method can be used for the performance prediction and preliminary design of high speed pumps which have a inducer, impeller and volute. In the current study, the three dimensional viscous flow in the fuel pump was investigated through numerical computation. A modified design of the fuel pump was generated to improve pump performance by utilizing CFD results. The modified fuel pump was experimentally tested by ROTEM and KARI(Korea Aerospace Research Institute). The measured non-cavitating and cavitating performance showed a good agreement with designed performance.