A South African turbopump design capability would be critical to any future indigenous commercial launch capacity. This paper describes the initial work being done at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) to design a kerosene turbopump for a hypothetical commercial launch vehicle capable of inserting 50-500kg payloads into 500km sun synchronous orbit. A preliminary design is presented with the focus on the turbopump impeller geometry and its predicted performance.
Reference:
Snedden, GC, Smyth, J, Bindon, J, Brooks, M and Smith, G. 2012. The design of a kerosene turbopump for a South African commercial launch vehicle. In: 48th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Altlanta, Georgia, USA, 30 July - 1 August 2012
Snedden, G. C., Smyth, J., Bindon, J., Brooks, M., & Smith, G. (2012). The design of a kerosene turbopump for a South African commercial launch vehicle. AIAA 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6500
Snedden, Glen C, J Smyth, J Bindon, M Brooks, and G Smith. "The design of a kerosene turbopump for a South African commercial launch vehicle." (2012): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6500
Snedden GC, Smyth J, Bindon J, Brooks M, Smith G, The design of a kerosene turbopump for a South African commercial launch vehicle; AIAA 2012; 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6500 .
ResearchSpace
