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Design and Numerical Analysis of a Four-Stage Centrifugal Pump for a Turbofan Engine with Hydrogen Fuel

Hushmandi, Narmin LU ; Palermo, Donato ; Genrup, Magnus LU and Lundbladh, Anders (2025) 16th European Conference on Turbomachinery Fluid Dynamics and Thermodynamics, ETC 2025
Abstract

The current paper focuses on the conceptual design and numerical analysis of a four-stage centrifugal pump for the fuel system of a turbofan engine with liquid hydrogen as fuel. Liquid hydrogen is challenging at high pressures due to its special fluid properties. The design condition for the pump is set at take-off, to raise the pressure of liquid hydrogen from 6 bars at the outlet of a low-pressure pump to 75 bars, with the rotational speed at 130 000 rpm. While at the cruise condition, the pressure of the fluid is raised from 6 to 19 bars with the rotational speed at 52 000 rpm. The pump was designed of centrifugal type with four stages, while all of the stages of the pump are driven by the same shaft. The first stage of the pump was... (More)

The current paper focuses on the conceptual design and numerical analysis of a four-stage centrifugal pump for the fuel system of a turbofan engine with liquid hydrogen as fuel. Liquid hydrogen is challenging at high pressures due to its special fluid properties. The design condition for the pump is set at take-off, to raise the pressure of liquid hydrogen from 6 bars at the outlet of a low-pressure pump to 75 bars, with the rotational speed at 130 000 rpm. While at the cruise condition, the pressure of the fluid is raised from 6 to 19 bars with the rotational speed at 52 000 rpm. The pump was designed of centrifugal type with four stages, while all of the stages of the pump are driven by the same shaft. The first stage of the pump was optimized at take-off to avoid cavitation and the remaining three stages had similar design. Numerical analysis of the initial design for the four-stage pump at take-off and cruise conditions showed that the first stage of the pump performed satisfactorily and raised the pressure of the fluid to the design value, however stalling was present in the return channels of the downstream stages which deteriorated the performance and highlighted the requirement for further improvements of the design.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Centrifugal pump, CFD, Liquid Hydrogen, Rocket turbopump
host publication
16th European Conference on Turbomachinery Fluid Dynamics and Thermodynamics, ETC 2025
conference name
16th European Conference on Turbomachinery Fluid Dynamics and Thermodynamics, ETC 2025
conference location
Hannover, Germany
conference dates
2025-03-24 - 2025-03-28
external identifiers
  • scopus:105018082254
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 16th European Conference on Turbomachinery Fluid Dynamics and Thermodynamics, ETC 2025. All rights reserved.
id
b3425290-11f2-4078-90bf-74310e3cccbd
date added to LUP
2025-11-28 11:58:45
date last changed
2025-11-28 12:00:04
@inproceedings{b3425290-11f2-4078-90bf-74310e3cccbd,
  abstract     = {{<p>The current paper focuses on the conceptual design and numerical analysis of a four-stage centrifugal pump for the fuel system of a turbofan engine with liquid hydrogen as fuel. Liquid hydrogen is challenging at high pressures due to its special fluid properties. The design condition for the pump is set at take-off, to raise the pressure of liquid hydrogen from 6 bars at the outlet of a low-pressure pump to 75 bars, with the rotational speed at 130 000 rpm. While at the cruise condition, the pressure of the fluid is raised from 6 to 19 bars with the rotational speed at 52 000 rpm. The pump was designed of centrifugal type with four stages, while all of the stages of the pump are driven by the same shaft. The first stage of the pump was optimized at take-off to avoid cavitation and the remaining three stages had similar design. Numerical analysis of the initial design for the four-stage pump at take-off and cruise conditions showed that the first stage of the pump performed satisfactorily and raised the pressure of the fluid to the design value, however stalling was present in the return channels of the downstream stages which deteriorated the performance and highlighted the requirement for further improvements of the design.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hushmandi, Narmin and Palermo, Donato and Genrup, Magnus and Lundbladh, Anders}},
  booktitle    = {{16th European Conference on Turbomachinery Fluid Dynamics and Thermodynamics, ETC 2025}},
  keywords     = {{Centrifugal pump; CFD; Liquid Hydrogen; Rocket turbopump}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Design and Numerical Analysis of a Four-Stage Centrifugal Pump for a Turbofan Engine with Hydrogen Fuel}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}