Internship Report

Pump 1 - Preliminary Calculations

Delft, February 16, 2024

Group members and Student ID:

Sutar, Bhargava 4852052

 Contents

1 Preliminary Performance Estimation of an Axial Pump 1

1.1 Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.5 Conclusions and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

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 Experiment 1: Preliminary Performance
Estimation of an Axial Pump
The development of a cryogenic pump for LH2 can be understood by analyzing the design methods used in
the development of a simpler pump, namely a pump for LN2. To that end, this chapter shall present the pre-
liminary design phase in the development of an LN2 axial flow pump. This assignment serves to highlight the
thought process of the designer with each design decision made and understand their familiarity with pump
design.

The problem is first described and formulated in section 1.1. The assumptions made in the preliminary de-
sign of the axial pump is then described in section 1.2. The computational method is then described in
section 1.3. The final outcomes of the axial pump design process are then presented in section 1.4. Finally,
the outcomes are discussed and concluding remarks are presented in section 1.5.

1.1. Problem Statement

The goal of this design exercise is to develop an axial pump with the specifications as given by Table 1.1. It is
to be noted that these values are only rough estimates for the performance parameters typically encountered
in industry.

Table 1.1: Nominal performance parameters for the axial LN2 pump.

Symbol Performance Parameter Value [units]

ṁ Mass flow rate 1400 [kg hr−1 ]
P1 Inlet pressure 0.5 [bar]
T1 Inlet temperature 71.8 [K]
P2 Outlet pressure 4.0 [bar]
r max Maximum pump radius 5 [cm]

1.2. Assumptions
The preliminary performance estimation of the required axial pump is done such that a first estimate of the
size of this system is available before moving onto the more detailed design phases. As such the preliminary
performance estimation is performed under some simplifying assumptions. These ensure that the computa-
tional load is low enough for a first estimate.

The following assumptions are made in the preliminary performance estimation of the axial pump:

• The compression process is assumed polytropic, with a polytropic efficiency of η P = 0.45.

• It is assumed that all the shaft work done by the compressor is utilized to raise the total energy (tem-
perature) of the working fluid.

• The working fluid is modelled as an ideal gas.

• The flow entering the compressor is axial.

• The work coefficient of each compressor stage is assumed, ψ = 0.7.

• The flow coefficient of each compressor stage is φ = 0.55.

• The meridional flow velocity is constant while passing through all the compression stages.

• The fluid flow angles in each pump stage are identical.

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1.3. Methodology 2

• The axial compressor has a constant meanline configuration.

rt
• A constant tip-hub ratio for the blade compressor blade length is assumed, k = rh = 2.

1.3. Methodology
The computation method given in this section shall illustrate the series the series of steps taken to calculate
the shaft rotating speed of the axial pump. In order to do so, the temperature of the pressurised fluid is first
computed using the modified Poisson relation given by Equation 1.1, where subscript 1 and 2 represent the
fluid state before and after compression.
µ ¶ γ−1
P 2 ηP ·γ
T2 = T1 · (1.1)
P1
The shaft work done in compressing the fluid is then given by Equation 1.2, where c is the specific heat capac-
ity of Liquid Nitrogen. Given N number of stages, the work done per compression stage is then given trivially
by Equation 1.3.
Ẇ
Ẇ = ṁ · c · (T2 − T1 ) (1.2) Ẇ1 = (1.3)
N
The work per stage can be related to the shaft rotating speed using the Euler equation for turbomachinery
given by Equation 1.4, where v t represents the fluid velocity component in the direction of rotation of the
pump blades and Ω the shaft rotation speed.
Ẇ1 Ẇ1
Wsp = = Ω · r¯ · (v t2 − v t1 ) (1.4) Wsp = = Ωr¯ v t2 (1.5)
ṁ ṁ
The flow channel’s largest width is encountered at the first compressor stage entrance. This, in combination
with the assumed tip-hub ratio, allows the trivial calculation of the flow channel meanline from the shaft. Fur-
thermore, the axial inflow assumption implies that the v t1 = 0, Equation 1.4 then simplifies to Equation 1.5.

The variation of the fluid velocity in the blade-to-blade plane, and the work and flow coefficients are de-
pendent on the shaft rotation speed. These relations are highlighted by the velocity triangle relations for
turbomachinery, given by Equation 1.6 to Equation 1.8. Here, α and β refer to the absolute flow angle and
blade-relative flow angle respectively. Note that the flow velocity at the entrance of the pump can be com-
puted using the given mass flow rate, r max and the assumed hub to tip ratio, as shown in Equation 1.9, with
the fluid density computed using the ideal gas law.

v t2 = v 1 · tan α2 (1.6)
Ωr¯
tan α2 = tan β2 + (1.7)
v1
ψ = φ tan β2 + 1 (1.8)
µ ¶
2 1
ṁ = ρ 1 · πr max · 1 − 2 · v1 (1.9)
k

Substituting Equation 1.6 to Equation 1.8 into Equation 1.5 gives a quadratic equation in Ωr¯, as shown in
Equation 1.10, which can then be used to solve for the unknown shaft rotating speed, Ω.

(Ωr¯)2 + v 1 tan β2 · Ωr¯ − Wsp = 0 (1.10)

1.4. Outcomes
The result of this design exercise was the rotational speed of the axial pump shaft. Since the maximum al-
lowed rotational speed was not known priory, the shaft speed was computed for a varying number of stages.
This has been presented in Table 1.2.
1.5. Conclusions and Discussion 3

Table 1.2: Computed shaft rotation speeds for various compressor stages

Number of Stages Shaft Rotation speed [rev/s]

1 170.49
2 132.79
3 116.53
4 107.09
5 100.80

1.5. Conclusions and Discussion

This section shall discuss the relevance of the results and the methods, as well as any closing thoughts on the
design exercise.

The expected trend in the shaft rotation speed variation with the number of stages was indeed that it would
decrease. More importantly, the typical number of stages in most low pressure compressor stages is around
3-5, with higher stages leading to marginal changes in shaft rotation speed. This trend starts to occur in this
exercise for 4 or more stages.

While the methodology is straight forward to follow, the main issues lie within the assumptions made for this
design exercise. As this exercise is meant to showcase the designer’s initial method of confronting a pump
design problem, much of the assumptions made are primarily applicable for aerospace systems. To that end,
some assumptions need to be adjusted or neglected altogether.

The first assumption of concern is that of the ideal gas assumption. Because the pump design utilizes a
(cryogenic) liquid as a working fluid, the validity of this assumption is questionable. A more accurate method
would be to include the compressibility factor to account for the non-ideal nature of the fluid, if the state of
the fluid retains some of the compressible nature of gases. If the working fluid lacks any of the compressible
nature that characterizes gases, then the methodology used for the thermodynamics of the fluid in this report
is no longer valid and the thermodynamics of fluids well below the boiling point will have to be implemented
instead.

The assumed values of the duty coefficients, ψ and φ are also of concern. The chosen values are typical
of high performance modern compressors found in aircraft engines. The stringent loading requirements
on aeroengine compressors may not be applicable for ground based systems and as such, values for these
coefficients can be assumed lower, or closer to the point of highest efficiency of axial compressors.