Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017

SOCIETY OF AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, INC.

Two Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10001

SPACE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE

TURBOPUMP DESIGN

R.B. FURST
ROCKETDYNE DIVISION/ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL

National Aerospace Engineering

and Manufacturing Meeting 730926
Los Angeles, California
October 16-18, 1973
Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Copyright Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc. 1973

All rights reserved.
 Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017

730926

SPACE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE

TURBOPUMP DESIGN

R. B. FURST
ROCKETDYNE DIVISION/ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL

THE HIGH-CHAMBER PRESSURE and staged-combustion injector pressure drops. The flow paths of the
cycle of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), turbopumps in the SSME are shown in Fig. 1.
coupled with weight-saving, low-propellant tank
pressures, impose unique constraints on the design
of the turbomachinery required to deliver propel
lents from the vehicle tanks to the engine. The
main engine turbopumps raise the Space Shuttle or
biter fuel tank and oxidizer tank propellant pres
sures to the levels required by the engine. The
pumping function is divided among four turbopumps.
The low-pressure fuel and oxidizer turbopumps boost
the vehicle tank-supplied low inlet pressures to
the pressures required by the high-pressure fuel and
oxidizer turbopumps. All of the propellents pass
through the main combustion chamber. Most of the
liquid hydrogen fuel passes through the two pre
burners where it is burned with part of the liquid
oxygen oxidizer to supply the high-pressure turbo
pump turbine power requirements. The purpose of
this paper is to discuss the features selected to
solve the problems particular to this high-pressure
rocket engine pumping system.
REQUIREMENTS
At normal power level (NPL), the turbopumps are
required to supply liquid hydrogen and liquid oxy
gen, with minimum inlet pressures 2 and 8 psi,
respectively, above vapor pressure, to the thrust
chamber which operates at a nominal pressure of The pumps and turbines must operate at the high
3000 psia. The pumps must provide pressure to over est possible efficiencies to minimize the pump dis
come flow system pressure losses, the turbine pres charge pressures required for the design pressure
sure ratio, and the preburner and main thrust chamber ratio. Figure 2 presents the fuel pump discharge

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the unique constraints imposed upon the turbopumps for the Space Shuttle Main En
gine. Operating requirements are listed and the mechanical and fluid dynamic design features evolved to
satisfy the performance requirements within the engine system imposed constraints are discussed.

1
 Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017

turbopump start sequence. Low starting torque and

long life are provided by the nonrubbing seals.

pressure as a function of the average of all pump

and turbine efficiencies required to produce a 3000
psia rocket engine chamber pressure. As the effi
ciency decreases, the engine component weights in
crease as a result on the higher pressures. High
efficiency is desired to minimize weight.
The turbopumps are reusable with a life require
ment of 7.5 hours with 100 starts. The turbopumps
must start with only the propellant tank pressure as
available energy. The engine is throttleable and
the pumps must be capable of supplying engine re
quirements of flow and pressure at thrust levels
from 50 (MPL) to 109 (EPL) percent of the NPL.
LOW-PRESSURE FUEL TURBOPUMP

The low-pressure fuel turbopump consists of an

inducer driven by a two-stage turbine (Fig. 3). The HIGH-PRESSURE FUEL TURBOPUMP
inducer is a high-suction, specific-speed, single
stage, axial-flow pump, which is capable of pumping The high-pressure fuel turbopump (Fig. 4) re
liquid hydrogen that approaches the boiling point ceives the flow from the low-pressure fuel turbo
at the pump inlet. The flow discharges through
structural vanes into a volute. The pump discharge pump at sufficient pressure, so that a coupled
pressure is sufficient to permit the high-pressure
fuel turbopump to operate without an inducer. The
turbine drive gas is the hydrogen that is heated as
it cools the thrust chamber. The turbine discharges
into the hot-gas manifold for transport to the
thrust chamber injector manifold. Operating condi
tions and performance are presented in Table 1.
Rotating assembly support and alignment is provided
by deep-groove ball bearings. The rotating assembly
operates well below the first critical speed.
Dynamic shaft sealing is provided by controlled-gap,
floating ring seals. The small gaseous hydrogen
seal leakage flows into the pump volute and is con
densed as it mixes with the liquid hydrogen. Static
sealing is provided by a liftoff seal, which is
normally closed. It is pressure actuated by turbo
pump pressure acting on a piston to open during the

2
 Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017

inducer is not required. The liquid hydrogen pres

sure is increased 6069 psi or 174,500 feet at NPL
conditions by a three-stage centrifugal pump. The
pump is driven by a two-stage reaction turbine. The
operating conditions are shown in Table 2. The
maximum possible speed established by turbine stress
limits restricts the specific speed to determine the
efficiency (Fig. 5).

THREE-STAGE PUMP - Three stages are used to

maximize specific speed within rotating speed and
critical speed constraints imposed by the rotating
assembly length. The three impellers have identi
cal flow passages. Fully shrouded impellers are
used so the pump performance is not sensitive to
the housing deflections resulting from the very high
pressure level. The impeller seal diameters on the
first two stages are determined to balance the tur
bine axial thrust. The third-stage impeller incor
porates a balance piston integral with the disk
(Fig. 6). The balance piston is of the series flow
orifice type, which utilizes the flow that would be
used by an impeller seal. The balance piston ori
fices automatically position during operation to
balance any force difference between the first two
pump stages and the turbine (Fig. 7). Therefore,
the bearings operate with only an axial spring pre
load force permitting high rotating speeds to be
achieved. The impellers may be fabricated from
titanium alloy by casting or by machining.
3
The inlet flow to the first-stage impeller has
a 45-degree mean-radius prewhirl provided by the
inlet volute. The second and third stages also have
a 45-degree inlet prewhirl provided by the diffusing
crossover system. The two interstage crossovers
consist of a radial outflow diffuser stage followed
by nondiffusing passages that turn the flow radially
inward to the radial inflow diffusing passages. The
diffusers are cast of aluminum. The third-stage
impeller discharges into radial diffusers to reduce
the volute velocity. The diffuser also structurally
supports the volute inlet for reduced weight. Vaned
radial diffusers result in a uniform impeller dis
charge pressure for low impeller radial loads. The
third-stage diffuser and volutes are fabricated of
Inconel 718.
 Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017

TURBINE - The two-stage reaction turbine oper ROTATING

ASSEMBLY - The rotating assembly is
ates at a pressure ratio of 1.53, a flowrate of 143 supported in the housing by duplex angular contact
lb/sec, and at a temperature of 1289 F to provide ball bearings outboard of the pump and turbine. The
62,700 horsepower equally divided between stages at bearings are (1) cooled by the pump fluid, (2) spring
6.0 mixture ratio (NPL) engine conditions. The preloaded, and (3) free to move axially in the hous
turbine blade roots, turbine disks, and housing are ing to follow the motion of the balance piston as it
cooled to minimize weight. The liquid hydrogen flow, adjusts to different axial forces. The pump end
which cools the bearing outboard of the turbine cartridge is lightly spring loaded to cushion the
cools the turbine blade roots and disks. Cooling rotor during handling and to locate the rotor prior
the turbine disks and housings controls the tempera to start. The bearings are mounted in flexible
ture in the bearing area resulting from heat soak carriers (Fig. 9), which are Coulomb damped to limit
back after engine shutdown to levels safe for the the radial deflection of the rotating assembly as
bearings. The turbine blades are mounted to the
turbine disks by fir trees. The shank between the
fir trees and the blade root provides freedom for
blade root motion causes by gas dynamic and mechan
ical forces. A friction damping device is mounted
between adjacent blades to minimize blade vibration
amplitudes. The dampers also act as blade locks.
The amplitudes calculated for blades with and with
out the damping devices are compared in Fig. 8.

it accelerates through the first and second critical

speeds. The turbopump operates between the second
and third critical speeds (Fig. 10). The use of
damped, spring-supported, bearing carriers results
in dynamic radial loads of less than 30 pounds im
posed upon each bearing pair. The low dynamic and
steady loads imposed upon the bearings permit the
use of 45mm ball bearings, which results in a maxi
mum DN value of approximately 1.7 million (well be
low the maximum state-of-the-art value of 2 million).

The turbine blades operate at a maximum inlet

total temperature of 1954 R, and are uncooked. They
are cast of directionally solidified MAR M246. Due
to the high working gas pressure and energy, the
power per blade is 800 horsepower. The resultant
power bending stress added to the centrifugal stress
limits the allowable blade height and turbine tip
speed. In the hydrogen turbopump, the turbine
stress limits the rotating speed that can be at
tained. Since a higher rotating speed results in a
higher pump efficiency, emphasis in the turbine de
sign is to maximize the allowable rpm as well as
achieve high turbine efficiency.

4
 Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017
LOW-PRESSURE OXIDIZER TURBOPUMP
The low-pressure oxidizer turbopump operates at
the inlet pressure supplied by the vehicle tank.
The pump pressure rise is sufficient so the high
pressure oxidizer pump maintains full pressure rise
capability. The pump operating conditions are shown
in Table 3.
The low-pressure oxidizer turbopump inducer is
driven by a six-stage hydraulic turbine (Fig. 11).
The hydraulic turbine is supplied by 15 percent of
the liquid oxygen flow from the main impeller of the
high-pressure oxidizer pump. Since the drive fluid
and pump fluid are the same, no rubbing seals are
required. The only seal in the pump is the laby
rinth seal adjacent to the inducer end bearing that
is sized for axial thrust balance.
The turbine drive fluid enters through a mani
fold around the pump discharge stator vanes into
an internal manifold then through the turbine. The
5
turbine discharges into a volute, which in turn dis
charges into the pump volute. Only a single line
is required for the turbine since the turbine dis
charge fluid joined with the pump discharge fluid
flows in a single line to the high-pressure pump
inlet.
The pump and turbine materials are selected to
minimize the hazard of explosion if inadvertent rub
bing should occur.
HIGH-PRESSURE OXIDIZER TURBOPUMP
The high-pressure oxidizer turbopump (Fig. 12)
receives the flow from the low-pressure oxidizer
turbopump at a sufficient pressure level so a
coupled inducer is not required. The pumping com
ponents are the main pump, which provides the flow
and pressure required by the main injector as well
as the turbine drive fluid for the low-pressure tur
bine, and the preburner pump, which received flow
from the main pump and boosts the pressure level to
the value required by the preburners.
MAIN PUMP - The main pump utilizes a double en
try impeller to permit cavitation limited operating
speeds approximately 40 percent higher than for a
single entry pump. The highest possible operating
speed results in minimum pump and driving turbine
diameters, and therefore minimum weight. The im
peller is fully shrouded to minimize performance
changes due to impeller motion relative to the
housing.
The impeller flow discharges through a vaned
diffuser and then through a volute. The vaned dif
fuser maintains a uniform impeller discharge pres
sure for low radial load in the bearings. The
volute has two outlets: one is for the engine injec
tor flow and the preburner pump flow, while the
smaller outlet feeds the low-pressure oxidizer pump
hydraulic turbine. Turbopump axial thrust is con
trolled by the double acting balance piston orifices
located on both shrouds of the main impeller. The
impeller is designed to be capable of operating at
an inlet pressure approximately half that available
without head loss due to cavitation. Main pump
pressure increases from an inlet pressure of 361
psia to a discharge pressure of 4637 psia at 6.0
mixture ratio (NPL) conditions. The pump perform
ance parameters are presented on Table 4 for a
range of engine operating conditions.
 Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017

PREBURNER PUMP - The preburner pump supplies the assembly axial force is supported by the balance
liquid oxygen to the fuel and oxidizer turbopump piston integral with the main impeller, and oper
preburners that supply the turbine drive gases. The ates between the first and second critical speeds as
flowrate is approximately 10 percent of the main im shown by Fig. 13. Rotor dynamic motions that occur
peller flow. Use of this smaller pump rather than while accelerating or decelerating through the first
pumping the entire flow to the 3044 psi higher pres critical speed are well within acceptable limits.
sure required by the preburners saves 15,000 horse
power at 6.0 mixture ratio (NPL) condition. The
pump is a single-entry type, which utilizes a vaned
diffuser to minimize radial loads on the impeller
and to support the volute separating loads. The
impeller seals are located so the impeller axial
force largely balances the turbine axial force. No
cavitation problems exist with this pump because of
the very high inlet pressure.
TURBINE - The oxidizer turbopump is driven by a
two-stage turbine similar to the fuel turbopump tur
bine. The shorter blade height of the oxidizer
turbopump turbine blades permits the use of shrouded
blades to minimize tip clearance losses. The power
split of the turbine is 60 percent in the first
stage and 40 percent in the second stage. The power
split is different from the fuel turbopump to reduce
turbine axial loads as well as to permit operating
at the lower tip speed which produces maximum effi
ciency with the lower flowrate. The turbine blade
roots are cooled by multiple gaseous hydrogen jets
impinging on both sides of each disk. The turbine
disks are cooled to retain the maximum strength
properties of the Waspalloy disks for reduced weight.
The turbine blades are Coulomb damped to minimize
dynamic loads. Turbine nozzle thermal loads are
minimized by use of hollow vanes and by use of a
nozzle ring structure slotted to permit unrestrained
thermal expansion.
ROTATING ASSEMBLY - The rotating assembly is DYNAMIC SEALS - The dynamic shaft seal package
supported by two sets of paired angular contact
bearings that are lubricated by liquid oxygen. The separates the liquid oxygen from the turbine drive
bearings are preloaded to prevent skidding. They gas. All of the seals operate with a positive
are mounted in cartridges that are free to move clearance for long life at the high rotating speed.
axially for a controlled axial load. The turbine The seal package (Fig. 14) consists of: an oxidizer
end cartridge is spring restrained to limit the labyrinth seal , a hydrodynamic liftoff primary
rotating assembly travel during handling and ship oxidizer seal , floating-ring, turbine hot-gas
ping and to position it prior to start. Rotating seals , and a floating-ring, controlled-gap
intermediate seal . The seal package allows for
6
 Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017
safe operation in the event of excessive leakage of
any one seal. Gaseous helium is introduced between
the two elements of the intermediate seal to prevent
mixing of oxidizer and turbine gas. The helium
mixes with either the oxidizer or turbine gas leak
age from the respective seals and is individually
vented overboard. The primary oxidizer seal is a
face-riding seal that contacts the mating ring un
der static conditions and lifts due to combined
hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces under the dy
namic conditions.
DESIGN FEATURES TO ELIMINATE OPERATION HAZARDS High-spe d
operation in a liquid oxygen environment results
in the potential for fires or explosions in! the
event of component rubbing and fretting. To eliminate
such hazards, materials that may rub are selected
for nonsparking and insensitivity to igni tion
in liquid oxygen. Close-clearance labyrinth seals
use stationary elements fabricated of silver because
it transmits heat rapidly and is dif icult to
oxidize. Surface that may fret are coated with burnished
molybdenum disulphide, which provides dry film
W. F., "Space Shuttle Orbiter Main Engine Design," Paper No. 720807, SAE Fall Meeting (San Diego, California),
2-5 October 1972. 7
xt
lubrication to minimize temperature rise. The coating
thickness does not insulate sufficiently to allow
static electricity charges to build between parts.
Positive-interference-fit
pilots are used to minimize
relative motion that can cause fretting. All
bolted connections utilize preloads in excess of
separating loads to ensure clamping of mating parts
under all operating conditions. SUMMARY
The
turbopumps designed for the Space Shuttle Oribiter
Main Engine* satisfies the requirements of supplying
propellants to the high chamber pressure engine.
Design features such as the integral im peller
balance pistons, the double-entry oxidizer pump
and low-pres ure pumps driven by compatible turbine
fluids contribute to the high-reliabil ty, long
life, and minimum weight required by the Orbiter
Main Engine. *Wilhelm,
 Downloaded from SAE International by Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Wednesday, May 17, 2017

This paper is subject to revision. Statements and opinions
advanced in papers or discussion are the author's and are
his responsibility, not the Society's Discussion will be
printed with the paper if it is published in SAE Transactions
For permission to publish this paper in full or in part, contact the SAE Publica
tions Division.
Persons wishing to submit papers to be considered for presentation or publica
tion through SAE should send the manuscript or a 300 word abstract of a pro
posed manuscript to Secretary, Engineering Activities Board, SAE.
10 page booklet Printed in U.S A.