X-Ray Measurements in a Cavitating Centrifugal Pump During Fast Start-Ups

The start-up of rocket engine turbopumps is generally performed in a few seconds or even less. It implies that these pumps reach their nominal operating conditions after a few rotations only. During the start-up, the flow evolution within the pump is governed by transient phenomena, based mainly on the flow rate and rotation speed increase. Significant pressure fluctuations, which may result in the development of cavitation, are observed. A centrifugal impeller whose transient behavior during start-ups has been detailed in a previous publication is considered. Three different cases of fast start-ups have been identified according the final operating point (Duplaa et al., 2010, “Experimental Study of a Cavitating Centrifugal Pump During Fast Start-Ups,” ASME J. Fluids Eng., 132(2), p. 021301). The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution during the start-ups of the local amount of vapor in the blade to blade channels of the pump by fast X-ray imaging. This technique has enabled to calculate the time-evolution of the fluid density within the pump, which appears to be correlated with pressure time-evolutions. For each investigated start-up, X-ray measurements have been performed at three different sections of the impeller height. For each investigated start-up and section tested, measurements have been performed for several initial positions of the impeller, to estimate the measurement uncertainty, and to obtain records from different beam angles, like in tomography.