Engineering topics

Sutton, R. F.

Publications and source records attributed to Sutton, R. F..

4 records

NASA NTRS1993

Test Results of the RS-44 Integrated Component Evaluator Liquid Oxygen/Hydrogen Rocket Engine

An advanced LOX/LH2 expander cycle rocket engine, producing 15,000 lbf thrust for Orbital Transfer Vehicle missions, was tested to determine ignition, transition, and main stage characteristics. Detail design and fabrication of the pump fed RS44 integrated component evaluator (ICE) was accomplished using company discretionary resources and was tested under this contracted effort. Successful demonstrations were completed to about the 50 percent fuel turbopump power level (87,000 RPM), but during this last test, a high pressure fuel turbopump (HPFTP) bearing failed curtailing the test program. No other hardware were affected by the HPFTP premature shutdown. The ICE operations matched well with the predicted start transient simulations. The tests demonstrated the feasibility of a high performance advanced expander cycle engine. All engine components operated nominally, except for the HPFTP, during the engine hot-fire tests. A failure investigation was completed using company discretionary resources.

Sutton, R. F.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Design and Experimental Performance of a Two Stage Partial Admission Turbine, Task B.1/B.4

A three-inch mean diameter, two-stage turbine with partial admission in each stage was experimentally investigated over a range of admissions and angular orientations of admission arcs. Three configurations were tested in which first stage admission varied from 37.4 percent (10 of 29 passages open, 5 per side) to 6.9 percent (2 open, 1 per side). Corresponding second stage admissions were 45.2 percent (14 of 31 passages open, 7 per side) and 12.9 percent (4 open, 2 per side). Angular positions of the second stage admission arcs with respect to the first stage varied over a range of 70 degrees. Design and off-design efficiency and flow characteristics for the three configurations are presented. The results indicated that peak efficiency and the corresponding isentropic velocity ratio decreased as the arcs of admission were decreased. Both efficiency and flow characteristics were sensitive to the second stage nozzle orientation angles.

Sutton, R. F.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Small, two-stage, partial-admission turbine

The Rocketdyne Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) cryogenic, rocket engine system, high pressure, liquid hydrogen turbopump was designed with a two-stage, partial-admission axial turbine. The turbine is basically two single-stage, partial-admission, subsonic impulse stages designed so the kinetic energy leaving the first-stage rotor is discharged directly into the second-stage nozzle at nominal operation to minimize staging losses. Very little data were available in the literature for this type of turbine design. Therefore, it was decided to test a full-size model of the turbine design using ambient-temperature gaseous nitrogen as the working fluid. The tester design features a variable orientation second-stage nozzle to determine the optimum circumferential location for highest performance. The tester also features the capability to vary the nozzle arcs of admission and incorporates quartz windows to study the flowfield upstream of the second-stage nozzle using a laser velocimeter. The test operations will probe the efficiency and flow characteristics for three arcs of admission and the effects of second-stage nozzle circumferential orientations over wide ranges of speed and pressure ratios as well as the interstage pressure distributions.

Sutton, R. F.↗

NASA NTRS1970

Bidirectional flow meter

Device provides wide variety of flow metering on a volume demand basis, in either of two directions. Flow is controlled by number, locations, and sizes of orifices and O-rings. Device is useful in pneumatic or hydraulic systems where valve sequence and timing functions vary from point to point.

Sutton, R. F.↗