5 ms·
Once you hit a propellant bubble, the combustion temperatures are the least of your worries. The turbines are designed to ramp up gently, work fully loaded and
by yholio 6y ago
Once you hit a propellant bubble, the combustion temperatures are the least of your worries. The turbines are designed to ramp up gently, work fully loaded and transfer the energy from the hot side to the liquid propellants; the power density is enormous, 100.000 horsepower in the space of a truck engine 100 less powerful. Without an energy sink this immense power is directed at the turbine itself, which spins out of control and will dismantle or shatter when hitting liquid again.
Your engine is now full of solid projectiles that take out other parts, fuel lines and injectors, damage film cooling nozzles and coolant canals, and in general transform your precision machine into a smoldering pile of gunk.
- chasd00 6y agoheh describing the ramp up of a turbo pump on a rocket engine as "gentle" seems funny. zero to 100k HP in about 500ms or so right? also, from the pictures I've seen, the turbopumps are about the size of a propane tank, even smaller than a truck engine.
- yholio 6y agoWell, half a second is quite gentle compared to ramming a fluid with a speed in the tens of m/s into a surging turbopump, especially one that is designed to minimize mass and exactly handle normal operating load and not more.