Thesis
Design, performance, and analysis of turbomachinery in small-scale liquid rockets
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Jun 2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00011474
Abstract
The current design for Drexel's Rocket Team incorporates a pressure-fed rocket engine whose maximum pressure is constrained by both hardware structural limits and propellant properties. Scaling this architecture is inefficient due to the mass requirements of high-pressure vessels, reducing the payload size at larger scales. To address these limitations, a new architecture is proposed that incorporates a pump system to reduce pressure inside the pressure vessels while still providing sufficient pressure in the combustion chamber to achieve liftoff thrust. Using classical turbomachinery methods, preliminary impeller geometry sizing was performed and compared with results from more modern methods, such as those generated by CFTurbo. Furthermore, ANSYS fluid, modal, and structural analyses were conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed pump. CFD simulations predicted pressure rise and fluid flow through the impeller. Rotodynamic analysis identified potential critical speeds within the operating conditions where resonance could occur. Structural analysis was performed under conservative loads to evaluate the structural integrity of the machine. This work establishes a validated preliminary turbopump design and a coherent engineering workflow to support continued optimization and development for Drexel's Rocket Team propulsion system.
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Details
- Title
- Design, performance, and analysis of turbomachinery in small-scale liquid rockets
- Creators
- Brian P. Tsymbal
- Contributors
- Joel Krakower (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Science (M.S.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University
- Number of pages
- vii, 92 pages
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Engineering (1970-2026); Mechanical Engineering (and Mechanics) (1970-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991022193096004721