Workshop Mbretëria e Holandës Shtator 2023

The need for smaller radial pumps has been expressed in various fields, including rocket propulsion. This has led to research on optimizing these pumps. Design recommendations in the literature aim to mitigate the effects of low Reynolds regimes. In this study, some of these recommendations are applied to a small, high-speed turbopump used in the Navier rocket engine. A sensitivity analysis is conducted on the pump's outlet pressure and efficiency to assess the effectiveness of the design changes. The analysis reveals that the impeller outlet width has the greatest impact on pressure, while the pump's inlet diameter is most influential on efficiency. Based on the sample points generated in the analysis, a regression is performed to create a surrogate model. This model is then used in a simple optimization routine to obtain an improved version of the Navier pump. The optimized pump meets the engine's requirements for outlet pressure and demonstrates increased overall efficiency.