The five-hundred-second experiment was just as Zhang Xingyang expected.
When the operation reached the 407th second, the turbine blades underwent deformation visible to the naked eye under the violent impact.
If it weren't for the quick eyesight and quick hands of the controller responsible for controlling the fuel inflow, the entire turbine pump and gas generator would have exploded in an instant.
Geng Bo's expression was a little depressed, not because he lost the bet, but because he felt sorry that the turbine pump could not last for 500 seconds in the end.
"Remember you owe me a hundred yuan." Zhang Xingyang patted Geng Bo on the shoulder and said with a smile.
In fact, Zhang Xingyang's psychological expectation for this experiment was that if the entire system could operate for two hundred seconds, it would be considered a victory.
After all, it is difficult for the turbopump to work for more than two hundred seconds from the start of ignition to the separation of the first-stage rocket.
If the issue of reuse is not considered, the service life of two hundred seconds is actually completely sufficient.
But Zhang Xingyang asked them to extend their service life as much as possible out of consideration for future recyclable rockets.
Although recyclable rockets do not seem to be a particularly feasible solution in this era, various space shuttles are currently in the limelight.
But Zhang Xingyang knows very well that the technical route of the space shuttle has far more technical and safety issues than that of the recyclable rocket.
And the space shuttle is not as cheap as Yingjiang initially claimed. NASA once predicted that the cost of launching a space shuttle would be around 10 million.
However, the actual launch cost reached about 400 million U.S. dollars, which was not only much higher than the recyclable rockets that became popular later, but also had no price advantage compared with the current Mao Xiong's rockets.
Although the country has not yet decided on which method to reduce costs in the future, Zhang Xingyang has actually secretly started preparations for low-cost recyclable rockets.
"Xingyang, why do you think the experiment lasted less than 500 seconds?" Geng Bo asked, frowning and holding his chin in a fist with his right hand.
"It should be that the material processing and molding are not very good." Zhang Xingyang thought about the possibilities in various aspects, and said without being particularly sure: "You can go to Su Xiao and Qiao Yang later and ask them to do it. Mechanical analysis and metallographic analysis.”
That night, three sets of turbine pumps and gas generators, including the last scrapped turbine pump, were transported overnight to the Rocket Research Institute's test center.
The Materials Laboratory of the Rocket Research Institute has been very busy recently. After all, they are not only busy developing a variety of new materials for new engines.
And they are also responsible for the tail nozzle research project in the WS-10 project jointly developed with the military.
Although the materials in this area only require some improvements on the original process, such an experiment is not particularly brain-consuming, but it consumes everyone's patience and physical strength.
However, the research priority of new engines is still higher within the institute.
Even though most of the staff were busy with the WS-10 project, Su Xiao still found half of the staff to test various parts of the turbine pump that had completed the experiment.
"Su Xiao, I'm sorry to bother you, but I brought everyone with me to do the test at such a late hour." Zhang Xingyang said apologetically to Su Xiao and the people she brought:
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone. I have notified the canteen and will give you extra meals later!"
Everyone present cheered, and then got into the intensive testing work.
The turbopump is mainly composed of two parts, which are responsible for pushing the high-pressure gas to pressurize the fuel and transporting the fuel and oxidizer.
During this 500-second experiment, the problem occurred in the turbine's rotor blades.
Generally speaking, blade cracks, machining tool marks and defects in the rotor material itself caused by the failure of the turbine pump cross-section seal are all sources of fatigue of the rotor blades.
When the rotor rotates at high speed, the turbine blades are subjected to alternating loads, causing fatigue damage and thus fracture.
The people Su Xiao led were doing metallographic analysis of the materials to explore whether the fatigue damage was caused by problems with the rotor material itself.
The late-night snacks at Rocket Research Institute are very hard-core. Large pieces of mutton are dressed on long red willow branches. They are grilled just right. With the cumin noodles sprinkled on top, the fragrance is so delicious that it makes people drool.
This is why most of the researchers at the institute today are young people, otherwise the stomach would not be able to bear so much mutton.
Zhang Xingyang held a skewer of mutton and bit off a piece of mutton while watching Qiao Yang doing finite element simulation analysis on the computer.
The freshly baked lamb tastes just right, fragrant on the outside and tender on the inside. Zhang Xingyang couldn't help but give a thumbs up to the barbecue chef in the cafeteria.
What Qiao Yang is currently doing is the mechanical analysis of the previous turbine pump to see if it is deformed due to fracture due to alternating loads.
Zhang Xingyang took a bunch of mutton skewers and handed them to Qiao Yang who was busy:
"Try the fresh lamb kebabs just out of the oven. They are very fragrant."
Smelling the smell of barbecue cumin, Qiao Yang, who wasn't particularly hungry at first, felt his stomach squirm, so he took a bunch of mutton skewers and ate them.
"It's really not bad, thank you Brother Xingyang," Qiao Yang said after finishing a bunch of mutton skewers, talking about the simulation problem:
"Judging from the simulation model, the reason why the turbine blades deformed and fractured this time was indeed because the blades were subjected to large alternating loads."
This result is not particularly surprising to Zhang Xingyang. After all, apart from the alternating load, the possibility of other causes of blade deformation is very small.
At this time, Su Xiao's test results also came out.
"Alternating load is indeed one of the causes of fatigue fracture. However, during the metallographic analysis of the material, we found that there is stress concentration in the blade of the turbine blade, which is also the reason for the fracture of the turbine blade."
Su Xiao looked at the document in her hand while reporting to Zhang Xingyang the results of the test.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone, you go have a midnight snack first, and then go back and rest." Zhang Xingyang said while flipping through the documents and eating mutton skewers.
Su Xiao glanced at Zhang Xingyang with a complicated look, then turned and left.
Although he caught a glimpse of Lidya Su's eyes, Zhang Xingyang didn't pay much attention.
It's not that he doesn't understand that Lidya Su has some strange feelings for him, but he has no plans for this yet.
In this era, there are too many things that I need to do, but my time is limited. It is impossible for me to devote my limited time to my children's personal relationship.
Putting his thoughts about Su Xiao behind, Zhang Xingyang continued to read the metallographic analysis documents.
The dawn sun has not risen yet, but those who have not slept can already feel the morning sunshine.
Just like the country in this era, although it is surrounded by various "collapse theories", its rise is already around the corner.
