Abstract The turbine in an LH2/LOX rocket engine is designed as a two-stage supersonic partial-admission turbine. Three-dimensional steady and unsteady simulations were conducted to analyze turbine performance and aerodynamic forces on rotor blades. Different configurations were employed to investigate the effects of the axial gap and nozzle distribution on the predicted performance and aerodynamic forces. Rotor blades experience unsteady aerodynamic forces because of the partial admission. Aerodynamic forces show periodicity in the admission region, and are close to zero after leaving the admission region. The unsteady forces in frequency domain indicate that components exist in a wide frequency region, and the admission passing frequency is dominant. Those multiples of the rotational frequency which are multiples of the nozzle number in a full-admission turbine are notable components. Results show that the turbine efficiency decreases as the axial gap between nozzles and the 1st stage rotor (rotor 1) increases. Fluctuation of the circumferential aerodynamic force on rotor 1 blades decreases with the axial gap increasing. The turbine efficiency decreases as the circumferential spacing between nozzles increases. Fluctuations of the circumferential and axial aerodynamic forces increase as the circumferential spacing increases. As for the non-equidistant nozzle distribution, it produces similar turbine performance and amplitude-frequency characteristics of forces to those of the normal configuration, when the mean spacing is equal to that of the normal case.