LESSON 1

Aircraft Propulsion Systems

Piston and Jet Engines
LESSON 1

TOPICS

Overview of Aircraft Propulsion Systems

Piston Engines

Jet Engines

2023 Lesson 1 2
AIRCRAFT PROPULSION SYSTEMS CAN BE
CLASSIFIED INTO FOUR CATEGORIES:

• Piston Engines

• Jet Engines

• Rocket Engines

• Electric Motors

2023 RUBRICS 3
PISTON ENGINES

The basic operation of these engines is a piston moving

back and forth (reciprocating) inside a cylinder, with valves
that open and close appropriately to let fresh fuel-air
mixture in and burned exhaust gases out. The piston is
connected to a shaft via a connecting rod that converts the
reciprocating motion of the piston to rotational motion of
the shaft.

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POWER AVAILABLE FOR
PISTON ENGINES

PA = [ἠ ἠmech (rpm) NW]/ 120

Where:
Work - W
No. of cylinders - N
Engine RPM - rpm
Engine Mechanical Efficiency - ἠmech
Propeller Efficiency - ἠ
Power Available – PA

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SAMPLE PROBLEM
A six-cylinder internal combustion engine has a mechanical efficiency of
0.75. If the crankshaft is connected to a propeller with an efficiency of 0.83,
calculate the power available from the engine-propeller combination for 3000
rpm which produces a 1107 J of work.

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POWER OUTPUT AND
FUEL EFFICIENCY OF
PISTON ENGINES
s.f.c = Wf/ SHP

Where:

Fuel Weight – Wf

Shaft horse power - SHP

Speficific Fuel Consumption – s.f.c

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SAMPLE PROBLEM
An engine has a shaft horsepower of 350 hp and its fuel weighs 160 lbs.
Compute for the specific fuel consumption.

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 OTTO CYCLE VS DIESEL CYCLE

1. Uses spark plug to ignite pre-mixed 1. A fuel injector is used here for
air fuel mixture introduced into the igniting the charge.
cylinder.
2. Constant pressure cycle.
2. Constant volume cycle.

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 FOUR-STROKE CYCLE ENGINE

They operate in four steps:

Intake - The intake valve is open, and fuel is drawn in with a downward stroke.
Compression - As the piston moves upward, the fuel is compressed.
Power - After the fuel is compressed, it is ignited to produce the engine’s
power.
Exhaust - The exhaust valve opens, and the exhaust gases exit the cylinder.

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 TWO-STROKE CYCLE ENGINE

They operate in two processes:

Compression Stroke - The piston goes up, air and fuel enter the crankcase.
The fuel-air mixture is compressed and ignited.
Power Stroke - Once the fuel is ignited, the piston is pushed down, and the
exhaust is expelled.

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 TYPES OF AIRCRAFT PISTON
ENGINES

STRAIGHT OR IN-LINE PISTON ENGINE

V-TYPE PISTON ENGINE
RADIAL PISTON ENGINE
HORIZONTALLY OPPOSED PISTON ENGINE

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STRAIGHT OR IN-LINE PISTON ENGINES

As the name
indicates, straight or
in-line aircraft piston
engines have
cylinders in a line

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V-TYPE PISTON ENGINES

Basically, two in-line

engines welded
together.

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RADIAL PISTON ENGINES

The engine consists of one or

more rows of odd-numbered
cylinders arranged in a circle
around a central crankshaft.

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HORIZONTALLY OPPOSED PISTON ENGINES

Also known as flat or

boxer engines, these
aircraft piston engines
have two banks of
cylinders on opposite
sides of a central
crankcase

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JET ENGINES

The jet engine is a device that takes in air at essentially

the free-stream velocity, heats it by combustion of fuel
inside the duct, and then blasts the hot mixture of air and
combustion products out the back end at a much higher
velocity.

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THRUST FOR JET
ENGINES

T = mair (Ve – V∞) + (Pe – P∞) Ae

Where:
T = Thrust
mair = mass flow rate of air
Ve = exit velocity
V∞ = free stream velocity
Pe = exit pressure
P∞ = pressure at free stream
Ae = exit velocity

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SAMPLE PROBLEM
Consider a turbojet powered airplane flying at a standard altitude of
30,000 ft at a velocity of 500 mi/h. The turbojet engine itself has inlet and exit
areas of 7 and 4.5 ft2, respectively. The velocity and pressure of the exhaust
gas at the exit are 1600 ft/s and 640 lb/ft2, respectively. Calculate the thrust
of the turbojet.

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THE SPECIFIC FUEL
CONSUMPTION

TSFC = f/ Fs or TSFC = mf/ F

Where:
mf = fuel mass flow rate
ma = air mass flow rate
f = fuel to air mixture
Fs = specific thrust
F = net thrust

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SAMPLE PROBLEM
A turbojet produces a net thrust of 2,000 lbs with a fuel mass flow rate of
2000 lbm/hr. Compute for the specific fuel consumption.

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 TYPES OF AIRCRAFT JET
ENGINES

TURBOJET
TURBOSHAFT
TURBOPROP
TURBOFAN
RAMJET / SCRAMJETS

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TURBOJET

A turbojet is the simplest kind

of jet engine based on a gas
turbine: it's a basic "rocket" jet
that moves a plane forward by
firing a hot jet of exhaust
backward.

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TURBOSHAFT

A turboshaft is very different

from a turbojet, because the
exhaust gas produces relatively
little thrust. Instead, the turbine
in a turbojet captures most of
the power and the driveshaft
running through it turns a
transmission and one or more
gearboxes that spin the rotors.
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TURBOPROP

A modern plane with a

propeller typically uses a
turboprop engine. It's similar
to the turboshaft in a
helicopter but, instead of
powering an overhead rotor,
the turbine inside it spins a
propeller mounted on the
front that pushes the plane
forward. 25
TURBOFAN

Giant passenger jets have

huge fans mounted on the
front, which work like
super-efficient propellers.
The fans work in two
ways. They slightly
increase the air that flows
through the center (core)
of the engine, producing
more thrust with the same
fuel (which makes them`
more efficient).
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RAMJET / SCRAMJETS

Jet engines scoop air

in at speed so, in
theory, if you designed
the inlet as a rapidly
tapering nozzle, you
could make it
compress the incoming
air automatically,
without either a
compressor or a
turbine to power it.
Engines that work this
way are called ramjets27
JET ENGINE PERFORMANCE

Thermal efficiency is a prime factor in gas turbine

performance. It is the ratio of net work produced by the
engine to the chemical energy supplied in the form of fuel.

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THANK YOU