Elements of Aeronautics Aircraft Propulsion

Module – 3

AIRCRAFT PROPULSION
Syllabus:
Aircraft Propulsion: Aircraft power plants, classification based on power plant and
location and principle of operation. Turboprop, turbojet and turbofan engines; ramjets
and scramjets; performance characteristics. Aircraft power plants – basic principles of
piston, turboprop and jet engines; Brayton cycle and its application to gas turbine
engines; use of propellers and jets for production of thrust; comparative merits and
limitations of different types of propulsion engines; principle of thrust augmentation.

1. What is aircraft power plant? Write the classification of aircraft

power plant in brief.
Aircraft power plants

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Elements of Aeronautics Aircraft Propulsion

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2. With a neat diagram, explain Turbofan engine and explain

about bypass ratio and its significance.

Working principle:
• A turbofan engine has a large fan at the front, which sucks in air. Most of the air
flows around outside of core engine, making it quieter and giving more thrust at
low speeds.
• In a turbojet engine, all the air entering the intake passes through the gas generator,
which is composed of the compressor, the combustion chamber and the turbine.
However, in a turbofan engine only a portion of the incoming air goes into the
combustion chamber.
• The remaining air or fan air (or secondary air) either leaves separately from the
primary engine air, or ducted back to mix with the primary air through the engine
core at the rear.
• The objective of bypass system is to increase thrust without increasing fuel
consumption. This is achieved by increasing the total air mass flow and reducing
the velocity within the same total energy supply.
• The increased efficiency of a turbofan engine is combined with a substantial noise
reduction, typically 10-20%, which is a very important consideration.
• Turbofan engines are generally classified based on the bypass ratio i.e, low bypass
(1:1), medium bypass (2-3:1) and high bypass (4:1 or greater).
• In a low bypass engine, the fan and compressor sections handle approximately the
same mass of air flow.

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• A medium bypass engine produces thrust ratio which is approximately the same as
its bypass ratio. The fan of medium bypass ratio engine has a larger diameter
compared to that on a low bypass engine of comparable power.
• A high bypass turbofan engine utilizes even wider diameter fan in order to push
more air. In this type of engine about 80% of the thrust is provided by the fan and
remaining only 20% by the core engine.

Advantages/Merits:
• Higher thrust at lower airspeeds.
• Lower TSFC.
• Shorter takeoff distance.
• Considerable noise reduction.

Disadvantages/Limitations:
• Higher specific weight.
• Larger frontal area.
• Inefficient at high altitudes.

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3. With a neat sketch explain Brayton Cycle and its application

in jet engines.
Brayton cycle and its application to gas turbine engines

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4. What is thrust augmentation? Explain different thrust

augmentation methods.
Thrust augmentation

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5. Describe the principle operation of Turboprop engine with

neat diagrams.
Turboprop engine

Working principle:
• A turboprop engine is a jet engine attached to a propeller. The turbine at the back is
turned by the hot gases and this turns a shaft that drives the propeller.
• Like the turbojet engine, the turboprop engine consists of a compressor, combustion
chamber and turbine, which than creates the power to drive the compressor.
• Compared to a turbojet engine, the turboprop engine has better propulsion
efficiency. Modern turboprop engines are equipped with propellers that have a
smaller diameter but a larger number of blades for efficient operation at much
higher flight speeds.

Fig: Turboprop engine

• Turboprop engine drives its propulsion by conversion of gas stream energy into
mechanical power to drive the compressor, accessories, etc.
• A free turbine is incorporated in the turboprop engine. The shaft in which the free
turbine is mounted drives the propeller through the propeller reduction gear system.
• Approximately 90% of thrust comes from propeller and about only 10% comes
from the exhaust gases.

Advantages/Merits:
• Turboprop engines have a higher thrust at takeoff and better fuel economy.
• The frontal area is less than propeller engines so that drag is reduced.

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• The turboprop can operate economically over a wide range of speeds ranging from
low speeds where pure jet engine is uneconomical to high speeds of about 800 km/h
where the propeller engine efficiency is low.
• It is easy to maintain and has lower vibrations and noise.
• The power output is not limited as in the case of propeller engines.
• The multishaft arrangement allows a great flexibility of operation over a wide range
of speeds.

Disadvantages/Limitations:
• The main disadvantage is that at high speeds, due to shocks and flow separation.
The propeller efficiency decreases rapidly, thereby, putting up a maximum speed
limit on the engine.
• It requires a reduction gear which increases the cost and also consumes certain
amount of energy developed by the turbine in addition to requiring more space.

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6. Describe the principle operation of Turbojet engine with

neat diagrams.
Or
Illustrates typical parts of jet engine
Turbojet engine
Working principle:
• The turbojet engine is a reaction engine. In a reaction engine, expanding gases push
hard against the front of the engine.
• Turbojet engine derives its thrust by accelerating a mass of air through the core
engine.
• The air taken in from an opening in the front of the engine is compressed to about
3-12 times its original pressure in a centrifugal or axial compressor.
• Fuel is added to the air and burned in a combustion chamber to raise the temperature
of the mixer to about 11000C. The resulting hot air is passed through a turbine,
which drives the compressor.

Fig: The turbojet engine

• If the turbine and compressor are efficient, the pressure at the turbine discharge will
be nearly twice the atmospheric pressure.
• This excess pressure is sent to the nozzle to produce a high velocity stream of gas
which produces the thrust. Thus all the propulsive force produced by a jet engine is
derived from exhaust gases.
• An afterburner (or a reheat) is an additional component added to some jet engines.
Primarily those on military supersonic aircrafts.

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• Its purpose is to provide a temporary increase in thrust at the time of supersonic

flight as well as takeoff.
• On military aircraft, the extra thrust is also useful for combat situations. This is
achieved by injecting additional fuel into the jet pipe downstream of (after) the
turbine.

Advantages/Merits:
• The power to weight ratio of a turbojet engine is about 4 times that of a propeller
system having reciprocating engines.
• It is simple, easy to maintain and requires lower lubricating oil consumption.
Furthermore, complete absence of liquid cooling results in reduced frontal area.
• There is no limit to the power output which can obtained from a turbojet while the
piston engines have reached almost their peak power and further increase will be at
the cost of complexity and greater engine weight and frontal area of the aircraft.
• The speed of the turbojet engine is not limited by the propeller and it can attain
higher flight speeds than engine propeller aircrafts.

Disadvantages/Limitations:
• The fuel economy at low operational speeds is extremely poor.
• It has low takeoff thrust and hence poor starting characteristics.

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7. Give explanation about Ramjet.

Ramjet engine

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8. Give explanation about Scramjet.

Scramjet

• A Scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a ramjet air breathing

combustion jet engine in which the combustion process takes place in supersonic
airflow.
• As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to forcefully compress and
decelerates the incoming air before combustion (hence ramjet), but whereas a
ramjet decelerates the air to subsonic throughout the entire engine.
• The theoretical projections place top speed of scram between Mach 12 and Mach
24, which is near orbital velocity.
• The Scramjet is composed of three basic components:
• A CONVERGING INLET, where incoming air is compressed and decelerates.
• A COMBUSTER, where gaseous fuel is burned with atmospheric oxygen to
produce heat.
• A DIVERGING NOZZLE, where the heated air is accelerated to produce
thrust.

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9. Discuss about the performance characteristic of Turbojet,

Turboprop and Turbofan engines.
Thrust compared to airspeed (Velocity/Mach no) at sea level and at 30,000 ft (9,000m)

• From the above graphs we can say that the turboprop engine is produces more
takeoff thrust compared to turbojet and turboprop engines.
• The turboprop engine initially produces more thrust but as speed of the aircraft
increase, the thrust will decreases because of the flow separation over a
propeller blades.
• In turbojet engine throughout the flight condition constant thrust will produces.
• The turbofan engine lies in between turboprop and turbojet for production of
thrust with respect to aircraft speed.

Comparison of thrust and specific fuel consumption

Fig: Comparison of thrust specific fuel consumption (TSFC) with thrust for turbojet and
turbofan engines

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Thrust specific fuel consumption (TSFC) versus airspeed at sea level and at 30,000 ft
(9,000m)

Fig: Thrust specific fuel consumption (TSFC) versus airspeed at sea level and at 30,000 ft
(9,000 m)

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10. Problem

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11. Derive the fundamental thrust equation for jet engine.

The Thrust Equation

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