AIRCRAFT ENGINES

An aircraft engine is a propulsion system for an aircraft . Aircraft engines are

almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines. This article is
an overview of the basic types of aircraft engines
Types of Aircraft Engines:

1. Turboprop
2. Turbojet
3. Turbofan
4. Turboshaft
5. Ramjet
 GAS TURBINE
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a rotary engine that
extracts energy from a flow of combustion gas. It has an upstream
compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber
in-between. Energy is added to the gas stream in the combustor, where air
is mixed with fuel and ignited. Combustion increases the temperature,
velocity and volume of the gas flow. This is directed through a nozzle over
the turbine's blades, spinning the turbine and powering the compressor.
Energy is extracted in the form of shaft power, compressed air and thrust,
in any combination, and used to power aircraft, trains, ships, generators,
and even tanks.
 TURBOPROP
Turboprop engines are a type of aircraft power plant that use a gas
turbine to drive a propeller. The gas turbine is designed specifically for this
application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller.
The propeller is coupled to the turbine through a reduction gear that
converts the high RPM, low torque output to low RPM, high torque. In its
simplest form, a turboprop consists of an intake, compressor, combustor,
turbine and a propelling nozzle. Air is drawn into the intake and
compressed by the compressor. Fuel is then added to the compressed air in
the combustor, where the fuel-air mixture then combusts. The hot
combustion gases expand through the turbine. Some of the power
generated by the turbine is used to drive the compressor. The rest is
transmitted through the reduction gearing to the propeller. Further
expansion of the gases occurs in the propelling nozzle, where the gases
exhaust to atmospheric pressure. The propelling nozzle provides a
relatively small proportion of the thrust generated by a turboprop.
Turboprops are very efficient at modest flight speeds (below 450 mph)
because the jet velocity of the propeller (and exhaust) is relatively low. Due
to the high price of turboprop engines, they are mostly used where high-
performance short-takeoff and landing (STOL) capability and efficiency at
modest flight speeds are required.
 TURBOPROB SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM

Advantages of Turboprop Disadvantages of Turboprop

Turbo props have a high thrust power with
respect to fuel consumption, so they are very Limited top speed
cheap to fly in regards to fuel costs.
somewhat noisy
For short field takeoffs & landings the
turboprop has a distinct performance
advantage over jets who require greater complex transmission
runway lengths to operate. Turboprops are
also ideal for most hot-and-high altitude
operations

Lower operating costs and less maintenance

required
 TURBOJET
Turbojets consist of an air inlet, an air compressor, a combustion chamber, a
gas turbine (that drives the air compressor) and a nozzle. The air is
compressed into the chamber, heated and expanded by the fuel combustion
and then allowed to expand out through the turbine into the nozzle where
it is accelerated to high speed to provide propulsion. Turbojets are quite
inefficient (if flown below about Mach 2) and very noisy. Turbojets are still
very common in medium range cruise missiles, due to their high exhaust
speed, low frontal area and relative simplicity.
 Of turbojet

Advantages Of Turbojet Disadvantages Of Turbojet

Light weight, simplicity and A basic design, misses many

reliability, and development improvements in efficiency and
rapidly progressed to practical power for subsonic flight,

airworthy designs relatively noisy.

 TURBOFAN
A Turbofan is a type of aircraft gas turbine engine that provides propulsion
using a combination of a ducted fan and a jet exhaust nozzle. Part of the air
stream from the ducted fan passes through the core, providing oxygen to
burn fuel to create power. However, the rest of the air flow bypasses the
engine core and mixes with the faster stream from the core. The rather
slower bypass airflow produces thrust more efficiently than the high-speed
air from the core, and this reduces the specific fuel consumption.
All of the jet engines used in currently manufactured commercial jet aircraft
are turbofans. They are used commercially mainly because they are highly
efficient and relatively quiet in operation.
Advantages Of
Turbofan
Quieter around 10 to 20
percent more than the turbojet
engine due to greater mass
flow and lower total exhaust
speed and more efficient for a
useful range of subsonic
airspeeds for same reason,
cooler exhaust temperature.
Less noisy and exhibit much
better efficiency than low
bypass turbofans.
Disadvantages Of
Turbofan
Greater complexity (additional
ducting, usually multiple
shafts) and the need to contain
heavy blades. Fan diameter
can be extremely large, More
subject to FOD and ice
damage. Top speed is limited
due to the potential for
shockwaves to damage engine.
Thrust lapse at higher speeds,
which necessitates huge
diameters and introduces
additional drag
 TURBOSHAFT
A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine which is optimized to
produce shaft power, rather than jet thrust. In principle, a turbo
shaft engine is similar to a turbojet, except the former features
additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the
exhaust and convert it into output shaft power. Turboshaft engines
are commonly used in applications which require a sustained high
power output, high reliability, small size and light weight. These
include helicopters, auxiliary power units, boats and ships, tanks,
hovercraft, and stationary equipment
 A turboshaft engine contains a gas generator section, consisting of the
compressor, combustion chambers with igniters and fuel nozzles, and one
or more stages of turbine. The gas generator's function is to create the hot
expanding gases to drive the power section, which consists of more stages
of turbines, a gear reduction system, and shaft output.

Advantages Of Disadvantages Of
Turboshaft Turboshaft
High efficiency at lower Limited top speed
subsonic airspeeds Somewhat noisy
High shaft power to weight Complex transmission
 Ramjet
A ramjet, is a form of jet engine using the engine's forward motion to
compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor. Ramjets cannot
produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a
standstill. Ramjets require considerable forward speed to operate well, and
as a class work most efficiently at speeds around Mach 3. This type of jet
can operate up to speeds of at least Mach 5. Ramjets can be particularly
useful in applications requiring a small and simple engine for high speed
use; such as missiles, ramjets employ a continuous combustion process, and
are a quite distinct type of jet engine
Advantages Of Ramjet Disadvantages Of
Ramjet
Very few moving parts,
Efficient at high speed (> Must have a high initial speed
Mach 2.0 or so),
to function,
Inefficient at slow speeds due
Lightest of all air-breathing
to poor compression ratio,
jets (thrust/weight ratio up
to 30 at optimum speed),

Cooling much easier than

turbojets as no turbine
blades to cool.