AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

Propulsion
 INDEX

CHAPTER - 1 Overview of Aircraft Propulsion 3

CHAPTER - 2 Ideal Cycle Jet Engine Analysis 13

CHAPTER - 3 Compressors 53

CHAPTER - 4 Centrifugal Compressors 55

CHAPTER - 5 Axial Compressors 75

CHAPTER - 6 Turbines 103

CHAPTER - 7 Combustion Chamber 120

CHAPTER - 8 Air Intakes 137

CHAPTER - 9 Rocket Propulsion 143

Chapter 1: Overview of Aircraft Propulsion
Aircraft propulsion is a Branch of Aerospace Engineering which deals with generation of a net
thrust or motion on the aerospace vehicle.

Propeller propulsion Jet propulsion

 Thrust is developed by the propeller

Requirements of a propulsion system

 Engine should be small and light weight

 Engine should give large thrust to weight ratio
 Should have low specific fuel consumption.
 Vibration, pollution and noise should be as minimum as possible.

Engine development history

Jet era
Pistion sengine era

sr - 71
2000mph
B - 70
Jets
Super Sonic Aircraft

1500mph
B - 58o

Super critical wing

1000mph

500mph
Pr ops
Transonic Aircraft
Sub Sonic Aircraft

1900 1910
1920 1930 1940 1950
1960 1970 1980
1990
  Early subsonic designs are driven by propeller propulsion.
 In transonic conditions, the Propeller propulsion performance reduces drastically
 During 20th Century, by the understanding on the turbomachinery flows (cascade
aerodynamics) and manufacturing technologies assisted the designers to improve jet propulsion.
 At high flight speeds, engine performance was further improved by innovation of new and
different materials with thermal stress reduction techniques

Basic principle of aircraft propulsion

 All Aerospace Propulsion are based on “Newton’s Law of Motion”.
 Newton’s second law
 Any force applied on a body is proportional to the rate of change of
momentum of that body and acts on the direction of increasing momentum.
 Newton’s third law :-
 Action and reaction are equal and opposite.
 The fundamental principle is that, the velocity of air or gases is increased and then
exhausted backwards with higher velocity or momentum. By this way forward thrust is generated
on the engine.
 Burning of fuel which gives thermal energy act as a source of energy for the work done on
the stream of air. From this we convert thermal energy into mechanical work by the help of shaft,
nozzle etc.
 As we discussed, above engine must be:-
 As small and as light as possible
 Specific fuel consumption should be low
 High thrust to weight ratio
 Produce minimum number of vibration pollution

(Action)
F orc e on A ir
(Reaction)
Force on Aircraft

ue
u
ω
Propeller propulsion

 From the front, air is sucked by the Propeller and ejected back with a higher velocity.
 Force acts on the air backwards.
 From Newton’s third law of motion, an equivalent reactive force develops on the propeller
blades in the forward direction which we call as thrust.

Reaction: on F on Aircraft

U Action: Ue
Force on Aircraft

Jet propulsion
 Air is sucked by the Jet engine from the front and ejected back with a higher velocity.
 As Force is acting on the air in the backward direction then an equivalent reactive force
acts on the engine in the forward direction.

Major landmarks in the history of Aerospace propulsion

 1903 - Flight of Wright brothers

 1909 - Flight across English channel
 1919 - Trans-Atlantic flight by Alcock and Brown
 1931 – Flight with a speed of 340 mph (540 kmph)
 1937 – First experimental whittle turbo jet engine was developed
 1941 – First successful flight of British jet-aircraft powered by Whittle engine
 1944 – German V-2 rockets (LOX + Alcohol) successfully test fired
 1957 – First artificial satellite, Sputnik – l satellite
 1968 – First supersonic passenger aircraft, TU – 144
 1969 – First human landed on moon
 1975 – First March 2 flight by Concorde
 1980 – Space shuttle missions started
 2005 – A-380 and its derivatives (Largest passenger transport aircraft)
Classification of Propulsion System

Propulsion Systems

Airbreathing Engines Non-Airbreathing Engines

Turbo- Shaft Turbojet Ramjet Rocket

STOL/VTOL Turboprop
Turbo-rocket
Ram-Rocket

Helicopter Turbofan Prop-Fan

Lift fan

Chemical Nuclear Solar

Liquid Solid Hybrid

Thrust
Considering the engine now, using Newton’s second law,
F  m(Ue  U)  (Pi  Pe )A …(1.1)
 In rockets, U = 0 and Ue is very high

And also, Pi  0.1atm

Pe is so much. Therefore,

Then, m(Ue  U)  (Pi  Pe )A

F  m(Ue  U) …(1.2)

For, rockets,

F  m(Ue ) …(1.3)
Propulsive efficiency

 It is a measure of how effectively engine power is used to power the aircraft.

Propulsive efficiency, p is defined as the ratio of power delivered to the aircraft to the output
power of the engine.
thrust X aircraft speed
p 
Exit K.E  Intel K.E
FU
 p  …(1.4)
1 1
me ue2  miU2
2 2
Assume at the exit of nozzle exit pressure equal to back pressure.
From equation (1.2) and (1.4), we get
U
2 
2 2U u
 np     e …(1.5)
ue
 1 ue  U 1   U 
U  ue 

h p[%]
Propulsive efficiency

80
70
60
80

50
40

30
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
ue
U
Question 1.1:- The ratio of flight speed to the exhaust velocity for maximum propulsion
efficiency is :-
[GATE 2012]
[a] zero
[b] 0.5
[c] 1.0
[d] 2.0
 2
Soln:- (c) We know that, propulsive efficiency, p 
v
1 e
U
Here, ve  is the exhaust velocity and U  flight speed.
Since, ve  U , the ratio that gives maximum efficiency i.e., p 1 corresponds to the required
ratio being 1.

Question 1.2:- Propulsion efficiency of a jet engine is:-

[GATE 2011]
[a] Directly proportional to both the thrust power and air mass flow rate
[b] Inversely proportional to both the thrust power and air mass flow rate
[c] Directly proportional to the thrust power and inversely proportional to the air mass
flow rate
[d] Inversely proportional to the thrust power and directly proportional to the air mass
flow rate
Soln:- (c) For a jet engine, the propulsive efficiency is
Fu
p 
  u2 u2  
ma (1  f )  e  
  2 2 
Fu
p 
ma

Question 1.3:- The propulsive efficiency of a turbojet engine moving at velocity u with
respect to the engine is given by:-
[GATE 2009]
2
[a]
u
1
ue
u
[b] 1 
ue
2u ue
[c]
u2e  u2
2u
[d]
u  ue
Soln:- (d) we know that,

thrust power obtained

Propulsive efficiency of a turbojet engine =
change in kinetic energy of exhaust flow
Ft X u m(u9  u )u
p  
m 2 m 2
(u9  u2 ) (u9  u2 )
2 2
u
p  2
u9  u

Thermal efficiency
 Thermal efficiency, T is defined as the ratio of the energy released by the engine to the
energy available from the fuel in the engine.
1 1 1 1
me ue2  mi U2 (mi  mfuel )u2e  mi U2
T  2 2 2 2 …(1.6)
mfuel QR mfuel QR
Where QR = Calorific value of the fuel
 2

 u2 U2  u2 1   U  
mi (1  f ) e   
2 
e
 2   ue 
 
 T   …(1.7)
mfuel QR 2f QR
Overall efficiency
 Overall efficiency, 0 is defined as the ratio of power delivered to the aircraft to the
thermal energy available from the fuel in the engine per second.
0  p XT
2
U U
2  1 
u  ue 
 0   e  X 2
U
1     2f QR   U 
 ue   U   ue 
2

U
1  
 0   ue  …(1.8)
 Q  U 
f  R2   
 U   ue 
Specific Impulse and Range
 Specific impulse, Isp is defined as the thrust produced per unit fuel weight flow rate. It has
Unit is in seconds
 F
Isp  …(1.9)
g mfuel
Now, consider an aircraft under steady level flight conditions.
 Thrust (T) = Drag (D)

T D

Lift (L) = Weight of aircraft (W)

(L/D) – Lift to drag ratio is an importance aircraft performance parameter.
Thrust,
L W m g
T F D   ac …(1.10)
(L /D) (L /D) (L /D)
Where mac  Total mass of aircraft at any instant of time.
d d
mfuel  (mfuel )   (mac ) …(1.11)
dt dt
And,
F m g 1
Isp   ac
g mfuel (L /D)  d 
g (mac )
 dt 
d mac
 (mac )   …(1.12)
dt L
Isp  
D
If ds is the distance travelled in time dt, then we can say:-
dmac dmac ds dmac
 
dt ds dt ds
dmac mac
U  …(1.13)
ds L
Isp  
D
 dmac 1
  ds …(1.14)
mac L
UIsp  
D
In steady and level flight U,Isp and (L/D) are constants, then:

 mac, 2  1
ln 
 m    s2  s1  (…1.15)
 ac,1  L
Ulsp  
D

L  mac, 2 
s2  s1  Range  Ulsp   ln ln   (…1.16)
D  m
 ac,1 

Note that mac, 2  mac,1  mf uel

mf uel =mass of fuel burned during the flight.

By definition

F̂U
o  (…1.17)
mf uelQR

 
ˆ
FU U  ˆ
F 
o    
d d
 mf uel  QR QR    mac  
dt  dt 

 
d mac 1  mac  1  F
 ˆ
But   mac       
dt  L  lsp   L   lsp  g 
lsp    
D   D  

 
 ˆ 
U  F 
 o  
QR  1  F ˆ  
 lsp  g  
 
 oQR
Ulsp 
g

Substitute in the range formula:- (…1.18)

Q   L   mac 
s2  s1  o  R    ln  
 g   D   mac  mf uel 

Hence the range is directly proportional to the overall efficiency. (…1.19)