General Sir John Kotelawala Defense University, Sri Lanka

Faculty of Engineering

Department of Aeronautical Engineering

AIR BREATHING PROPULSION II

TURBINE CONSTRUCTION

Instructed By : Mrs. Jeewani Abeygoonewardene

Name of Student : DMBD Dissanayake
Reg.No : D/ENG/18/0047
Stream : Aeronautical Engineering
Date of Submission : 30/06/2021
 TURBINE CONSTRUCTION
The major components of a turbojet engine is divided into six sections namely the Inlet, Compressor,
Shaft, Burner, Turbine and Nozzle sections. Let us look at each of the major components of the turbine
engine starting from the inlet and move onto the final component, the exhaust section in order. While
doing so we will discuss the functions of each section, the components they hold, the operational
limitations of these components and what is done to minimize these shortcomings using modern
engineering techniques. The materials employed in each section will also be introduced based on the
operating conditions that each section is subjected to and the function they are supposed to fulfill. In
brief, the materials employed for the manufacturing the engine should aid the engine in performing
the sequence of events successfully, reliably, durably, cost-effectively, safely, efficiently and
effectively. The materials also should be of light-weight in order to produce the maximum power to
weight ratios. Thereby, the first and utmost important characteristic of material selection is that the
material should be light in weight, but also strong enough to resist impact forces.

The function of the Intakes is to provide a distortion free flow at a reasonably high stagnation pressure
possible by the incoming free stream of air’s change in velocity. In supersonic aircrafts since the
aircraft attains high velocities and with it the speed of the air at the inlet increases, a considerable
portion of the cycle pressure ratio can be obtained at the inlet itself. This will happen provided that
the free stream diffuses into the engine effectively. The proper deceleration of the flow will help
convert the change in momentum into a pressure surge, by the laws of physics. Therefore a significant
proportion of the compressor’s compressive function can be reduced by the inlet alone. If the inlet is
designed to operate with nearly perfect efficiencies at supersonic speeds the inlet alone will be
sufficient to replace the compressor. No matter what the operating condition, the inlet should be
designed to provide the sufficient mass flow rate of air to the compressor of the engine. The operating
conditions can vary with angle of attack and yaw angles, but the inlet has to maintain an optimal mass
flow rate, consistently. Inability to produce the sufficient air flow rate required by the engine for a
given power setting will cause the aircraft to stall or the engine to flameout which is highly
undesirable.

In a subsonic flow intakes are designed to compress air in two ways: Internal compression or External
compression. A particular engine may employ one of these methods or both of them. Internal
compression can be achieved by forcing the air to flow through a diverging air passage. Practically a
diverging duct is used to achieve this. It will cause the velocity of the air flowing through each passage
to decrease, thereby causing the pressure to increase. External compression can be achieved by having
an area of cross-section at the inlet larger than the area of cross-section at the free stream intake.
Using the equation of continuity we know that, mathematically, with the increase in area comes
reduced speed, thereby an increased pressure ratio. This is practically achieved by designing free
stream lips of the diffuser duct. To have a greater cross-sectional area. If one of the two compression
methods were to be chosen, external compression is more desirable. This is because of the larger area
for compressed air flow, than in a small duct compared to internal compression, produces much less
friction. This considerable reduction in frictional losses make External Compression much more
efficient and desirable. However, the degree of external compression should be limited in order to
prevent engine shocks in aircraft that are not capable of handling supersonic speeds. This is because,

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as the aircraft nears high level subsonic speeds the flow of air in the ducting will reach supersonic
speeds and the flow may separate while going around the lips. This problem is a concern only for
subsonic intakes and not for aircrafts that are designed to reach supersonic speeds. Flow separation
can also be caused by flying at extremely high angles of attack, therefore overspeed and high angle of
attacks should be avoided as they create a sudden loss in stagnation pressure.

When it comes to aircrafts the desirable compression pressure ratios is around 40. The first and most
basic compressor that comes to mind is the reciprocating compressor. However the gas turbine engine
does not recruit the reciprocating type compressor due to two reasons. The first and most critical is
the weight penalty. To achieve a compression ratio of 40 a significant number of reciprocating
cylinders need to be added, but this increase weight. The other issue is fluctuation in pressure which
can be minimized by adding more cylinders, but aggravates the first issue more. Therefore for aviation
purposes reciprocating compressors aren’t used. Instead rotary compressors are used. Rotary
compressors are divided into two types that is radial or centrifugal compressor and axial compressors.
Out of these two types of compressors the centrifugal compressor is more favorable in theory than
the axial compressor, taking into consideration the thermodynamic and fluid mechanic theories.

The drawbacks are that it has are a larger cross-sectional area per unit air flow rate, around twice or
thrice than that of an axial compressor, inducing greater dag. The desired compression ratio of 40
cannot be obtained in a single step therefore a gas turbine consists of a multi-stage compressor. If a
centrifugal compressor is employed air flows axially inwards and distributes radially outward.
Therefore as air flows from one compressor to the next it is very hard to feed an axial flow of air from
the radially emitted air flow. This will then require design of complex ducting systems to transfer
compressed air from one stage to the next. This ducting can lead of losses in stagnation pressure. The
compression efficiency is therefore made lower, even than that of an axial compressor. The centrifugal
compressor also has a flat trajectory of efficiency despite exceeding design conditions, while axial
compressors display drastic changes with changes in conditions.

However despite the favor of theory, radial compressors are being used in gas turbine engines. They
operate efficiently within design conditions. The flow is axial throughout, therefore the need for
complex ducting systems is neglected unlike in a centrifugal compressor. The same design can also be
used for many different engine ratings. All-in-all this makes the engine much less heavy and compact
thereby fulfilling our number one priority of increased power to weight ratio. The pressure ratio across
each compressor is about 1.15. Therefore to raise the compression ratio to the desired level, that is
40, x number of compression stages need to occur where 1.15𝑥 = 40. That is around 27 compression
stages. There is a drawback imposed here. The compressed air flowing through one rotor exits in a
curved path depending on the angle of the rotor blades. This curved airflow is straightened using a
stationary vane row sandwiched between two rotors. The stationary vane row does nothing but
straighten the path of the compressed airflow and 26 such vane rows are needed in-between each
rotor vane combination. This might save up the need for 27 different rotor designs, but it imparts a
lot of weight for a design that only performs just one function of straightening the airflow. Such areas
are areas in which engine manufacturers are developing new designs for to combat this issue.

Turbine blades are much thicker compared to the slender compressor blades. The slender blades offer
a very low blade loading coefficient. The height of the compressor blade are designed to decrease

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with each stage. This is due to the constant axial velocity and the increase in density of the air flowing
through the compressor. The engine manufacturers must ensure that the least deviations are made
from the design operations during practical applications. Such deviations multiply in a geometric
progression with each compressor stage similar to the geometric progression in the rise of pressure.
Take for example the starting of the engine. We design the engine to have a composition of air which
has a decreasing density with each stage, but at engine starting the engine has air of constant density
and pressure (standard atmospheric values) throughout. Another instance is when the pilot decides
to change the operating speeds of the engine. The first few compressors react to the change in
operational settings faster than the latter stage compressor, leading to a deviation from normal
operating conditions. Operating the engine at off design operating conditions lead to two unfavorable
engine conditions or phenomenon. The first is the choking of the engine compressors at the latter
stages. The second being the stalling of compressor blades.

One of the design methodologies implemented to prevent mass pile up or choking of the letter
compressor stages is to bleed the air at these compressor stages. Bleeding air in these stages will allow
for more air to be drawn into these stages without choking the set-up. However this only solves the
problem when the engine stating on ground. A choking engine in flight cannot have its air bled easily.
For such a case the only option is to change the blade angles mid-air, or change the velocity of the
successive compressor blades. The latter was made possible by Rolls Royce which uses multiple shafts
which slide within each other, three to be exact, to provide controlled varying speeds for the
compressor blades. Each shaft runs the low pressure compressor and fan, the intermediate
compressor and the high pressure compressor and are controlled independent of one another. Thus
this solves the stalling problem. General Electric on the other hand employs both the former and the
latter solutions: movable guide vanes to change the compressor blade angles and a multi-shaft
compressor, which utilizes two shafts. This combination works very effectively.

A duty cycle is the typical engine’s cycle of events, represented in the following list: takeoff, climb,
cruise, descend, land, reverse thrust and shutdown. The load on the engine is the list during cruise
operation while the load is highest at take-off and landing, take-off being the heaviest. Each operation
of the duty cycle is measures in hours and given a weightage in accordance if the load it poses on the
engine operation. A typical gas turbine engine is required to last at least 200-300 hot hours - that is
the weighted time performing the operations of the duty cycle.

The temperature at the end of the compression stage is around 700 − 800℃. So the materials
employed for the engine manufacture should display excellent thermal properties which can survive
the extreme temperature and pressure environments without showing drastic changes in material
characteristics. Characteristics such as minimal thermal expansion, maximum wear and corrosion
resistance are highly favorable. Compressor blades are mounted onto disks which rotate axially. These
discs should display properties such as high strength, high resistance towards centrifugal forces and
resist fatigue. Commonly used materials in aerospace and aeronautics applications are steel,
aluminum alloys and carbon composites. But for the engine design applications, materials that best
suit the required criteria are titanium alloys and nickel based alloys due to their excellent properties
amidst high temperature environments. Preferably titanium alloys are used in the “cold side” while
nickel alloys are used in the “hot side” of engine operations.

The clearance between the blade tip and the casing should be kept to a minimal. This is because we
do not want the compressed air to by-pass the next compression stage by flowing over the gap

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between the turbine blades. We want the air to flow through the blades instead, therefore blade tip
clearance control is of extreme importance in gas turbine engine design. However minimizing this
clearance will only leave less space for the thermal expansion of the blades in its high temperature
operating environments. This is considered to be one of the most challenging problems in the
manufacturing of turbine engines, to improve the efficiency and reduce the leakage of air.

Some designs counter this problem by having blade tips which can be easily worn out, or abradable,
at contact with the casing. This allows the excessive blade length to wear off and provide a snug fit
onto the casing. Alternatingly, abradable casings can also be used in combination with abrasive blade
tips so that the required space for accommodating the excessive blade length can be cleared of by the
tip of the abrasive blade itself. The excessive temperature rises can also be controlled by bypassing air
from the fan to cool the latter compression stages, thus reducing the effects of thermal expansion of
the casing and the chances of the blade and the casing and blade tip coming into contact with each
other. This bypassing can be adjustable with rotor speed, altitude and other decisive parameters. The
bypassing of air to provide cooler engine operation should also be limited to not go beyond optimum
operating temperature by providing over-cooling especially in high altitudes. We do not want to cool
the engine far beyond its operating temperatures and make engine icing a likely issue. Therefore as
important as it is to send cooler air to keep engine operation cooler and prevent drastic expansion of
engine components, it is also important to not overcool the engine. The best thing to do is to keep it
at its optimum operational limits. Also note that the high pressure compressor is the component which
undergoes the most stress within the turbine engine set-up. It has the highest pressure, highest
temperature environment and it undergoes mechanical stresses due to rotation.

Moving onto the next stage of the gas turbine engine is the combustor, also known as the burner. The
engine can have one of three different types of combustor configurations. One of the configurations
being a hybrid of the other two. They are namely can, can-annular and annular. These configurations
are classified based on the arrangement of the combustor section’s components, which are the shaft,
liner, fuel injector and casing. The liner is a perforated plate through which air can enter and mix with
the combustion gases. In the can arrangement, fuel is injected to the middle of a can where multiple
cans are arranged in a circular pattern around the shaft. The can arrangement is one of the simplest
combustor configurations. Each can has a separate casing but they are interconnected in a way to
ensure they operate at the same pressure. This design trait avoids the chances of pressure fluctuation
within the combustor. The can arrangement was employed in early design of gas turbine engines.
Later the annular design was adopted. It is still used up to date. Here there exists a single circular
casing around which a singular inner circular liner runs through. Another circular arrangement of fuel
injectors are arranged inner to the liner. The most sophisticated arrangement is the can-annular
arrangement which is a hybrid of the can and annular arrangements. It has multiple fuel locators like
the can combustor which is surrounded by a liner like in the annular combustor.

If we were to focus on a single combustion can, the amount of air flowing into a can from the
compressor is less than a mere 30%. The rest of the air is utilized for mixing with the products of
combustion while another minority, around 5 − 10%, is used for turbine blade cooling. The fuel-air
spray nozzle sprays fuel to form a charge of ratio 60:1 or even higher. In designing the combustor
therefore two facts need to be taken into consideration. It is the section operating at one of the
highest pressure since it accepts the fully compressed air from the high pressure compressor. It also
hosts the combustion of fuel which makes it a very high temperature zone. So this section is subjected

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to one of the highest thermal and pressurized stresses, but it does not rotate. Taking this into account,
materials need to be selected for the combustor. Another fact that needs to be taken into engine
design consideration is developing methods of reducing carbon dioxide and oxides of nitrogen
emission in this particular section of the engine. Strict guidelines from aviation authorities push engine
manufacturers to innovate new ways of reducing these emissions. Implementing engine designs that
favor the use of synthetic fuels, biodiesels and biofuels can reduce the formation of such oxides of
nitrogen.

The next major component is the turbine of the engine. It receives a splash of extremely hot air, hot
enough to melt its blades. A turbine transfers a fraction of the kinetic energy possessed by the hot
exhaust gases into useable mechanical energy that drives the compressor and its accessories. The
turbine section constitutes of four basic elements: a case, a stator, a shroud and a rotor. The main
function of a turbine case is to enclose the turbine rotor and the stator assembly while providing
external support to the stator element. It consists of flanges on each end to provide attachment points
to the combustions section and the exhaust section. Located directly at the aft of the combustion
chamber and immediately ahead of the turbine wheel, the turbine stator directs the air flow to the
turbine at an appropriate angle. It is also most commonly referred to as a turbine nozzle or turbine
guide vane or nozzle diaphragm. The exhaust gases are actually 400℃ above the melting point of the
turbine blades. Therefore it is extremely important to select the right material to prevent turbine
blade erosion. The material should have extremely high temperature resistance, resistance towards
creep, corrosion, wear and fatigue. Additionally, great measures should be taken to cool the turbine
blades. A single turbine blade would cost around $50,000 and each high pressure turbine would have
around 100 blades. The air cooling is carried out by bypassing air from the latter stages of the high
pressure compressor for cooling the high pressure vanes, disks and blades. Film cooling prevents the
blade from melting by providing fat moving air that caries heat and acts as an insulation layer. In the
meantime impingement cooling also allows for cooler engine operation of the blades. Materials
should also be resistant towards oxidation, else the engine would catch up in flames. Two such types
of materials are known for providing oxidation resistance even at elevated temperatures: cobalt and
chromium. The materials of turbine blades should also offer high rotational strength and pressure
loading. For these reasons turbine discs are manufactured using nickel based alloys, while blades are
commonly made using single crystal nickel based alloy with a thermal barrier coating.

The final component of the engine is the engine nozzle. It has two functions. The first is to provide
thrust for propulsion using the exhaust gases. The second is to produce reverse thrust for breaking
and bringing the aircraft to a halt. The Nozzle may have variations for example nozzle of a simple turbo
jet engine or an after burning turbo jet engine which happens to be slightly more complicated. There
are different configurations of thrust reversers in order to retard the thrust produced by the engine.
One such configuration is the clam-shell which acts as it names suggests. The exhaust fumes are
diverted through the top and bottom of the engine by forming a V-shaped barrier, similar to that of a
clamshell, at the aft of the engine. Since nozzles too are exposed to high temperature exhausts, they
should also be made by high temperature application materials. Normally used are Nickel based alloys,
Titanium based alloys or a ceramic matrix composite. Another special type of nozzle is the after burner
nozzle. It is a constant area duct in which fuel is injected and more combustion takes place. It results
in a thrust impulse: the formation of a greater amount of thrust for a shorter period of time.

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With that we conclude our analysis of the design features of gas turbine engines, the operational
limitations, the methods of cooling employed and the types of materials employed for each major
section of the gas turbine engine in detail.

References
 NPTEL, Mechanical – Gas Dynamics and Propulsion Playlist by Prof. V. Babu, Department of
Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras
 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbMVogVj5nJR0Vt9CLGK7ck2yrS1zQjMo