Academia Básica del Aire Negociado de Idiomas

UNIT 4 MER

THE JET ENGINE

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READING
TEXT 1. THE WORKING CYCLE
EXERCISE 1. CHOOSE THE BEST OPTION FROM THE WORDS PROPOSED
The gas turbine propeller/engine is essentially a heat engine using air as a working fluid to provide
potential/thrust.

To achieve this, the air passing through the engine has to be reduced/accelerated; this means that the velocity
or kinetic energy of the air is decreased/increased. To obtain this, the pressure energy is first of all increased,
followed by the removal/addition of heat energy, before final conversion back to kinetic Energy in the form of
a high velocity jet efflux.

WORKING CYCLE

The working cycle of the gas turbine engine is the same/similar to that of the four-stroke piston engine.
However, in the gas turbine engine, combustion succeeds/occurs at a constant pressure, whereas/whenever
in the piston engine it happens at a constant volume. Both engine cycles show that in each instance there is
induction, compression, stroke/combustion and exhaust.

These processes are intermittent/recurred in the case of the piston engine whilst they occur continuously in
the gas turbine. In the piston/gas turbine engine only one stroke is utilized in the production of power, the
others being involved in the charging, compressing and exhausting/releasing of the working fluid. In contrast,
the turbine engine eliminates the three ’idle’ strokes, thus enabling more fuel to be burnt in a shorter time;
hence/however it produces a greater power output for a given size of engine.

3. Due to the continuous/intermittent action of the turbine engine and the fact that the combustion chamber
is not an enclosed space, the pressure of the air does not rise, like that of the piston engine, during combustion
but its volume does increase. This process is elaborated/known as heating at constant pressure. Under these
conditions there are no peak or fluctuating pressures to be withstood, as is the case with the piston engine
with its peak pressures in excess of 1,000 lb. per sq. in. It is these peak pressures which make it necessary for
the piston engine to employ cylinders of heavy construction and to use high octane fuels, in contrast to the
low octane fuels and the light/heavy fabricated combustion chambers used on the turbine engine.

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TEXT 2. COMPRESSOR. PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION

During operation the rotor is turned at high speed by the turbine so that air is continuously induced into the
compressor, which is then accelerated by the rotating blades and swept rearwards onto the adjacent row of
stator vanes. The pressure rise results from the energy imparted to the air in the rotor which increases the air
velocity. The air is then decelerated (diffused) in the following stator passage and the kinetic energy translated
into pressure. Stator vanes also serve to correct the deflection given to the air by the rotor blades and to
present the air at the correct angle to the next stage of rotor blades. The last row of stator vanes usually act
as air straighteners to remove swirl from the air prior to entry into the combustion system at a reasonably
uniform axial velocity. Changes in pressure and velocity that occur in the airflow through the compressor are
shown diagrammatically
in fig. 3-9. The changes are accompanied by a progressive increase in air temperature as the pressure
increases.
Across each stage the ratio of total pressures of outgoing air and inlet air is quite small, being between 1:1 and
1:2. The reason for the small pressure increase through each stage is that the rate of diffusion and the
deflection angle of the blades must be limited if losses due to air breakaway at the blades and subsequent
blade stall are to be avoided. Although the pressure ratio of each stage is small, every stage increases the exit
pressure of the stage that precedes it. So whilst this first stage of a compressor may only increase the pressure
by 3 to 4 lb. per sq. in., at the rear of a thirty to one compression system the stage pressure rise can be up to
80 lb, per sq. in, The ability to design multistage axial compressors with controlled air velocities and straight
through flow, minimizes losses and results in a high efficiency and hence low fuel consumption. This gives it a
further advantage over the centrifugal compressor where these conditions are fundamentally not so easily
achieved.
The more the pressure ratio of a compressor is increased the more difficult it becomes to ensure that it will
operate efficiently over the full speed range. This is because the requirement for the ratio of inlet area to exit
area, at the high speed case, results in an inlet area that becomes progressively too large relative to the exit
area as the compressor speed and hence pressure ratio is reduced. The axial velocity of the inlet air in the
front stages thus becomes low relative to the blade speed, this changes the incidence of the air onto the blades
and a condition is reached where the flow separates and the compressor flow breaks down. Where high
pressure ratios are required from a single compressor this problem can be overcome by introducing variable
stator vanes in the front stages of the system. This corrects the incidence of air onto the rotor blades to angles
which they can tolerate. An alternative is the incorporation of interstage bleeds, where a proportion of air
after entering the compressor is

EXERCISE 2. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

1. In the rotor, air: 2. Correction of the direction of the air is
a. Is decreased achieved…
b. Increases volumen a. Consequently
c. Decreases pressure b. By the stator vanes
d. All options are wrong c. In the rotor
d. Through the rotor blades

3. The air enters into the combustion system…

a. Swirling backwards
b. Axially
c. Both options are correct
d. All the options are wrong

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4. One reason why the pressure increase
ratio between stages is so low is:
a. To avoid blade stall
b. To decrease the inlet angle
c. To limit the air induction
d. To increase the compressor ratio
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5. Variable stator vanes…
a. Help the rotor to achieve higher rotational
speeds
b. Are introduced in centrifugal compressors
c. Help to manage compressor stall
d. All options are wrong
Academia Básica del Aire Negociado de Idiomas

LISTENING
AUDIO 1. THE JET ENGINE. EXERCISE 1. FILL IN TH GAPS
Jet engines have been a _____________ drivers of aircraft for nearly a century now. We will explain the
technology behind a jet engine in a logical step by step .

A jet engine keeps an aircraft moving forward using a very simple principle; the same that makes an air-filled
balloon move… Newton’s Third Law of motion. Just like the produced by the air moves
the balloon, the reaction force produced by the ___________________ at the tail of the jet engine makes
it move forward. So the working of jet engine is all about producing a high speed jet at the exit. The the
speed of the jet, the the thrust force.

The thrust force makes an aircraft move forward. Such high speed is achieved by a combination
of techniques.

If you can heat the incoming air to a high temperature, it tremendously and will create
the high velocity jet. For this purpose a combustion chamber is used. An form of the fuel is
burnt in the combustion chamber. Effective combustion requires air to be at moderately high temperature
and pressure. To bring the air to this condition, a set of compressor stages are used. The rotating blades of the
compressor to the fluid and its temperature and pressure rise to a level suitable to sustain
combustion.

The compressor receives the energy for the rotation from a turbine which is placed the
combustion chamber. The compressor and turbine are attached to the same shaft. The high-energy fluid that
leaves the chamber makes the turbine blades . The turbine blades have a special airfoil shape
which creates and make them turn. As the turbine absorbs energy from the fluid, its
pressure drops.

Through steps we have achieved our objective: a really hot and high-speed air emitted from the
exit of the engine.

The engine case becomes towards the outlet which results in even greater jet velocity.

In short, the synchronized operation of the compressor, combustion chamber and turbine, makes the aircraft
move forward.

Modern aircraft use a slightly improved compressor-turbine arrangement called: a two spool. Here two
independent turbine compressor stages are used. The shaft of the outer compressor turbine passes
through the inner one. The outer turbine is subjected to a low energy fluid and will run at lower speed than
the inner turbine.

Low pressure blades are longer. This low speed helps to reduce induced at the root,
thus improving the blades life.

Some modern aircraft even use a three spool engine.

The engine we have discussed so far is more specifically called as turbo jet engine.

Turbo jet engines tend to produce high . A revolutionary improvement was made to
this engine by fitting a large fan with the low pressure spool. Such engines are called Turbofan engines and
almost every commercial aircraft run on them. A turbofan engine a huge amount of
air. The ever narrowing bypass duct provides a good jet velocity to the bypassed air.

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In a turbofan engine, the majority of the thrust force comes from the fan’s reaction force. Further, the fan
greatly improves airflow in the system by sucking in more air, thus it helps improve the thrust. This means high
thrust creation with an expense of more fuel. This is reason why turbofan engines are highly
fuel economical.

The noise produced by a jet engine is highly dependent on the exit jet velocity. Since in a turbofan the bypassed
cold air gets mixed with the hot air, it is possible to keep the outlet velocity within a limit. Thus it overcomes
the noise problem. With exhaust and better fuel economy, the turbofan engines continued to
dominate aircraft propulsion systems.

AUDIO 2. THE COMBUSTION.

EXERCISE 2. LISTEN TO THE AUDIO AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

1.What are the consequences of the advancements in combustion chamber design?

a. the increase in the use of fuel.
b. an increase pollution.
c. a decrease pollution.
d. the rise of the price of the fuel.

2.The materials from which the nozzle guide vanes and the turbine blades are made are…
a. constantly improved over the years.
b. lighter and lighter.
c. imposed to get better combustion.
d. related to a limit of temperature.

3. Nozzle guide vane materials limit temperature when it exists the combustion chamber
a. is 550 degrees Celsius.
b. is 1700 degrees Celsius.
c. is 1100 degrees Celsius.
d. is 7000 degrees Celsius.

4. The temperature of the air leaving the high-pressure compressor is

a. 550 degrees Celsius.
b. 1700 degrees Celsius.
c. 1100 degrees Celsius.
d. 7000 degrees Celsius.

5. What is the flame rate of kerosene?

a. approximately 13 feet per second.
b. approximately 15 feet per second.
c. approximately 50 feet per second.
d. approximately 30 feet per second.

6. What happens if burning kerosene was exposed to an airstream travelling at 500 feet per second?
a. it would be extinguished.
b. its limit is 30 feet per second.
c. its limit is 50 feet per second.
d. nothing, that is what happens in an engine.

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7. After the air exits the high-pressure compressor, …

a. it slows down
b. it is divided into three air flows
c. it is divided into two air flows
d. none of them are correct

8.The primary zone is…

a. the area where the air is cooled.
b. a region of higher velocity.
c. where the stable combustion is achieved.
d. the area where the gas reaches about 20,000 Celsius.

9. What is the temperature of the primary zone?

a. about 20,000 degrees Celsius.
b. about 200 degrees Celsius.
c. about 3,000 degrees Celsius.
d. about 2,000 degrees Celsius.

10. Tertiary air is used to…

a. heat both the air casing and the gas exiting the chamber.
b. slow the speed of the air down.
c. none of them are correct.
d. cool both the air casing and the gas exiting the chamber.

11. One of the methods of cooling the air casing is called

a. transaction.
b. transition.
c. aspiration.
d. transpiration.

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AUDIO 3. COOLING THE COMBUSITON CHAMBER.

EXERCISE 3. LISTENG TO THE AUDIO AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

1.How many igniters have most turbine engines?

a. more than three.
b. at least three.
c. two.
d. only one.

2.What is the interconnector?

a. it is another name for the combustion chamber.
b. it is another name for the ignitor.
c. another means of passing the starting frame between the combustion chambers.
d. none of them are correct.

3.What happens immediately after lighting up the flame in the combustion chambers?
a. a decrease in the temperature within those chambers.
b. an increase in the temperature within those chambers.
c. a decrease in the pressure within those chambers.
d. an increase in the pressure within those chambers.

4. When the burning gases come into 5. What does the ceiling ring at the turbine
contact with any unlit mixture… end of the combustion chamber allow for?
a. they spoil that mixture. a. shortening.
b. they fade that mixture. b. elongation.
c. they ignite that mixture. c. abridgement.
d. they clear that mixture. d. cut back.

6. What does the sealing ring allows the chamber?

a. to expand into the fuel spray nozzles.
b. to expand into the centrifugal compressor engines.
c. to expand into the ceiling ring.
d. to expand into the nozzle box.

7. A multiple combustion chamber system 8. What is “a wet start”?

consist of… a. What happens when the engine is flooded.
a. a number of the individual combustion b. What happens when the engine stops while
chambers. it was working.
b. an air casing. c. What happens when the engine starts to
c. a frame tube. work..
d. an igniter. d. All the options are wrong.

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WRITING
As per the last audio, you have learnt what “a wet start” is. Now imagine yourself in the Flight Line of any
Fighter Squadron. You are witnessing an aircraft launch and suddenly you see that “a wet start” occurs. After
the event the Crew Chief asks the pilot to shot down engine.

Now write in 130 -150 words what you have seen and the event were happening. (Use also your imagination)

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TRANSCRIPTS
Jet engines have been a successful drivers of aircraft for nearly a century now. We will explain the technology behind a
jet engine in a logical step by step manner.

A jet engine keeps an aircraft moving forward using a very simple principle; the same that makes an air-filled balloon
move… Newton’s Third Law of motion. Just like the reaction force produced by the air moves the balloon, the reaction
force produced by the high speed jet at the tail of the jet engine makes it move forward. So the working of jet engine is
all about producing a high speed jet at the exit. The higher the speed of the jet, the greater the thrust force.

The thrust force makes an aircraft move forward. Such high speed exhaust is achieved by a combination of techniques.

If you can heat the incoming air to a high temperature, it will expand tremendously and will create the high velocity jet.
For this purpose a combustion chamber is used. An atomized form of the fuel is burnt in the combustion chamber.
Effective combustion requires air to be at moderately high temperature and pressure. To bring the air to this condition,
a set of compressor stages are used. The rotating blades of the compressor add energy to the fluid and its temperature
and pressure rise to a level suitable to sustain combustion.

The compressor receives the energy for the rotation from a turbine which is placed right after the combustion chamber.
The compressor and turbine are attached to the same shaft. The high-energy fluid that leaves the chamber makes the
turbine blades turn. The turbine blades have a special airfoil shape which creates lift force and make them turn. As the
turbine absorbs energy from the fluid, its pressure drops.

Through these steps we have achieved our objective: a really hot and high-speed air emitted from the exit of the engine.

The engine case becomes narrower towards the outlet which results in even greater jet velocity.

In short, the synchronized operation of the compressor, combustion chamber and turbine, makes the aircraft move
forward.

Modern aircraft use a slightly improved compressor-turbine arrangement called: a two spool. Here two independent
turbine compressor stages are used. The shaft of the outer compressor turbine passes concentrically through the inner
one. The outer turbine is subjected to a low energy fluid and will run at lower speed than the inner turbine.

Low pressure blades are longer. This low speed helps to reduce centrifugal stress induced at the root, thus improving the
blades life.

Some modern aircraft even use a three spool engine.

The engine we have discussed so far is more specifically called as turbo jet engine.

Turbo jet engines tend to produce high levels of noise. A revolutionary improvement was made to this engine by fitting
a large fan with the low pressure spool. Such engines are called Turbofan engines and almost every commercial aircraft
run on them. A turbofan engine bypasses a huge amount of air. The ever narrowing bypass duct provides a good jet
velocity to the bypassed air.

In a turbofan engine, the majority of the thrust force comes from the fan’s reaction force. Further, the fan greatly
improves airflow in the system by sucking in more air, thus it helps improve the thrust. This means high thrust creation
with an expense of slightly more fuel. This is reason why turbofan engines are highly fuel economical.

The noise produced by a jet engine is highly dependent on the exit jet velocity. Since in a turbofan the bypassed cold air
gets mixed with the hot air, it is possible to keep the outlet velocity within a limit. Thus it overcomes the noise problem.
With quieter exhaust and better fuel economy, the turbofan engines continued to dominate aircraft propulsion systems.

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Academia Básica del Aire Negociado de Idiomas

AUDIO 2
The combustion chamber, or combustor, must contain the burning mixture of air, which is being passed from the
compressor, and fuel, from the fuel spray nozzles, in order to generate the maximum heat release at a substantially
constant pressure, so that the turbine receives a uniformly expanded heated and accelerated stream of gas.
This is not an easy task, but advancements are constantly being made in combustion chamber design to enable more
efficient use of fuel with less and less pollution of the atmosphere.
Efficient combustion has been made increasingly more important because of the rise in the cost of the fuel and also the
increasing awareness of the aviation industry and the general public of the dangers of atmospheric pollution from the
exhaust smoke.
There is a limit to the maximum temperature of the gas exiting from the combustion chamber. This is imposed by the
materials from which the nozzle guide vanes and the turbine blades are manufactured.
The slightest excursion about that temperature limit which limit will mean distortion of the turbine blades and the
possible disintegration of the turbine with probably catastrophic results. Modern turbine and nozzle guide vane materials
will allow against temperature not exceeding 1700 degrees Celsius when it exits the combustion chamber. Considering
that the air which leaves the high-pressure compressor may already have been heated to around 550 degrees Celsius
during his compression, we can add sufficient fuel to raise the temperature of the gas exiting the combustion chamber
by a further 1150 degrees Celsius before we exceed the limit temperature of 1700 degrees Celsius.
It must also be remembered that the combustion chamber has to be capable of maintaining stable and efficient
combustion over a wide range of engine operating conditions.
Of course, 1700 degrees Celsius would be the temperature of the gas exiting the chamber with full power selected. Lower
power settings would require lower fuel flows and consequently would generate lower gas temperatures.
The air enters the combustion chamber at a slightly slower rate than which it enters the intake of the engine. Speeds of
around 500 feet per second are not unusual.
The flame rate of kerosene that is the speed at which the leading edge of a flame would travel through kerosene vapor
is approximately 30 feet per second.
If burning kerosene was exposed to an airstream which was travelling at 500 feet per second it would be extinguished
immediately.
So, something must be done to slow down the speed of the airflow after it leaves the compressor and before it reaches
the combustion chamber. Otherwise, the flame would not be sustainable.
The air is divided after it exits the high-pressure compressor into primary, secondary, and tertiary air flows.
The primary zone is a region of lower velocity recirculation positioned immediately downstream of the fuel spray nozzle.
It's within the zone that stable combustion is achieved.
The primary air is approximately 20% of the total airflow coming from the high-pressure compressor and into the
combustion chamber. This is the air which is mixed in a ratio of approximately 15 to 1 by weight with the fuel and burnt.
By being passed through the flare and the swell veins the velocity of the primary air is reduced which must happen if the
flame is not to be extinguished and the shape and position of the flare and swirl vanes also starts the air recirculating
within the region.
The remaining 80% of the output of the high-pressure compressor air which has not been directed through the snout
goes into the space between the flame tube and the air casing. Some of this remaining air, approximately another 20%
of the output of the high-pressure compressor, is allowed into the flame tube through secondary air holes. This air is
called secondary air and it reacts with the primary air which is flowing through the swirl vanes to form a toroidal vortex.
The toroidal vortex stabilizes and anchors the flame and prevents it being moved through the flame tube away from the
fuel nozzle area.
The temperature of the gas is at the center of the primary zone reaches about 2,000 degrees Celsius. This is far too hot
for the materials of the nozzle guide veins and turbine blades so a further drop in temperature is required before the
gases can be allowed to exit the combustion chamber.
The remaining 60% of the total air coming out of the high-pressure compressor is progressively introduced into the flame
tube through corrugated joints and dilutions air holes in the frame tube. This air is called tertiary air.
Tertiary air is used to cool both the air casing and the gas exiting the chamber.
Different methods of keeping the combustion chambers from overheating are used. Some flame tubes have ceramic
coated tiles fixed to a skin on their interior walls. Cooling air passes through the holes in the skin and flows between the
skin and the tile which has a ridged surface. The ridged surface improves the heat transfer between the tile and the air.
The air finally enters the flame tube at the front and rear of the tile and forms an insulating film for the tile as it flows
over it.

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Other engine designs use a different method of cooling the air casing which is called transpiration cooling where a film
of air flows between laminations which form the flame to wall, and then, exits the laminations to form an insulating film
of air within the flame tube.

AUDIO 3
Although the engine would probably start quite readily with only one igniter operating, most gas turbine engines have
two igniters.
However, because there are only two igniters, another means of passing the starting frame between the combustion
chambers in this type of system has to be found.
This is called the inter-connector. Immediately after lighting up the flame in the combustion chambers which have the
igniters causes an increase in the pressure within those chambers. The pressure differential between the chamber which
has a flame in it and those are joining it which have no flames drives the burning gases through the interconnected pipe
work. When the burning gases come into contact with any unlit mixture in the adjacent combustion chamber, they ignite
that mixture.
This process is continued around the engine until the contents of all of the chambers is burning. Where upon the
pressures within them are equalized and the flow through the interconnector ceases.
The ceiling ring at the turbine end of the combustion chamber allows for elongation of the chamber due to expansion.
The chamber is fixed at the compressor end by being bolted onto it and it cannot expand in that direction.
The sealing ring allows the chamber to expand into the nozzle box, which is the portion of the engine immediately
preceding the nozzle guide vanes, while maintaining a gas-tight seal between the chamber and the atmosphere.
The straight-through flow multiple combustion chamber system was developed from Sir Frank whittles original design.
Which was supplied with air by a centrifugal compressor.
The street through combustion chamber system was later used on some earlier types of axial flow engines and is still in
use on centrifugal compressor engines, such as the Rolls-Royce Dart.
A multiple combustion chamber system consisted of a number of the individual combustion chambers. Each combustion
chamber consists of a frame tube, which has its own air casing. The combustion chambers are disposed around the engine
just to the rear of the compressor section.
The drain tubes allow the drainage of excess fuel from the combustion chambers in the unlikely event of the engine failing
to start. An event which is more commonly called a wet start. A wet start happens when the mixture of air and fuel in the
combustion chamber fails to ignite during a start.
A considerable amount of fuel will have been fed into the combustion chamber during the attempt to start. If that field
is not removed before the next attempt to start, and, if that attempt is successful the result will be a combination of
excessively high gas temperatures in the turbine region and torching, which is the name for a very long very hot and very
dangerous jet of flame issuing from the rear of the engine.

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