The different types of propelling devices mainly differ

by their technology. As thrust provided

is a product of the mass flow D by its
speed increased Delta v, a given thrust can
be obtained either using a high mass flow and
a small speed increase. This is a case of the
turbo propeller where a large propeller provides a speed increase of 10-20 meters
per second to a large F. Or using a small mass flow
with a high speed increase. This is the case of
the simple jet engine, where the airflow
speed is increased by typically 400 meters per second. The actual ejection
speed relative to the engine is limited by the sonic throat at the end of the
exhaust nozzle where a Mach number has
to be exactly one. With a reheat system
behind the turbine, the higher temperature allows for a greater speed of sound
at the sonic throat, and the speed increase
can reach typically up to 700 meters per second. As you can see, depending
on the technology chosen, the speed increase may vary
by a factor close to 100. But what is the impact
of this choice? If we look at the
power provided by the thermodynamic process
in the engine, P_provided, we see that it is shared
between the mechanical power actually received
by the airplane v_0 multiplied by the thrust, the useful power, and the kinetic
energy
provided to the airflow, which is definitely lost. When we look at the
efficiency ratio, P_useful over P_provided, we can see that it depends
on Delta v over v_0. For a given aircraft speed v_0, the efficiency will be
greater if Delta v is small. If we take an aircraft
flying at 100 meter per seconds or 200 knots typically, we would have an
efficiency of 0.94 propeller and only 0.22
for a reheat jet engine. So turbo propeller are very efficient propelling
devices and as such, the useful power they
provide is quite constant, always v_0, except at
very low speed of course. But important limitations appear with Mach number
exceeding 0.6. When v_0 increases, the
efficiency also increases making the simple jet engine a reasonable choice at high-
speed. In-between, high by-pass
ratio turbo fans are well suited for airliners flying
at Mach 0.8 typically. A simple model for the thrust
can be provided with F equals a constant multiplied by Rho to account
for the mass flow, which is reduced at altitude, multiplied by v to
the power Lambda f. Lambda f typically
depends on the technology. From minus one for
turboprops to zero for turbojets and even one
for reheat jet engines. The specific consumption will be expressed as q for
fuel flow over thrust, F in kilogram per hour, and per Newton for jet engines. As q
over power P in kilogram per hour and per watt
for turbopropellers.