INTRODUCTION: GAS DYNAMICS & PROPULSION

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department

A Passion of Doing Adventures lead to a

Hi-Fi Science and
 The Shocking News : 9th December 1903

• The New York Times wrote that maybe

• 1 million to 10 million years they might be able to make a
plane that would fly ?!?!?!
• People had dreamed of flying for many years.
• The United States Army was trying to develop an airplane in
1903, but the plane wouldn't fly.
• Only eight days later two men were successful in flying the
first manned plane.
• Controlled, powered flight had seemed impossible until
Orville Wright took off on the 17th December 1903.
• They were Wilbur Wright and his younger brother, Orville.
 Reasons behind this Unreasonable News

• The first ever powered and controlled flights were carried

out in lighter-than-air craft before either of the Wright
brothers was even born.
• A Vital and Ultimate idea to fly was missing.
• The Wright brothers became the most famous people in
the history of aviation for the first airplane flight in 1903.
 History of Early Air Ships

• Sir Isaac Newton in the 18th century was the first to

theorize that a rearward-channeled explosion could propel
a machine forward at a great rate of speed.
• This theory was based on his third law of motion.
• As the hot air blasts backwards through the nozzle the
plane moves forward.
• Henri Giffard built an airship which was powered by the
first aircraft engine, a three-horse power steam engine.
• It was very heavy, too heavy to fly.
Giffard’s Air Ship
 Performance of Griffard’s Airship

• The airship successfully flew on the 24th September 1852,

launching from the Paris Hippodrome and flying 27km (17
miles) to Elancourt, near Trappes.
• The small engine was not very powerful and it could not
overcome the prevailing winds to allow Giffard to make
the return flight.
• The top speed of Giffard's airship was just six miles per
hour.
• However, he did manage to turn the airship in slow circles,
proving that in calm conditions controlled flight was
possible.
 Further unsuccessful Efforts - I

• In 1894, American Hiram Maxim tried to power his triple biplane

with two coal fired steam engines.
• It only flew for a few seconds.
• The early steam engines were powered by heated coal and were
generally much too heavy for flight.
• American Samuel Langley made a model airplanes that were
powered by steam engines.
• In 1896, he was successful in flying an unmanned airplane with a
steam-powered engine, called the Aerodrome.
• It flew about 1 mile before it ran out of steam.
• He then tried to build a full sized plane, the Aerodrome A, with a
gas powered engine.
• Otto Daimler in the late 1800's, invented the first gasoline engine.
 Further unsuccessful Efforts - II

• In 1903, it crashed immediately after being launched from

a house boat.
• In 1903, the Wright Brothers flew, "The Flyer", with a 12
horse power gas powered engine.
• From 1903, the year of the Wright Brothers first flight, to
the late 1930s the gas powered reciprocating internal-
combustion engine with a propeller was the sole means
used to propel aircraft.
• What is the secret beind the success of Wright Brothers.
 Engineering of Newton's Third Law

• What we enjoy/need is the reaction of some action.

• The action to create a reaction has to be invented.
• The action must be techno-economically viable.
• It must lead to construction of a light hardware for flying.
 Kate Carew Interviews the Wright Brothers

• “Are you manufacturing any racing machines?”

• “Not just now, but we intend to.”
• “How much can I buy one for?”
• “Seven thousand five hundred-dollars.”
• “Is that all? It doesn’t seem like an outside price for a
perfectly good airship?”
• “Airship!” shouted the Wright brothers indignantly.
• “Is that the wrong word?”
• “An airship,” said Wilbur contemptuously, “is a big,
clumsy balloon filled with gas.”
• “Well, I don’t see why your biplane shouldn’t be called an
airship, too.”