Engine Sizing & Selection

Copyright 2006 by Don Edberg

Airframe Integrators Motto

Blame it on propulsion.
Barnaby Wainfan, NGC El Segundo

Engine Choices

Summary
Engine Sizing & Arrangement
Introduction
Performance Requirements
Engine Geometric Characteristics &
Placement

Propulsion Integration
Extremely Important
A small shortfall in performance can add
up to millions of dollars in increased fuel
costs
Airframe supplier may have to pay
penalties for shortfalls

Piston Engine

Types
Piston engine with propeller
Turbine engine with prop = Turboprop
Turbojet
Turbofan (low or high bypass ratio)
Pulsejet
Ramjet
Rocket

Piston Engines

Turbojet Engine

Inexpensive
Best fuel economy
Relatively heavy
Vibration issues with intermittent
combustion process
Performance decrease with altitude
Solved with turbocharger or supercharger

Compressor

Afterburners

Nozzle

Burner

Shaft
Inlet Diffuser

Turbine

Turbojet With Afterburner

AKA reheat
Pour fuel into rear of engine and burn it
Get more thrust
Get empty tanks fast (higher SFC)

Low-Pressure
Compressor

Inlet

Burner

High-Pressure
Compressor

Low-Pressure
Turbine

High-Pressure
Turbine

Afterburner Flameholders

Nozzle

Afterburner

Afterburner Fuel Injectors

Low Bypass Ratio Turbofan

Fan

Low-Pressure Compressor
Bypass Duct
Low-Pressure Turbine
Burner

High-Pressure
Compressor

High-Pressure
Turbine

Bypass ratio = 0.2 - 1.0, TSL/Weng = 6 10,

TSFCDry = 0.8 - 1.3,
TSFCWET = 2.2 - 2.7

Afterburner

Nozzle

High Bypass Ratio Turbofan

Fan
Burner

Compressor

Low-Pressure Turbine

Nozzle
High-Pressure Turbine

Bypass ratio = 2.0 - 8.0, TSL/Weng = 4 6, TSFC = 0.5 - 0.7

Pulsejet Engine

Rocket-Powered Aircraft

Thrust vs. Speed & Altitude

Limitations

8000

7000

7000

6000

6000

Sea Level

5000

5000

Sea Level

Thrust, T, lbs

Thrust, T, lbs

Performance of all engines limited by

thermodynamics
Exhaust temperature must not damage
engine
Usually run lean using excess air for
cooling
Turbines use active blade cooling
Thrust determined by mass flow, density
drops with altitude (no issue for rocket)

(left: dry; right: afterburning)

8000

4000

10,000 ft

10,000 ft

4000

20,000 ft
3000

3000

20,000 ft

30,000 ft

2000

2000

30,000 ft
1000

40,000 ft
1000

40,000 ft

50,000 ft

50,000 ft
0

0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

0.2

Mach Number, M

HP per pound (higher is better)

Specific fuel consumption
SFC in terms of HP or thrust per weight of fuel
Typically in terms of lb thrust/(lb fuel/h)
watch units for range & endurance calcs
Equivalent for propped engines (delivered
power per fuel weight)
Lower is better

0.6

0.8

1.2

Mach Num ber, M

Power Available vs. Power

Required, Prop Aircraft
250
Power Available and Power Required,
horsepower

Figures of Merit

0.4

200

Power Available

150

100

Power Required
Vmax

V for minimum
Power Required

50

0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

True Airspeed, knots

Power Available vs. Power

Required, Jet Aircraft

Engine Selection
Criteria:
Cruise speed
Cost
Economy (fuel, maintenance, etc.)
Redundancy
etc.
Engine data on Internet, AV Week Source
issue, Janes, etc.

Requirements Size Engines

Constraint diagram provides required T/W
Estimated weight W provides T = (T/W)W
Item
Civil Military
Takeoff Length
X
X
Minimum Rate of Climb X
X
Sustained Turn
X
Specific Excess Power
X
Maximum Speed
(X)
X

Scaling An Existing Engine

L = Lactual(SF)0.4
D = Dactual(SF)0.5
W = Wactual(SF)1.1
SF = scale factor
(Raymer 10.1 - 10.3)

Engine Selection
Rubber engine
Use an engine deck for performance
prediction (ref: AIAA competition history)
High cost of engine development

Existing engines
Search information sources for off-the-shelf
engines with sufficient performance
No engine development costs
Already in maintenance stores?

Engine Geometric
Characteristics (Raymer)
Non-afterburning and afterburning sizing data
equations 10.4 - 10.15, Raymer
Diameter, engine length,weight, SFC all are
functions of takeoff thrust T and Mach no. M
Other inlets and ducts as needed
Boundary layer diverters
Afterburners?
Add to your aircraft drawing

Engine Nacelle Drawing

Integration with Airframe

Thrust or power level picks or scales
engine
Inlet air duct must be sized for airflow in
ALL conditions
Fuel lines
Cooling
Engine-driven accessories
Installation and removal clearances,
mounting structure

Engine Placement Choices

Under wing on pylon (traditional)
Aft fuselage side-mounted engines (DC-9,
717)
Center fuselage engines (DC-10, 727)
Over wing (Honda jet)
Other configurations (White Knight, etc.)

Local Flow Effects

Angle nacelle for local flow direction
(calculate upwash or downwash as
needed)
Example: B-717 engines at rear of fuse
are angled upward

Upwash

Engine Placement Trades

Locate nacelle(s) to be above or below
wing wake
Consider structural weight of pylons, etc.
FOD ingestion, etc.
Weight & balance considerations
Wing location, fuselage upsweep, etc.
Service & maintenance

Inlets
Very important to engine performance
Must provide enough air in all conditions
Must diffuse (slow down) air to M = 0.4 ~
0.5
Want as much pressure recovery as
possible (best >90%)
Geometry affects drag of aircraft

Downwash

Inlet Types
NACA duct (for aux air)
Conical (SR-71)
Normal shock or Pitot
(airliners)
2-D Ramp (F-14, F-15)
Inlet applicability
summarized in Raymer
Fig. 10.13

Other Inlets
May be used for subsonic or supersonic
Often use variable geometry
Adjust geometry so shock is swallowed or
minimized
Mechanism must be reliable

Isentropic flow desired, but typically get

some oblique shocks
Raymer Figs. 10.8 to 10.11

S-duct vs. Straight

(L-1011 vs. MD-11)
Internal separation in S-duct vs. structural weight
issues with pylon mount
Servicing buried engine must be more difficult

Normal Shock Inlet

Geometry in Raymer Fig. 10.7

Lip radius very important
No shock if subsonic
Rotate front face or entire engine to
account for up/downwash from wing

Location of Inlets/Nacelles
Many choices (Raymer Fig. 10.14)
Nose, chin, side, over/under wing,
over/under fuselage, wing LE, etc.
Want clean air to be ingested
Minimizing length minimizes losses
CG considerations
OEI control (one engine inoperative)

Inlet Design

Capture area estimated using mass flow m

Estimate area using Raymer Fig. 10.16
If mass flow not known, rule of thumb is:
mass flow = 26[D(ft)]2 = 127[D(m)]2
!
where D is front face diameter.
Better to use isentropic compressible flow
per Raymer equations 10.16, 10.17, 10.19

Boundary-Layer Air

F-35 Has No BL Diverters

Need to avoid BL air for

better performance
Use a diverter (Fig.
10.21)
Diverter must be
integrated with inlet
location
Diverter must work
effectively at all angles of
attack
Space for BL air to bypass
engine

Nozzle Integration
Nozzle must (or should) expand exhaust
gases and accelerate them
Depends on mass flow: often use variablearea nozzle
Affects drag
Lots of info Raymer pp. 257-8
Cooling also required, Fig. 10.24

Installed Jet Thrust

Manufacturer data uses perfect inlet, exhaust,
etc.
Losses due to:
actual inlet, air bleed, power extraction, actual
exhaust nozzle, air temperature
Aerodynamic losses:
drag of inlets, nozzles, trim drag due to change
in thrust
Brandt suggests: installed T = 0.8T mfr,
installed SFC = SFCmfr/0.8
May be offset by engine improvements

Engines Mounted on Fuselage

Propellers

One-Bladed Propeller
Propeller
Types

Propellers
Prop
Blade
Angles

Props Helical speed = (Vtip2 +V2)1/2

= ( 2R2 +V2)1/2
Inflow angle changes with velocity so
variable pitch props used for maximum
efficiency

Propeller Blade Angles

Variable
Pitch
Propeller

Propeller
Efficiency
Chart

Efficiency typically depends on advance

ratio J and power coefficient Cp
J = V/nD
Cp = P/n3D5
Can get propeller maps and find sweet
spot
Corrections for fixed pitch Raymer Fig.
13.13

Power coefficient

Prop Efficiency

Propeller efficiency depends

on:
Power level
RPM
Blade pitch

Dimensionless numbers are

advance ratio J and power
coefficient C p
Choose pitch and RPM for
max efficiency (eta)

Advance Ratio J

Prop Configurations

Other Propeller Notes

Pusher allows shorter fuselage = less drag

Pusher reduces efficiency because of
disturbed airflow over prop (= noise)
Longer landing gear required

Wing-mounted engines require larger tails

for OEI control
Rubber piston engine equations in
Raymer Table 10.3, 10.4
Cooling vitally important

Fuel System
Fuel Considerations

Tanks contain fuel

Types = discrete, bladder, integral
Volume depends on required fuel volume
(approx. density is 7.5 gal/ft3)
Density varies with temperature (Raymer Table
10.5)
Stow in wing or fuselage or tail or all
Fuel CG must average near aircraft CG
Calculate CG movement, show on CG plot
(Raymer Fig. 10.27)
Pumps needed in certain cases

CG Travel Diagram

Valuable Info in Raymer App. E

Contains curves from engine decks
Based on Mattingly et al Aircraft Engine
Design (good ref.)

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