1.

Literature Review
Jet engines move the airplane in the forward direction with a force that
pushes the airplane in forward direction. This force is known as thrust force. This
thrust force is produced due to change of momentum of air between the inlet and
outlet section of jet engine.

Basically a jet engine consists of a fan, compressor, combustion chamber,

turbine and a nozzle as shown in the Figure 1. All the jet engines work on the same
principle. The engine sucks the air in by means of fan located at the inlet section.
After fan there is a compressor to increase the pressure of air. The compressor is
attached to the shaft. The compressed air is then sprayed with fuel in the
combustion chamber. Due to combustion the temperature of the air increases. This
high temperature air is expanded through the turbine to produce the power output.
Turbine and compressor are located on the same shaft. The power produced by the
turbine is used to drive the compressor. After the turbine the air is expanded
through the nozzle. As the air leaves nozzles a thrust is created which pushes the
airplane in the forward direction.

Figure 1: Parts of a turbo jet engine

As the air passes through the fan, then some portion of air is passed through
the core of engine and some portion passes around the core. This causes some of
Page 1 of 4
the air to be very hot and some to be cooler. The cooler air then mixes with the hot
air at the engine exit area. The ration of the mass flow of air bypassing the engine
core to the mass flow of air passing through the core is called bypass ratio.

1.1 Types of Jet Engines

1.1.1 Turbojet:
Basically a turbojet is a reaction type engine. In a reaction engine, expanding gases
push hard against the front of the engine. The turbojet sucks air in and compresses
it by means of a compressor. After that the burnt gases in the combustion chamber
are expanded through the turbine and nozzle. These gases bounce back and shoot
out of the rear of the exhaust, pushing the plane forward.

1.1.2 Turboprops:
A turboprop is a jet engine attached to a propeller. Like the turbojet, the turboprop
engine consists of a compressor, combustion chamber, turbine and the nozzle. The
turbine located after combustion chamber is turned by the hot gases emitted by
combustion. Since turbine is located on the same shaft as that of propeller so the
propeller is also driven in this way. As compared to the turbojet engine, the
turboprop has better propulsion efficiency at flight speeds below about 500 miles
per hour.

1.1.3 Turbofans:
A turbofan engine has a large fan at the front, which sucks in air. Most of the air
flows around the outside of the engine, making it quieter and giving more thrust at
low speeds. In a turbofan engine only a portion of the incoming air goes into the
combustion chamber. The remainder air passes through the fan, low pressure
compressor and is ejected directly as a cold jet and finally is mixed with the hot jet.
The objective of this bypass system is to increase thrust without increasing the fuel
consumption.
Page 2 of 4
1.1.4 Ramjets:
The ramjet engine is the most simple and has no moving parts. The speed of the air
rams or forces air into the engine. Its compression ratio depends wholly on
forward speed. The ramjet develops no static thrust and very little thrust in general
below the speed of the sound. It is used in guided-missile system.

The geared turbofan is the most efficient type of turbofan air craft engine.
Gears allow the compressor-turbine assembly and the fan to spin at different
angular velocities. In a conventional turbofan, a single shaft (the "low-pressure" or
LP shaft) connects the fan, the low-pressure compressor and the low-pressure
turbine (a second concentric shaft connects the high-pressure compressor and high-
pressure turbine). In this configuration, the maximum tip speed for the larger radius
fan limits the rotational speed for the LP shaft and thus the LP compressor and
turbine. At high bypass ratios (and thus high radius ratios) the tip speeds of the LP
turbine and LP compressor must be relatively low, which means extra compressor
and turbine stages are required to keep the average stage loadings and, therefore,
overall component efficiencies to an acceptable level.

In a geared turbofan, a planetary reduction gearbox between the fan and the
LP shaft allows the latter to run at a higher rotational speed thus enabling fewer
stages to be used in both the LP turbine and the LP compressor, increasing
efficiency and reducing weight. However, some energy will be lost as heat in the
gear mechanism and weight saved on turbine and compressor stages is partly offset
by that of the gearbox. There are manufacturing cost and reliability implications as
well.

Page 3 of 4
 By putting a 3:1 gearbox between the fan and the low-pressure spool, each
spins at its optimal speed: 4,000-5,000 RPM for the fan and 12,000-15,000 RPM
for the spool, the high-pressure spool spinning at more than 20,000 RPM.

Page 4 of 4