TURBINE ENGINES

Katimbang, John Heinrik E.

BS Aeronautical Engineering
Newton’s Third Law of Motion

“For every action, there is an equal and

opposite reaction”
Important Historical Points
 History

• As early as 250 B.C., a writer and mathematician named Hero

devised a toy that used the reaction principle.

• The toy is called “aeolipile”

 History

• A more modern example of Newton's reaction principle is

observed when the end of an inflated balloon is released.
 History

DR. SANFORD MOSS

• He began the history of mechanical jet
propulsion in year 1900

• He submitted his master thesis on gas

turbines

• Became an engineer for the General Electric

Company in England

• He contributes to the aviation through his

studies of Gas Turbine Engines.
 History

SIR FRANK WHITTLE

• Royal Air officer and seen as the father of jet
propulsion

• Develop the first successful turbojet engine

• Granted his first patent for the jet engine in

1930

• His engine completed its first flight in a

Gloster model E28/39 aircraft in 1941
 History

HANS VAN OHAIN

• Considered as the designer of the first
operational turbojet engine

• His engine produces 1,100 pounds of thrust

• This engine was installed in the Heinkel He-

178 aircraft and made a successful flight on
August 27, 1939.

• Recognized as the first practical flight of a jet

propelled aircraft
 History

AIRACOMET

• the Bell XP-59 was the first American jet-powered aircraft in

October 1942.
• Never used in combat due to its limited flight time of 30 minutes
 Types of Jet Propulsion

Non-air breathing engine Air breathing engine

 Non-Air Breathing Engine

ROCKET
• A rocket is a non-airbreathing engine that carries its own fuel as
well as the oxygen needed for the fuel to burn.

• There are two types of rocket:

– solid-propellant rockets
– liquid-propellant rockets.
 Air-Breathing Engines

• RAMJETS
• PULSEJET
• GAS TURBINE ENGINE
 GAS TURBINE ENGINE

• It is an internal combustion engine that produces thrust by

increasing the velocity of air flowing through the engine.

• The turbine engine is consist of five major sections:

– Air Inlet Section
– Compressor Section
– Combustion Section
– Turbine Section
– Exhaust Section
 GAS TURBINE ENGINE

• Turbine engines are classified according to the type of

compressor
• There are three types of compressor
– Centrifugal flow
– Axial flow
– Centrifugal-Axial flow
 TYPES OF AIRCRAFT TURBINE ENGINES

• TURBOJET ENGINE
• TURBOPROP ENGINE
• TURBOSHAFT ENGINE
• TURBOFAN ENGINE
 TURBOJET ENGINE

• The turbojet engine consists of four sections:

– Compressor
– Combustion Chamber
– Turbine Section
– Exhaust

“Turbojet engines are limited in range and endurance.

They are also slow to respond to throttle applications
at slow compressor speeds.”
TURBOJET ENGINE
 TURBOPROP ENGINE

• Turboprop engines are a compromise between turbojet engines

and reciprocating engines.

• Most efficient at speeds between 250 – 400 mph and altitudes

between 18,000 – 30,000 feet

• They also perform well at the slow airspeeds required for takeoff
and landing, and are fuel efficient.
 TURBOPROP

• The turboprop engine is a turbine engine that drives a propeller

through a reduction gear.
 TURBOSHAFT
• A gas turbine engine that delivers power to a shaft that can drive
something other than a propeller

• Most of energy produced by the expanding gases are used to

drive turbine rather than produce thrust

• Turboshaft engines are used as a Auxiliary Power Units (APU) on

large aircraft

• Output of a turboprop or turboshaft engine is measured by shaft

horsepower rather than thrust.
TURBOSHAFT ENGINE
 TURBOFAN ENGINE

• A turbofan engine consists of a multi-bladed ducted

propeller driven by a gas turbine engine.

• It is the combination of Turbojet’s cruise speed capability

and Turboprop’s short-field takeoff capabilities.

• A turbofan engine may have the fan mounted to either the

front or back of the engine.
TURBOFAN ENGINE
 TURBOFAN ENGINE

Terms to be familiar when discussing bypass engine:

• Thrust Ratio
• Bypass Ratio
– Low bypass (1:1)
– Medium bypass (2:1 or 3:1)
– High bypass (4:1 or greater)
• Fan Pressure Ratio
Turbine Engine Instruments
 Engine Pressure Ratio (EPR)

• It is an indication of the thrust being developed by a

turbofan engine and is used to set power for takeoff on
many types of aircraft.
 Exhaust Gas Temperature

• It is an engine operating limit used to monitor

overall engine operating conditions.
 Torquemeter

• The torquemeter measures power applied to

the shaft.

• It measures the engine power output of a

Turboprop and Turboshaft engines

• It is calibrated in percentage units, foot-

pounds, or psi
 N1 Indicator

• N1 represents the rotational

speed of the low pressure
compressor

• Presented on the indicator as a

“percentage of design rpm”
 N2 Indicator

• N2 represents the rotational

speed of the high pressure
compressor

• Presented on the indicator as a

“percentage of design rpm”
Turbine Engine Operational
Considerations
 Engine Temperature Limitations

The limiting factor in a turbine engine operation is

the “Turbine Inlet Temperature”
Thrust Variations
 Foreign Object Damage (FOD)

“FOD happens when ingestion of debris occurs”

• Typical FOD consists of small nicks and dents caused by

ingestion of small objects from the ramp, taxiway, or
runway
• Sometimes the damaged is caused by bird strikes or ice
ingestion.
 Prevention of FOD

• Vortex dissipater
• Screens
• Deflectors

• Pre-flight procedures
– Visual Inspection
 Turbine Engine Hot/Hung Start

Hot Start
– When the EGT exceeds the safe limit of an aircraft

Hung Start
– occurs when the engine fails to accelerate to the proper speed after
ignition or does not accelerate to idle rpm
 Compressor Stalls

“A compressor stall is an imbalance between the two vector

quantities, inlet velocity and compressor rotational speed”

• Compressor stalls occur when the

compressor blades’ angle of attack
exceeds the critical angle of attack.
 Indication of Compressor Stalls

Transient Stall
– intermittent “bang” as backfire and flow reversal takes place
– not harmful and correct themselves after one or two pulsations

Steady State Stall

– strong vibration and a loud roar from the continuous flow reversal
– reducing the power, decreasing aircraft’s angle of attack and
increasing airspeed
 Variable Inlet Guide Vane (VIGV) Variable Stator Vane (VSV)

“Direct the incoming air into the rotor blades at an appropriate angle”
 Flameout

• It occurs in the operation of a gas turbine engine in which the

fire in the engine unintentionally goes out.
• It can be caused by a number of factors including:
– fuel starvation
– compressor stall
– insufficient oxygen (at high altitudes)
– foreign object damage
– severe inclement weather
– mechanical failure
– very cold ambient temperatures.
 Flameout

Rich Flameout
– occurs when the rich limit of the fuel/air ratio is
exceeded in the combustion chamber

Lean-Condition Flameout
– occur due to low fuel pressure and low engine speeds,
which typically are associated with high-altitude flight
 Flameout

• Any interruption of the fuel supply can result in

a flameout.
• This may be due to
– prolonged unusual attitudes
– malfunctioning fuel control system
– Turbulence
– Icing
– running out of fuel.
 Flameout

• If flameout is due to transitory condition such as

imbalance between fuel flow and engine speed,
an airstart may be attempted once the condition
is corrected.
Performance Comparison
Engine Inspections and
Maintenance
 Inspections

• As a general rule, the two broad classifications

of inspections conducted on gas turbine engines
include routine and non routine inspections.
 Routine Inspections

• Routine inspections are those inspections that are

mandated by an approved inspection schedule or
Federal Aviation Regulations.

• All routine inspections are performed periodically at

intervals specified by FAA approved company or airline
operations manuals.
 Non-Routine Inspections

• A non-routine inspection is any inspection that

must be done as a result of a component failure
or incident that could potentially damage an
engine.
 Inspections

• To aid the inspection process, many gas turbine engines

are equipped with openings, or ports, that allow you to
inspect the inside of the engine without disassembly.

• common tools used to inspect GTE:

– Borescope
– Fiberscope
– Electronic Imaging
 Cold Section Inspection

• Any routine or non-routine inspection performed on

components of a turbine engine's inlet, compressor, or
diffuser is known as a cold section inspection.

• Cold section Inspection is typically conducted by a

borescope.
 Hot Section Inspection

• the hot section of a gas turbine engine is subject

to a great deal of heat and stress. Therefore,
periodic, routine inspections are required on
almost all gas turbine engines.

• Also borescope is used to conduct the inspection

 Maintenance

• Types of Maintenance performed on GTE:

– Line Maintenance
• any type of maintenance that can be done while the
engine is installed on an aircraft
– Shop Maintenance
• maintenance that requires an engine to be taken off an
airplane
 Line Maintenance

• Tasks that fall under the classification of line

maintenance include:
- Performing inspections
- Troubleshooting cleaning
- Trimming
- Checking fluid levels
- Verifying instrumentation readings
- Replacing accessories.
 Maintenance

• The two most common methods of removing

dirt and salt deposits from inside a turbine
engine are a fluid wash and an abrasive grit
blast.
 Fluid Wash

• With a fluid wash, either clean, demineralized

water or an emulsion type cleaner are sprayed
into an engine's intake.
 Fluid Wash

• Desalinization wash
– a fluid wash using water only to remove salt deposits

• Performance Recovery Wash

– a fluid wash using an emulsion cleaner followed by a
water rinse is typically used to remove baked on dirt
and soot deposits.
 Abrasive Grit Blast

• This heavy cleaning procedure involves injecting an

abrasive grit such as Carboblast into the engine intake
at selected power settings.
 ENGINE TRIMMING

• It is a process whereby an engine's fuel control unit is

adjusted to allow an engine to produce its maximum
rated thrust.
 EGT AND TACHOMETER CHECKS

• If the cockpit indications of these two variables are

incorrect, serious engine damage can result.
• To help protect against EGT and rpm inaccuracies, these
instrument systems are required to be periodically
checked.

• One way to check is the used of “Jet Calibration”

 Other ways/tools used in engine
maintenance

• Spectrometric oil analysis program (SOAP)

– It is a tool available to aircraft operators to help
detect developing problems in an engine
• Trend Analysis
– Performance monitoring of engines is a technique
used by aviation maintenance organizations and
engine manufacturers to improve engine service life
and reduce operating costs