The types of aircraft engines

engine. Aircraft need thrust to propel them through air. The required thrust may be developed by rotating pulling or pushing propellers by means of piston or reciprocating engines, or by throwing back masses of air by means of gas turbine engines.

consisting of induction, compression, combustion and exhaust.

a jet engine has the same four stages. The simplest of all jet engines is a ramjet. It is a tapered tube, open at both ends, into which fuel can be injected. When the tube moves, air flows into the tube, and this corresponds to the induction stage in the piston engine. Once inside the tube, the air slows down because the tube widens. The kinetic energy released by this loss of velocity is converted into pressure energy and heat, and this corresponds to the compression stage in the piston engine. Then fuel is injected and ignited. As in a piston engine, this causes a big rise in temperature, but there is very little rise in pressure because the exhaust gas is free to escape through the rear of the lube. This corresponds to the combustion stage in the piston engine. Finally the exhaust gases escape into the atmosphere, driving the engine forwards, which corresponds to the exhaust stage of the piston engine.

the atmosphere and, after compressing and heating, it uses some of its energy to drive the turbine that powers the compressor. The application of the gas turbine to jet propulsion has avoided the inherent weakness of the rocket and the athodyd, for by introduction of a turbine-driven compressor an efficient means of producing thrust at low speeds is provided. The mechanical arrangement of the gas turbine engine is simple. It consists of two main rotating parts, a compressor and a turbine, and one or a number of combustion chambers.

speeds. At aircraft speeds below 450 miles per hour the jet engine is less efficient than a propeller-type engine.

extent been offset by the introduction of the bypass and ducted fan engines. These engines deal with larger comparative airflows and lower jet velocities than pure jet engines, thus giving a propulsive efficiency which is comparable to that of the turboprop and exceeds that of the pure jet engine.