Lecture Notes-IIT Bombay PDF

Introduction to Aerospace Propulsion
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Department of Aerospace Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 17
Gas and vapor power cycles, Otto cycle, Diesel cycles, Dual cycles
Hello and welcome to lecture 17 of this lecture series on introduction to aerospace

propulsion. In the last several lectures, we have been discussing about many of the
fundamental aspects of thermodynamics. We have understood what are the different laws
of thermodynamics and what are the different technical terms associated with
thermodynamics.
So, starting from today’s lecture, what we shall do is, to use some of the thermodynamic
principles that we have understood in the last few lectures and apply them to an actual
process or to different processes. So, application of thermodynamics is what we shall be
doing in the next several lectures.
We have got an introduction to various laws of thermodynamics and also towards the - I
think the last 2 3 lectures, we have also been discussing about the - Carnot cycle which
happens to be an ideal cycle which has all the processes which are totally reversible. We
shall continue our discussion on cycles and what we shall discuss today is, basically on
gas power cycles, as well as on vapor power cycles little later.
So, we shall be discussing about what are the different forms of cycles which have been
proposed over the years. Some of them are very widely used and some of them though
seem to be very promising has not really been implemented in practice and we shall also
be discussing some of these cycles in the next few lectures.
(Refer Slide Time: 02:00)
In today’s lecture, what we shall be discussing is basically on we shall get introduce to

gas power cycles. We shall start our discussion with little more discussion on Carnot
cycle which we have already discussed little earlier and we shall also see what the
significance of the Carnot cycle is. We shall then, discuss about what are known as the
air standard assumptions.
Then subsequently, we shall have a very quick overview of reciprocating engines and
then, we will discuss about the Otto cycle which is the ideal cycle for spark ignition
engines. Then, we shall also discuss about the second important cycle which is a diesel
cycle which happens to be the ideal cycle for compression ignition engines.
Towards the end of the lecture, we shall discuss about dual cycles which are basically
having some similarities with both Otto as well as diesel cycles. During this discussion
we shall not be discussing the Otto cycle in too much detail because we shall take up
discussion in Otto cycles a little later on when we talk about piston engines.
So that is when we shall discuss lot more in detail about the Otto cycle. These are some
of the topics that we shall be discussing in today’s lecture and we shall begin with some
understanding of what we mean by gas power cycles.
In many of the lectures we have discussed, we have normally assumed that the working
medium is air and we have also assumed that air is behaving like an ideal gas; so that we
could apply many of the ideal gas laws to air. That is one of the assumptions which we
shall also make in today’s discussion but, what we shall be looking at are actual cycles
which have been used over the past many years. Of course, some of the cycles which
have only been proposed but, have not really been implemented due to practical
limitations.
Now, we know that Carnot cycle is the most efficient cycle basically because all the
processes which constitute a Carnot cycle are totally reversible cycle, which means they
are both internally as well as externally reversible cycle. So, what is the importance?
Why do we need to discuss about the so called gas power cycles?
Well, power cycles form a very important component in engineering analysis as

aerospace engineers or as mechanical engineers, we have all dealt with power cycles or
we deal with power cycles on a day to day basis. For example, all automobiles operate
on some sort of power cycle; it could be either an Otto cycle or a diesel cycle depending
upon whether it is driven by petrol or by diesel. Similarly, aircraft engines also operate
on a certain power cycle which is known as the brayton cycle and so on.
So, it is important for us to understand the significance of these power cycles basically
because, they form a very important aspect of day to day operation especially in the
engineering sense. We shall be discussing primarily about the idealized versions of the
cycles. We shall not be really taking up the actual cycles.
Actual cycles are little different from the idealized cycles but, thermodynamically we can
approximate all real cycles to their idealized versions and therefore, which makes
thermodynamic analysis of such systems very simple, which is why we will take up only
the ideal cycle analysis during this course. During ideal cycle analysis, we shall also be
discussing about a several variety of cycles; some of them I had already mentioned in the
contents for today’s lecture. We shall be discussing about two of the cycle; Otto cycle,
the diesel cycle and the slight variant of these known as the dual cycle.
As I have mentioned, study of power cycle obviously is of immense importance and

which the reason is why we are taking up this topic in today’s lecture. All actual cycles
basically are effected by irreversibilities like friction and other aspects of irreversibilities.
Actual cycles do not have thermal equilibrium throughout their process and obviously
they are non-quasi static processes. That is one of the reasons; well, this is the reason
why actual cycles have efficiencies which are lower than that of their ideal versions.
For thermodynamic analysis which we shall be carrying out today, we shall be assuming
that none of these effects are present; that is there are no irreversibilities and that the
cycle is in thermodynamic equilibrium and that process is quasi static. With these
assumptions, we have a cycle which is basically an ideal cycle.
So, what is the significance of such an analysis because all the processes are idealized
you have no irreversibilities and so on which really does not happen in day today life.
Well, that is very much true that such irreversibilities do not occur in day to day life but,
what is important to understand is that idealized cycles or ideal cycle analysis forms the
basis or starting point of a detailed analysis. That is if you can analyze an ideal cycle
then, we should be able to get some idea of what the actual cycle is going to be about
because we also know, what irreversibilities that are present.
Based on our ideal cycle analysis it should be possible for us to understand the real cycle
in a better way and also take steps so that we can try and improve the performance of
real cycle. So that is where ideal cycle analysis plays a significance role.
The other important difference between an ideal cycle and a real cycle is that an ideal
cycle obviously, there are no irreversibilities whereas, in a real cycle you have all kinds
of irreversibilities but, there is also a difference between the ideal cycle and the Carnot
cycle. Though the Carnot cycle by definition is an ideal cycle, all ideal cycles which we
are going to discuss today are not the Carnot cycle in one sense or the other.
The basic difference is that all the ideal cycles we shall be discussing today are internally
reversible and not externally reversible, which means that it is possible that there could
be irreversibilities outside the cycle whereas, Carnot cycle on the other hand is both an
internally as well as an externally reversible cycle and that way a Carnot cycle qualifies
to be what is known as a totally reversible cycle whereas, the ideal cycle analysis we
shall be carrying out today are not totally reversible.
This means that the efficiencies of these ideal cycles will still be lower than that of the
Carnot efficiencies but, the efficiency of the ideal cycles will be higher than that of the
corresponding real cycles but, all of them are still less than Carnot cycle. Basically
because, in ideal cycle analysis we are only assuming that the processes are internally
reversible and there is still a possibility of external irreversibilities occurring.
Therefore, the thermal efficiency of an ideal cycle in general will be less than that of
totally reversible cycle operating between the same temperature levels but, the thermal
efficiency of ideal cycles is higher than that of actual cycles and so that is one of the
differences between the actual and the ideal cycles.
What we shall do today is that we shall be representing the different gas power cycles on
P-v and T-s diagrams; that is pressure-volume and temperature-entropy diagrams. We
have already discussed that the area enclosed between the P-v and T-s diagrams basically
represent the net work done by the cycle. So, gas power cycles as we have discussed in
last few lectures, we usually represent them on the pressure-volume or the temperature-
entropy coordinates or sometimes we represent them in both of them and it really helps
us in analysis of the cycles. We also discuss that on these diagrams whether it is the
pressure-volume or temperature-entropy the area under the curve basically represents the
net work done by the process and because these are cyclic processes net work done will
also be equal to the net heat transferred that has taken place during this process.
Therefore, area under the curve on a P-v diagram or on a T-s diagram basically
represents the network output of this particular cycle.
In these gas power cycles, when we assume that it is basically that the cycle has a whole
is basically a closed system in some sense or the other; in which case the only effect that
can be lead to an increase in entropy is basically heat transfer which we have also
discussed earlier on entropy. It can be increased in 2 mechanisms either through heat or
through mass, entropy does not change during a work interaction process. In these cyclic
processes basically entropy increase is account or entropy change is accounted for only
because of heat transfer either to the system or from the system.
On P-v and T-s diagram, it helps us a lot in understanding the performance or in carrying
out thermodynamic analysis of these different gas power cycles. So on a T-s diagram for
example, if you look at T-s diagram, the heat transfer Q in basically proceeds in a
direction of increasing entropy which is something we have also discussed earlier that Q
in will obviously or increase in entropy is basically because of heat transfer to the system
and Q out or heat transfer from the system proceeds in the direction of decreasing
entropy.
The difference in areas under Q in and Q out is the net heat transfer on a T-s diagram.
Therefore, net heat transfer will also be equal to net work done by the cycle because it is
a cyclic process and delta Q is equal to delta W. So, the ratio of area enclosed by the
cyclic curve to the area under the heat addition process basically represents the thermal
efficiency because thermal efficiency is W net by Q in. Since W net is equal to Q net, the
ratio of the area under the cyclic curve which is equal to Q net which is in fact equal to
W net to the area under the Q in process.
That is the heat transfer in to the system basically represents the thermal efficiency of
this particular cycle, which means that any process or any change that we make to the
cycle which leads to an increase in this ratio; that is ratio of the area between the cycle or
area enclosed by the cyclic curve to the area under the Q in process is basically thermal
efficiency. So, whatever change you make if that leads to a change in this ratio, it can
lead to a corresponding change in the thermal efficiency which could either be in
increase in efficiency or it could also be a decrease in the efficiency.
So just to explain that point through an illustration, what we have here on a T-s diagram
is a cyclic process which is shown by this processes 1 2 3 and 4. This process the cyclic
process is shown on T-s coordinates and it is some arbitrary power cycle and the net heat
input is taking place through let us say this process 2-3.
Let us say the heat transfer is at a rate of Q h and therefore, area under Q 3, area under 2-
3 is basically heat input to the system and net work output is basically the difference
between area under the curve 2-3 and area under curve 1-4. This means that the shaded
area is basically the net work output of the cycle; therefore, thermal efficiency is W net
out divided by Q h or Q in. Therefore, whatever changes we make to a cycle if that
affects this ratio, that is ratio of the area under the curve to the heat input curve, then that
basically can lead to a change in the efficiency of this cycle.
We have discussed a lot in detail about the Carnot cycle and we have seen that Carnot
cycle is a cycle which consists of processes which are all internally and externally
reversible consists of 2 adiabatic isothermal processes and 2 adiabatic to entropy
processes. Basically you have a Carnot cycle consisting of all the 4 processes, which are
reversible isotherms and reversible adiabatics which means, there are 2 isothermal
processes and 2 isentropic processes in a Carnot cycle. Efficiency of a Carnot cycle as
we have discussed is the maximum that any cycle can have and also efficiencies of all
reversible cycles operating between the same temperature limits are the same, these are
consequences of the Carnot theorem.
As we have discussed, Carnot cycle is an idealized version of any power cycle and so
what is a significance of a Carnot cycle at all because all the processes as we know are in
fact irreversible and therefore, their efficiencies can never be equal to that of the Carnot
efficiency. But Carnot cycle basically helps us in identifying the maximum efficiency
that particular cycle can achieve when it is operating between two temperatures - sources
and sink.
Therefore, Carnot efficiency helps us in identifying or benchmarking the efficiency level

to which a particular power cycle can reach and that is primarily the significance of the
Carnot cycle because we know that, our heat engine let us say is operating between a
temperature source of T h and a sink of T l so, what is the maximum efficiency that you
can get, so that is defined by the Carnot cycle.
Carnot cycles help us in understanding that this is the limit to which we can extend the
performance of actual heat engines. So Carnot cycle or Carnot efficiency is basically a
function of the source and sink temperatures and therefore, as you increase the difference
between T h and T l the efficiency also increases.
So that is another hint that a Carnot cycle gives on how to improve the efficiency that as
you increase the temperature between the source and the sink then the efficiency of that
cycle is bound to increase because the Carnot efficiency also increases as you increase
the difference between T h and T l.
So, Carnot cycle basically would serve as a standard against which actual cycle
performance can be compared but, we know that in actual practice the source and sink
temperatures are limited basically because the source temperature is limited by the
materials which are used in these power cycles. So, you would always be limited by a
certain temperature beyond which the materials which constitute the cycle cannot
withstand such temperatures.
The maximum temperature is limited because of that and the sink temperature on the
other hand, though ideally you could go up to zero kelvin that is the lowest temperature
possible but, the sink temperature in actual practices is limited because of the medium to
which the heat is to be rejected like the atmosphere or to a lake or an ocean.
So, the sink temperatures are also limited and so are source temperatures, which means
that there is a certain inherent limitation in the maximum Carnot efficiency that itself can
be achieved by a certain cycle because the source and sink temperatures are limited
because of practical issues.
On the other hand, Carnot efficiency or Carnot cycle analysis helps us in identifying
what can be done to improve the performance of actual cycles and to what extent can we
extend the performance of actual cycles. We will always be referring to Carnot
efficiency as the standard to which other efficiencies or cycle efficiencies can be
compared to and as I had discussed in the beginning of today’s lecture that we shall
always be comparing or we shall always be assuming that air is going to be the working
medium in all these cycles.
Though in actual cycles, the working medium is not really air beyond after combustion it
also has constituents of the combustion products. So that can actually make the analysis
quite complicated but, for the ideal cycle analysis that we are going to discuss today we
shall be assuming that air is the working medium and also that air behaves like an ideal
gas.
These are certain assumptions which we shall be making while carrying out the cycle
analysis; these are basically referred to as the air standard assumptions. So we shall look
at what are the different assumptions which we shall be basically assuming to simplify
the analysis. The air standard assumptions are the following. The first on the primary
assumption is that, the working fluid is air which continuously circulates in a closed loop
and always behaves like an ideal gas. So that is the main assumption that constitutes the
air standard assumptions.
Then, all the processes that make up for the cycle are internally reversible, that is the
second assumption. All the processes, which form a part of the cycle, are internally
reversible but, not necessarily externally reversible.
The combustion process is replaced by a heat addition process from an external source
and the exhaust process is replaced by a heat rejection process that restores the working
fluid to its initial state. So we shall be replacing the combustion process as discussed
here by a heat addition process. The actual process would basically constitute of air and
fuel which either is mixed before the combustion chamber or mixes within the
combustion chamber; then what comes out of the combustion chamber or the combustion
products which will in addition to air also constitute of the combustion products.
This in our analysis we shall be replacing by the following. So we shall assume that it is
air that is coming into a certain heating section and it is air that leaves out of the heating
section. What is happening in inside the heating section is that there is heat addition
taking place which means, temperature of the air across the heating section changes; so
the constituent or the other properties of air remaining constant will just assume that
there is a heat addition taking place and that results in a change in temperature of air
between inlet and outlet of the heating section. So, this is the third and assumption that
constitute the air standard assumptions.
The fourth assumption is that, we can actually make a similar assumption for heat
rejection process that there is certain heat rejection process which results in temperature
of air coming back to where it was at the beginning of the process.
We shall have a very brief overview of reciprocating engines because what we shall be
discussing today are cycles on which reciprocating engines operate and so it is necessary
for us to understand certain basic terminologies associated with reciprocating engines.
So, detailed analysis of this will be taken up little later on in the lecture. In later lectures,
were we shall be discussing lot more about the practical implementation of many of
these cycles. In today’s lecture, we shall be limiting our discussion to ideal cycle or the
idealized versions of the Otto and the diesel cycles.
We already know that reciprocating engines form one of the most commonly used power
cycles; reciprocating engines are one of the most commonly used forms of power
generating devices. There are different engines which operate on different
thermodynamic cycles and the common feature between all these cycles is that all of
them constitute a piston and cylinder assembly. So, piston and assembly cylinder form
the basic components of the reciprocating engine besides this there are of course, other
components like valves connecting rods, flywheels and several other components which
we will not be discussing today.
Basically reciprocating engines constitutes the following components; so reciprocating

engines constitutes of a piston and cylinder as you can see here (Refer Slide Time:
24:14), this is the piston and this is the cylinder. So the cross sectional area of the
cylinder is basically referred to as the bore of the cylinder or the diameter of the cylinder.
The piston basically move between two distinct points which are known as the Bottom
Dead Center that is the point, the bottom most point to which the piston can move and
Top dead Center is the top most point to which the piston can move. Difference between
the top Dead Center and the Bottom Dead Center is basically known as the stroke of the
cylinder. Of course, you have intake valves and exhaust valves which of course do not
form any part of thermodynamic analysis.
So Top Dead Center is the maximum height to which the piston can move or that is the
region or at the point when the piston has reached TDC that is when we have the
minimum volume within the cylinder. When the piston reaches BDC that is when we
have maximum volume within the cylinder. If the piston is at the BDC then, the volume
within the cylinder is basically the displacement volume and as the piston reaches TDC
the volume which is left inside the cylinder is known as the clearance volume.
You can see that the piston does not move all the way up to the cylinder head, it leaves a
small volume between the piston and the cylinder head which is known as the clearance
volume. So these are some of the terms, there are many other terms which will also be
discussed later on in the course when we take up more detailed analysis of reciprocating
engines.
So the minimum volume that is formed in the cylinder when the piston is at TDC is
known as the clearance volume. The volume displaced by the piston has it moves
between TDC and BDC is known as the displacement volume. The ratio of the maximum
volume within the cylinder to the minimum volume is known as the compression ratio r;
so we will represent compression ratio here today by r. So, r is basically the ratio of V
max to V min which is volume at BDC to the volume at TDC.
The other important term that we will need to understand is what is known as the mean
effective pressure which is basically a fictitious pressure that if acted on the piston
during the entire power stroke would basically produce the same amount of net work as
produced during the actual cycle. So, net work output is equal to the product of the mean
effective pressure to the piston area and the stroke, which is basically mean effective
pressure in to the displacement volume.

So, mean effective pressure can be explained by the following P-v diagram. Here we
have a cycle, which is some power cycle which generates a certain net work output. The
area between the mean effective pressures is basically the fictitious pressure which when
acted upon the cylinder during the power stroke produces the same work output as that of
the actual cycle.
If we know the area between this which is enclosed within this cycle which is basically
equal to W net, we have an equivalent area here which is between V max and V min. So
the fictitious pressure corresponding to that area is equal to mean effective pressure.
Therefore, W net is the net work output is equivalent to product of any MEP which is
Mean Effective Pressure and the displacement volume that is V max minus V min.
Therefore, as the piston moves from BDC to TDC that is, when it displaces a certain
volume which is known as the displacement volume.
So the fictitious pressure, which when multiplied by this displacement volume is

basically equal to the mean effective pressure. Now that we have understood some of
these basic terms associated with reciprocating engines which is what we had just an
overview of reciprocating engines and as I mentioned we will take up lot more
discussions on this, later on in the course.
We shall now start cycle analysis of some of the cycles and we shall basically be
discussing about two cycles in today’s lecture: one is known as the Otto cycles which
forms the basic thermodynamic cycle for spark ignition engines and then we shall take
up discussions on the diesel cycle which is the basic thermodynamic cycle for
compression ignition or diesel engines.
So basically, there are two classes or types of reciprocating engines, one is known as the
spark ignition engine and the other is a compression ignition engine. A spark ignition
engine is one in which combustion is initiated on a fuel and air mixture using a spark
plug.
So spark ignition engine is one in which, we initiate combustion to the fuel air mixture
using a spark plug were as in a compression ignition engine air fuel mixture is self-
ignited as a result of the high compression which takes place. That is compression is
taken to a point beyond the self-ignition temperature so that the air fuel mixture ignites
on its own.
Basically for spark ignition engines, the basic thermodynamic cycle which is spark
ignition engines operate is known as the Otto cycle. So we will first have discussion, we
will understand what is an Otto cycle and we will limit our discussion to only ideal
cycles. So, Otto cycle is the basic thermodynamic cycle of spark ignition engines.
The basic cycle was of course, discovered long back in the 1876 by gentleman name
Nikolaus Otto. It was in 1876 that Nikolaus Otto developed the first spark ignition
engine. As we know today, spark ignition engines are very widely used in automobiles
and which is why it is important for us to understand the basic thermodynamic cycle of
spark ignition engines. So, Otto cycle basically is the ideal cycle for SI engines and it is
basically named after Nikolaus Otto as I mentioned.
Otto cycle can be executed in two or four strokes. If it is a four stroke engine, it basically
has four different processes or strokes which are basically the intake stroke, the
compression stroke, power stroke and the exhaust stroke. The same cycle can or the Otto
cycle can also be operated in a two stroke mode wherein, we have only compression
stroke and the power stroke, that is intake and compression strokes are combined, the
power and exhaust strokes are combined. So, it is possible also to operate Otto cycle
either as a four stroke mode or as a two stroke mode, which again as I mentioned will be
discussed little later.
So, Otto cycle basically consists of four processes. Otto cycle begins with an isentropic
compression process and then there is an isochoric or constant volume heat addition
process followed by an isentropic expansion process and a constant volume heat
rejection process. All these four processes are internally reversible.
As we have discussed in the beginning of the lecture, all these different processes are
only internally reversible they are not externally reversible like a Carnot cycle which is
why Otto cycle always have efficiencies less than that of Carnot cycle. In today lecture,
we will only be discussing about the ideal Otto cycle, actual Otto cycles are quite
different from the ideal cycle but, it is of course, possible for us to make comparisons
between the ideal cycle and the actual cycle which again will be discussed little later.
Let us look at the ideal Otto cycle in terms of P-v and T-s coordinates. I mentioned that
Otto cycle consist of four processes, it starts with an isentropic compression. So, on a P-v
diagram you can see this process 1 to 2 is an isentropic compression process. Heat
addition takes place at constant volume, volume is a constant followed by isentropic
expansion process; 3 to 4 is expansion but, isentropically process 4 to 1 is constant
volume heat rejection.
The same process on the T-s diagram, first process is isentropic compression which is
why you have a vertical line constant; entropy 2 to 3 is constant volume heat addition, q
in takes place during process 2-3, process 3-4 is isentropic expansion and process 4-1 is
constant volume heat rejection. So, this is ideal cycle as seen on ideal Otto cycle on P-v
as well as T-s diagrams the real cycle of course, real cycle can only be approximated in
some way to that of the ideal cycle there could be some differences between the real and
the ideal cycles.
If we now try to apply the energy equation for these cycles, basically our aim is to derive
an expression for the efficiency of the ideal Otto cycle. So what we shall be doing is to
apply the energy equation for the cycle and find out the heat and work interactions which
will basically give us an expression for the efficiency of an Otto cycle. If you apply the
energy balance which we will assume that kinetic and potential energy to be zero said
delta q plus w delta is equal to delta u, that is q in minus q out plus w in minus w out is
equal to change in internal energy.
Now, if you look at the heat transfer to or from the working fluid, q in is taking place
during the constant volume process between process 2 and 3 or states 2 and 3 therefore, q
in is u 3 minus u 2 it is constant volume and therefore, q in is equal to c v into T 3 minus
T 2.
Similarly, q out is again a constant volume process which is u 4 minus u 1 which is equal
to c v times T 4 minus T 1. Therefore, thermal efficiency of an ideal Otto cycle with the
cold air standard assumption is basically w net by q in that is 1 minus q out by q in which
is 1 minus T 4 minus T 1 by T 3 minus T 2, c v gets cancelled out because of the cold air
standard assumptions where we assumed that c v does not change which is equal to 1
minus T 1 times, T 4 by T 1 minus 1 divided by T 2 times, T 3 by T 2 minus 1.
We have already discuss that processes 1-2 and 3-4 are isentropic and also that v 2 is
equal to v 3 because process 2-3 is constant volume and v 4 is equal to v 1 because
process 4-1 is also constant volume. Therefore, the ratio T 1 by T 2 is equal to v 2 by v 1
raise to gamma minus 1 which is equal to v 3 by v 4 raise to gamma minus 1 and which
is in fact equal to the temperature ratios T 4 by T 3.
So with these substitutions in the thermal efficiency, that is if you substitute for this
temperature ratios there the efficiency of the ideal Otto cycle is 1 minus 1 by r raise to
gamma minus 1, where r we have already defined as the compression ratio which is
equal to V max by V min which is V 1 by V 2 and gamma here is the ratio of the specific
heats which is c p divided by c v.
We can see clearly that the Otto cycle is basically a function of two parameters,
primarily the compression ratio which is V 1 by V 2 and it also depends upon the ratio of
the specific heats. So Otto cycle efficiency is primarily ideal Otto cycle efficiency is
basically a function of the compression ratio and it is also in some sense a function of the
ratio of specific heats. As you change the compression ratio, you can also change the
efficiency of the ideal Otto cycle.
So for an Otto cycle, we have seen it constitutes of four processes. The first process
being an isentropic process followed which is basically a compression process, followed
by a constant volume heat addition process, then an isentropic expansion and finally, a
constant volume heat rejection process. Efficiency of an Otto cycle basically is a
function of the compression ratio and the ratio of specific heats.
Now, the next cycle which we shall be taking up for analysis is the diesel cycle. Diesel
cycle forms the basic thermodynamic cycle for compression ignition engines or diesel
engines as we know today. We shall start discussions on how to analyze a diesel cycle
very similar to that of the Otto cycle. Diesel cycle is basically an ideal cycle of the
reciprocating compression ignition engine, it was proposed way back in 1890s by
Rudolph Diesel.
In SI engine as we have seen basically, the air fuel mixture is compressed to a

temperature that is still below the Otto ignition temperature and therefore, the
combustion is initiated by using a spark plug where as in compression ignition engines,
air and fuel mixture is compressed to a temperature which is above the Otto ignition
temperature and the combustion basically starts as you inject the fuel into this hot air.
It is basically compression is taken to a temperature which is beyond the Otto ignition

temperature and so you do not need a spark plug to initiate combustion in a diesel engine
or in a diesel cycle. Let us now look at what are the different processes which constitute
a diesel cycle.
What we shall see is that diesel cycle differs from the Otto cycle in only the heat addition
process; the other processes remain at least thermodynamically the same. So, diesel cycle
basically consists of four processes like in an Otto cycle.
It begins with isentropic compression, process 1-2 is isentropic compression, and then
we have constant pressure heat addition unlike an Otto cycle which was constant volume
heat addition. So in a diesel cycle, we have constant pressure heat addition which is
process 2-3, then an isentropic expansion process 3-4 and the last process is a constant
volume heat rejection process.
Again, all the processes here are internally reversible and thermodynamically the Otto
and diesel cycle differ only in the second process. In the Otto cycle, it is constant volume
heat addition, diesel cycle it is constant pressure heat addition. This is the ideal diesel
cycle on P-v and T-s diagrams; so the process begins or the cycle begins at state 1, there
is an isentropic compression which takes the cycle to state 2.
Basically, from state 2 to state 3 it is constant pressure process during which heat is
added or q in takes place during process 2-3 which is constant pressure heat addition.
Process 3-4 is again isentropic expansion and there is expansion from state 3 to state 4
which means there is a drop in pressure and increase in the volume.
At the end of third process, there is a constant volume heat reduction q out takes place
during process 4-1. On the T-s diagram process, 1 to 2 is isentropic therefore, it is a
vertical line, process 2-3 is p is equal to constant - it is a constant pressure process during
which heat is added to the cycle, q in takes place during this process, process 3-4 is
isentropic expansion and process 4-1 is constant volume heat rejection, q out takes place
during the process 4-1.
These are four different processes which constitute the diesel cycle and as I mentioned it
differs from the Otto cycle only in the second process which is the heat addition process,
other processes remain the same. We will now derive the expression for the thermal
efficiency of a diesel cycle in a manner which is similar to that of the Otto cycle.
Basically, we will be carrying out an energy balance across the cycle and account for the
different work and heat interactions. So, if you apply the energy balance, assuming
kinetic and potential energy to be 0 as we did in Otto cycle, so we have delta q plus delta
w is equal to delta u. So, q in minus q out plus w in minus w out is delta u, q in is equal
to P 2 times v 3 minus v 2 plus u 3 minus u 2, which is h 3 minus h 2 that is basically
change in enthalpy here, because it is a constant pressure process and therefore, it is c p
times T 3 minus T 2, q out on the other hand is c v times T 4 minus T 1.
So thermal efficiency of an ideal diesel cycle is basically w net by q in which is 1 minus

q out by q in which is equal to 1 minus T 4 minus T 1 by gamma times T 3 minus T 2.
This gamma has come because we have ratios c v on the numerator and c p on the
denominator, so it is c p by c v which is gamma. We can simplify this as 1 minus T 1
times T 4 by T 1 minus 1 divided by gamma times T 2 multiplied by T 3 by T 2 minus 1.
So we will now define a ratio which is known as the cut off ratio, which is represented
by r c.
Cut off ratio is the ratio of the cylinder volumes after and before the combustion process.
So, r c equal is to v 3 divided by v 2, so if we were to assume this ratio which is the cut
off ratio then, we have the ideal efficiency or efficiency of the ideal diesel cycle as 1
minus 1 by r raise to gamma minus 1 multiplied by r c raise to gamma minus 1 divided
by gamma times r c minus 1, where r is the compression ratio which we have defined
even in the Otto cycle, v max by v min.
Now, what we see is that one part of this efficiency definition is very identical to that of
the Otto cycle and the term in the bracket is different for the diesel and the Otto cycle.
This quantity in the bracket is always greater than 0, as we can see r c is parameter
greater than 1.
So, it will always be greater than 0 which means that efficiency of the diesel cycle will
always be greater than efficiency of an Otto cycle for the same compression ratio. That is
as long as you keep the compression ratios same, then diesel cycle will have an
efficiency which is always greater than that of an Otto cycle. It is basically because in an
ideal cycle the efficiency term also has a parameter in the bracket which always greater
than 0.
So, efficiency of a diesel cycle and an Otto cycle if you were to compare, diesel cycle
will usually have higher efficiency because of the fact that the term in the brackets is
always greater than 0. In an actual engines, if you were to compare the compression
ratios of diesel engines and SI engines or sparking ignition engines, diesel engines
usually have much higher compression ratios than sparking ignition engines which
means that if you were to have a diesel engine which is operating at compression ratios
low as low as that of Otto cycle or sparking ignition engines obviously, the efficiencies
will be different.
In actual practice, the compression ratios of diesel cycles or diesel engines are usually
much higher than the compression ratios of Otto cycles or sparking ignition engines. It is
basically because, as you increase the compression ratio the temperature at the end of the
compression process will be higher, which means that you might reach temperatures
which are very close to that of the Otto ignition temperature, which is not something that
is desirable for a spark ignition engine because in a spark ignition engine, you would like
to initiate combustion when you have the spark plug which is switched on, you do not
want the fuel air mixture to be self-ignited which is not the case for compression ignition
engines.
In the case of compression ignition engines, you would want the fuel air mixture to self-
ignite, there is no spark plug there and you require a self-ignition to be taking place
there. Therefore, there is a difference in the efficiencies of these two different cycles.
So what we have discussed are two different cycles. One is the Otto cycle and the diesel
cycle and as we have seen there is a difference between the Otto and the diesel cycle
primarily because of the heat addition process. In one case, the heat addition was at
constant volume and in the other case heat addition was at constant pressure which was
in the diesel cycle.
Now in an actual practice if we look at an actual cycle, the heat addition process is if you
were to approximate it either as constant volume or simply as constant pressure that is
too much of a simplification. So, actual process or actual cycles will not have heat
addition taking place either at constant pressure or at constant volume alone. Therefore,
it makes sense to model the heat addition process by a combination of constant pressure
and constant volume processes.
That is we will have the second process which is the heat addition process comprising of
both a constant pressure process as well as the constant volume process. You can
actually adjust the relative amounts of heat added during these two processes depending
upon the cycle itself.
So depending upon how much is the contribution of the constant pressure process or how
much the contribution of the constant volume process, you can adjust the ratio of the heat
addition during these two processes. A cycle which consist of heat addition process
which has both these constituents; that is it has a constant volume process as well as a
constant pressure process that is known as a dual cycle.
We can clearly see that both Otto cycle as well as diesel cycle can be obtained as a
special case of the dual cycle. That is you can always infer or you can always
approximate or derive the Otto or diesel cycles from the dual cycle because dual cycle
has the second process which is common to both Otto as well as diesel cycle. That is in
the case of dual cycle, you have a constant volume heat addition as well as constant
pressure heat addition. In the case of an Otto cycle, you have only the constant volume
heat addition part and in the case of diesel cycle, you just have constant pressure heat
addition.
So let us look at the P-v diagram of a dual cycle. So, on a P-v diagram basically a dual
cycle would look like this. The first process is the same that is you have process 1 to 2
which is an isentropic process. The second process which may have which is between
states 2 and 3 would have both components; that is a constant volume process as well as
a constant pressure process.
How much of constant volume and how much of constant pressure is something that can
be adjusted depending upon the cycle itself. So heat addition takes place during both
these processes. Process 3 to 4 is isentropic expansion process; 4 to 1 is constant volume
heat rejection that is isochoric heat rejection. I have shown a dual cycle only on a P-v
diagram here.
So I will leave it as an exercise for you to see how this diagram would look like on a T-s
scale. That is if you were to plot the dual cycle on a T-s diagram on how would it look
like, basically the three of the processes remain the same like diesel and Otto cycle;
difference is only in the second processes where you have both components that is you
have a constant volume part as well as a constant pressure part. You can also derive the
thermal efficiency for such a cycle because we have already derived thermal efficiency
for Otto cycle and diesel cycle separately and the difference was only in the second part.
You can actually derive the thermal efficiency for a dual cycle and see how it compares
with Otto cycle as well as diesel cycle. You can also actually see if you can derive the
expression for efficiency of an Otto cycle and diesel cycle, if you were to assume that in
one case the constant pressure processes is absent and the other case the constant volume
process is absent. So, you can actually derive the efficiency for both these cases as a
subset of the dual cycle. So that brings us to towards the end of this lecture.
Let us take a quick look at what we have discussed in today’s lecture. We started our
discussion today with discussions on the gas power cycle, the importance of analysis of
gas power cycles. Then we also discussed about the Carnot cycle, we revisited the
Carnot cycle and had some discussion on what is the significance of the Carnot cycle.
Then we discussed about the assumptions that we make for analyzing ideal Otto and
diesel cycles which are known as the air standard assumptions.
We had a very quick, very brief overview of reciprocating engines and the different
terminologies used for reciprocating engines and then we started off with the discussion
on the Otto cycle which is the basic thermodynamic cycle for spark ignition engines.
We then discussed about diesel cycles, which is the basic thermodynamic cycle for
compression ignition engines process. Then we discussed about the dual cycle which
constitutes of the heat addition process, which has both constant volume as well as
constant pressure components of heat addition.
So this is what we had discussed in today’s lecture and in the next lecture, we shall be
taking up the following topics. During the next lecture, we shall be discussing about
these: we will have quick discussion on Sterling and Ericsson cycles. Then we will talk
about the Brayton cycle which forms the ideal cycle for gas turbine engines.
We will then talk about Brayton cycle with regeneration, Brayton cycle with inter
cooling, reheating and regeneration. Then we will take up one vapor cycle which is the
Rankine cycle, we will have some discussion on the ideal cycle for vapor power cycles
which is the Rankine cycle, basically the power cycle for steam turbines or steam
engines. So, this is what we shall be discussing during the next lecture that will be
lecture 18.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Indian Institute of technology, Bombay
Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 18
Rankine cycle, Brayton cycle, Stirling and Ericsson cycles
Hello and welcome to lecture 18 of this lecture series on introduction to Aerospace

Propulsion starting with the last lecture number 17. We had started discussions on
application of thermo dynamic principles to different engineering cycles. We had
discussed about three different cycles in the last lecture, which were the otto cycle, the
diesel cycle and the dual cycle.
We shall continue our discussion on different power cycles in today’s lecture. What we
shall be discussing are - two cycles. We will start our discussion with two cycles, which
are having efficiencies close to that or equal to that of the Carnot cycle or Carnot
efficiency. These are the Stirling and the Ericson cycles. We shall then discuss about the
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Brayton cycle, which forms the ideal cycle for gas turbine engines. We shall discuss
some variance of the Brayton cycle that is Brayton cycle with regeneration, Brayton
cycle with intercooling, reheating and regeneration. We will have some discussion on
one of the vapor power cycles known as the Rankine cycle. Rankine cycle is the basic
thermo dynamic cycle for steam engines or steam power cycles.
Now, let us start discussion on two conceptual cycles, which are supposed to have very
high efficiencies. We already know that the ideal otto and diesel cycles are not totally
reversible. They are internally reversible, but it is possible to have irreversible outside
the cycle. It means that ideal otto diesel cycles are not totally reversible; this means that
the efficiency of the ideal otto and diesel cycles can never be equal to the Carnot
efficiencies, because they are not totally reversible. If a cycle has to have efficiencies,
which are close to that of Carnot cycle efficiency, then they need to be reversible both
internally as well as externally.
For a cycle to become externally reversible, it is important that the temperature

difference between the source and the sink that is heat transfer takes place at a
differential temperature dt. This does not happen in the otto and diesel cycles because we
have seen that heat transfer takes place through a heat transfer rate of q in and heat
transfer out at q out. Therefore, as long as there is a temperature differential, the cycle
becomes internally reversible, but not externally reversible. So, for any cycle to become
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totally reversible, it is necessary that heat transfer takes place through a temperature
difference, which does not exceed a certain differential amount of dt. How do you do
this? How do you transfer temperature through a very small differential and still be able
to have very high efficiencies? Stirling and Ericsson cycles are two cycles, which have
isothermal heat edition.
Isothermal heat edition is something, which is there in a Carnot cycle, where you have a
reversible isothermal heat additional as well as heat rejection. Stirling and Ericsson
cycles comprises of isothermal heat edition and heat rejection through a certain process,
which is known as regeneration.
Let us understand what is meant by regeneration. Regeneration is a process, which is

common to both Stirling and Ericsson cycles. Regeneration is basically a process, which
involves heat transfer thorough a thermal energy storage device. It is a regenerator
during one part of the cycle and the energy is transferred back to the cycle during another
part of the cycle. It is just conceptually shown in this diagram here. We have a cycle,
which consists of a certain working fluid, which has certain energy associated with that.
There is a thermal energy storage device, which is a regenerator placed at the center here.
During one part of the cycle, we transfer energy to this device and this energy device
transfers energy back to the working fluid during another part of the cycle. Energy is
transferred to the fluid during another part of the cycle. So, energy is transfer to the fluid
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during one part of the cycle and transferred back to the working fluid during another part
of the cycle. So, regeneration is something, which is common to both Stirling as well as
Ericsson cycle. This is why it is possible that Stirling and Ericsson cycles can have
isothermal heat edition and isothermal heat rejection. Basically, these cycles transfer heat
using what is known as a regenerator. So, regeneration process or a regenerator is
something, which is common to both Stirling as well as Ericsson cycles.
Regeneration is something, which we have just understood that it basically involves

transfer of energy to a thermal storage during one part of the cycle and transfer that
energy back to the working fluid during another part of the cycle. So, with this in mind
that is regeneration enables a cycle to have isothermal heat edition and isothermal heat
rejection, which is required. If you want to have efficiencies, which are close to that of
Carnot cycle efficiencies. So, isothermal heat edition and isothermal heat rejection is an
important aspect of a cycle, if it has to achieve Carnot efficiencies. Let us look at what
are the different processes that constitute as Stirling cycle.
Let us look at what are the different processes that constitute as Stirling cycle. A Stirling
cycle basically consists of four processes, which are totally reversible process. 1-2 is
isothermal process and T is a constant. So, we have an isothermal expansion process
during which, heat is added or heat addition takes place from an external source.
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The second process is - constant volume regeneration process, where there is internal
heat transfer from the working fluid to the regenerator. The third process that is process
3-4 is again constant temperature. It is an isothermal compression process, during which,
heat is rejected to an external sink. The last process is a constant volume regeneration
process, during which, there is an internal heat transfer from the regenerator back to the
working fluid. So, these are the four different processes, which constitute a Stirling cycle
that is there are two isothermal processes and two regeneration processes.
On a P-V and T-S scale or the Stirling cycle is represented in the following way. It starts
with an isothermal process; T is equal to constant process. 1-2 is isothermal process and
process 2-3 is constant volume regeneration process. It is during process 1-2 that is
isothermal process; you have heat transfer from an external source to the cycle. Process
2-3 is a constant volume process. It is a regeneration process, during which, energy is
transferred from the cycle or from the working fluid to the regenerator, which is a
thermal energy storage device. Process 3-4 is an isothermal heat rejection process, during
which, heat is rejected from the cycle. Process 4-1 is again a regeneration process, during
which, heat is transferred back to the fluid from the thermal energy storage device.
On a T-S diagram, Stirling cycle look like this. First process is isothermal process. You
have a horizontal line on the T-S diagram because it is isothermal heat edition. Process
2-3 is constant volume process, during which, regeneration takes place that is energy is
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transferred to the regenerator during this process. Process 3-4 is isothermal heat rejection
process. Process 4-1 is again a constant volume process. It is a regeneration process,
during which, heat is transferred or energy is transferred from the regenerator to the
working fluid. So, this is Stirling cycle as seen in P-V and the T-S diagram.
There is another cycle, which is very similar to a Stirling cycle. It also has two processes,
which consist of regeneration processes and this is known as an Ericsson cycle. An
Ericsson cycle consists of four totally reversible processes. Here again, you have an
isothermal heat edition process, where there is heat edition from an external source.
There is a constant pressure, heat regeneration. Unlike a Stirling cycle, which had
constant volume regeneration, Ericsson cycle has a constant pressure regeneration
process. There is again an isothermal heat rejection through a compression process and
finally a constant pressure regeneration process, where there is internal heat transfer from
the regenerator to the working fluid.
The difference between the Ericsson and the Stirling cycle is only in the regeneration
process. In the Stirling cycle, the regeneration was constant volume. In the Ericsson
cycle, it is constant pressure regeneration. The heat edition is isothermal in both the
cycles, Stirling as well as the Ericsson cycles.
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Let us look at the P-V and T-S diagram of the cycles. The P-V diagram or the P-V
coordinates has the first process that is an isothermal process 1-2. The second process is
basically a constant pressure process, which is a regeneration processes. 2-3 is
regeneration process. 3-4 is an isothermal heat rejection. Process 4-1 is constant pressure
and regeneration is heat transfer from the regenerator to the working fluid at constant
pressure. So, processes 1-2 and 3-4 are isothermal processes. Process 2-3 and 4-1 are
constant pressure processes, which are basically regeneration processes.
On T-S coordinates, the same cycle looks like this. We have isothermal heat edition
isothermal heat rejection and constant pressure regeneration during process 2-3 and
process 4-1. So, this is Ericson cycle on P-V and T-S diagrams. Both these engines are
totally reversible cycles because they are any way internally reversible like otto and
diesel cycles. They are also externally reversible because of the heat edition and heat
rejection processes that are isothermal. Heat edition and heat rejection are taking place at
a constant temperature, which means that they are also externally reversible.
7
Since Stirling and Ericson cycles are totally reversible cycles, their efficiencies will be
equal to that of the Carnot efficiencies. Both Stirling and Ericson cycles have efficiencies
equal to that of Carnot efficiency cycle because they are totally reversible. Now, there
have been attempts to built Stirling and Ericson cycles, but they are extremely difficult to
build.
They are very cumbersome in nature and therefore, these cycles have been demonstrated
in some way. Of course, there is some irreversibility, which will still take place. These
cycles have very high efficiencies than the normal otto and diesel cycle efficiencies.
They are very extremely cumbersome to build and obviously, they still cannot achieve
Carnot efficiencies. The main point or the main aspect of Stirling and Ericson cycles is
that regeneration increases efficiency.
If you have a cycle, which has some component of regeneration, it increases the
efficiency of the cycle. This is one aspect that has been implemented in many modern
day cycles for improving the efficiency. It means that regeneration within the cycle will
always improve efficiency. This is one of the aspects or one of the understandings that
we get from Stirling and Ericson cycles analysis. This is one aspect, which is used in
many of the modern day cycles. We will not discuss further on how Stirling and Ericson
cycles can be implemented and so on.
8
Let us take up another very important cycle. As aerospace engineers, this is one cycle,
which we should be understanding in much detail. We shall be carrying out detailed
analysis of this cycle. A lot more of this is known as the Brayton cycle. So, Brayton
cycle forms the basic thermo dynamic cycle for gas turbine engines, though it was
developed initially for reciprocating engines. It was developed or proposed by George
Brayton in 1870 for reciprocating engines, but modern day gas turbine engines operate
on Brayton cycle and work primarily with rotating missionary.
Gas turbine engines operate in an open cycle mode. We can model it as closed cycle
using the air-standard assumptions, which we had discussed in the last lecture. Using
these assumptions, we can assume that the gas turbine cycle operate in an open, though it
operates in an open cycle mode. We can approximate that it is operating in close cycle
mode. So, in a gas turbine engine, we will replace the combustion and exhaust by
constant pressure, heat addition and heat rejection.
9
Brayton cycle basically consists of four internally reversible processes. Process 1-2 is
isentropic compression. It is basically like compression in a compressor in the case of
gas turbine. Process 2-3 is constant pressure heat edition. Process 3-4 is isentropic
expansion. In the case of a gas turbine engine, it is in a turbine. Process 4-1 is constant
pressure heat rejection. So, these are the four different processes and all of them are
internally reversible, which constitute a Brayton cycle.
10
On P-V and T-S coordinates, the Brayton cycle looks like this. We have the first process,
which is a compression process. Process 1-2 is isotropic compression and process 2-3 is
constant pressure heat addition. So, heat addition at constant pressure, q in takes place
during process 2-3. Process 3-4 is again isentropic process. It is an isentropic expansion
process. Process 4-1 is constant pressure heat rejection process, q out takes place during
process 4-1.
On T-S diagram or T-S coordinates, the Brayton cycle looks like this. The first process is
isentropic; we have a vertical line here. Process 1-2 is isentropic, process 2-3 is constant
pressure process, during which, heat addition take place. Process 3-4 is an isentropic
expansion; it is again a vertical line. Process 4-1 is a constant pressure heat rejection. So,
these are the four different cycles, which constitute a Brayton cycle. There are two
isentropic processes: the compression and expansion processes are isentropic. We also
have two constant pressure processes, during which, heat addition and heat rejection
takes place.
As we did in the case of otto and diesel cycles, we will now derive an expression for
finding the efficiency of a Brayton cycle in terms of certain pressure ratios, which we
will define little later. So, to derive an expression for efficiency, we will primarily be
doing an energy balance.
11
We can assume the different constituents of the Brayton cycle to be steady flow systems.
For steady flow process, the energy balance is basically q in minus q out plus w in minus
w out equal to delta h. If you were to calculate the heat transfer to and from the working
fluid, q in is equal to h 3 minus h 2 because it is a flow process or constant pressure heat
addition. Therefore, it is equal to c p times t 3 minus t 2 q out. It is again a constant
pressure heat rejection and therefore, it is h 4 minus h 1 that is c p times t 4 minus t 1.
We can determine the thermal efficiency of the ideal Brayton cycle. Thermal efficiency
is w net work output by heat input that is 1 minus q out by q in, which is 1 minus t 4
minus t 1 by t 3 minus t 2, which is equal to 1 minus t 1 multiplied by t 4 by t 1 minus 1
divided by t 2 multiplied by t 3 by t 2 minus 1.
We know that processes 1-2 and 3-4 are isentropic. Process 2-3 and 4-1 are constant
pressure processes. Therefore, P2 is equal to P3 and P4 is equal to P1. From these
processes, 1-2 and 3-4 are isentropic because we have T 1 by T 2 is equal to P 2 by P 1
raised to gamma minus 1 by gamma. It is equal to P 3 by P 4 raised to gamma minus 1
by gamma because P 2 is equal to P 3, P 4 is equal to P 1, which is in turn equal to T 3
by T 4.
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If you substitute these values in the equations, we get an expression for the thermal
efficiency. So, thermal efficiency of a Brayton cycle is equal to 1 minus 1 by r subscript
p raise to gamma minus 1 by gamma, where r p is basically the pressure ratio P 2 by P 1
and that is basically the pressure ratio of this cycle. Brayton cycle efficiency is primarily
a function of the cyclic pressure ratio. It also depends on the ratio of specific heats as
well. Brayton cycle efficiency is the expression very similar to that of an otto cycle. In an
otto cycle, we have seen the efficiency was equal to 1 minus 1 by r raised to gamma
minus 1 by gamma, where r was the compression ratio. In the case of Brayton cycle, the
efficiency is 1 minus 1 by r p raised to gamma minus 1 by gamma, where r p is the cycle
pressure ratio, the max pressure by the min pressure.
The efficiency of the Brayton cycle is primarily a function of the pressure ratio. It also
depends on the ratio of specific heat in some way and which was also the case for an otto
cycle as well. This was the simple Brayton cycle. Now, it primarily consists of these four
different processes: two isentropic processes, an isentropic compression and an
isentropic expansion and two constant pressure processes. One is isentropic, constant
pressure heat edition, constant pressure heat rejection. So, all these four processes
together constitute the Brayton cycle. A simple Brayton cycle forms the basic thermo
dynamic cycle on which, all gas turbine engines operate.
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Now, we shall look at some of the modifications that can be done on the Brayton cycle to
primarily increase the efficiency, improve the efficiency of the Brayton cycle. One such
modification, which we will discuss is known as the regeneration. Regeneration is
basically trying to use some of the energy, which is being wasted from the exhaust of the
cycle. We would like to use some part of the heat rejected from the cycle and use it in
some other part of the cycle. As we have seen regenaration for Stirling and Ericson cycle
involves transfer of energy from one part of the cycle to another.
In the case of a gas turbine engine, regeneration can be carried out using hot air
exhausting from the turbine to heat up the compressor exit flow. Before the air enters the
combustion chamber, we could heat up the air using energy from the turbine exhaust. So,
thermal efficiency of the Brayton cycle is lightly to increase because some part of the
heat rejected is basically being reused. You are increasing the net work output by reusing
the part of the heat, which is otherwise getting rejected or being wasted. It means that
regeneration in some sense decreases the heat input. Therefore, fuel requirements for the
same net work output because for generating the same net work output, you are using
lesser fuel as you are using a part of heat, which is being exhausted and using that energy
in some part of the cycle.
In the case of Brayton cycle, regeneration is primarily carried out by using part of the
compressor part of the turbine exhaust, which is energy and it is primarily getting wasted
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in some sense. Heat register is used reused in another part of the cycle that is to heat up
the compressor exit flow. So, regeneration is basically the understanding, which we had
from the Stirling and Ericson’s cycle. It was regeneration that increases or improves
efficiency. In the case of a Brayton cycle, heat rejected from the cycle is being reused.
Therefore, regeneration decreases the heat input and the fuel requirements are the same
for net work output.
Let us now look at Brayton cycle with regeneration. Now, this was basic Brayton cycle.
We had discussed on T-S coordinates process starting from state 1. Process 1-2 is an
isentropic compression process. Process 2-3 is constant pressure heat edition. Process 3-4
is isentropic expansion and process 4 is constant pressure heat rejection. So, what
happens in regeneration is that we can see the temperature at state 4. T 4 is much higher
than temperature at state 2. So, regeneration is a process, where you would like to
transfer some part of this heat, which is being rejected back to the cycle.
From state 4, the ideal scenario would be that we have an increase in temperature, which
is equal to that of T 4 itself. It is obviously not possible in actual practice and so you
would transfer some heat, which is indicated here as q region. It is the heat, which has
been regenerated or transferred to the cycle. So, q region, which is equal to the q saved
which has been transferred back to the cycle at the end of the compression process.
15
The heat rejected is q out equal to what is shown here, between this 1 and 6. Heat
rejected in the simple Brayton cycle would have been equal to q 4 minus q 1. This has
now been reduce to q 6 minus q 1. Since that much heat has been transferred to the cycle,
the heat input required will now be instead of q 3 minus q 2. It is now equal to q 3 minus
q 5. We can see that there is a tremendous saving, in terms of the heat required that is q
in as well as the decrease for heat has been rejected because of heat regeneration on the
simple Brayton cycle.
So, regeneration primarily involves transfer of energy. In this case, it has been shown as
this part of heat, which has been transferred back to the cycle. So, q 4 minus q 6 has been
transferred back. Therefore, heat input has also reduced significantly because of this. It
means that ideally, you should be able get higher efficiencies because q in has now
reduced.
In an ideal case, you could have a scenario, where the air actually leaves the regenerator
or exit the regenerator at the temperature of the exhaust gas, which was T 4. If that was
the case, the maximum regeneration that you could get is h 5 dash minus h 2, which is h
4 minus h 2. Actual regeneration takes place to a temperature less than that. This is why
the actual regeneration is h 4 minus h 2. On the T-S diagram, you should be able to get
regeneration heat equal to h 5 prime minus h 2, which is equal to h 4 minus h 2. The
actual regeneration is h 5 minus h 2.
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We can define what is known as effectiveness of a regeneration process or regenerator.

Effectiveness is basically the ratio of the actual regeneration to the maximum
regeneration. It is h 5 minus h 2 divided by h 4 minus h 2. So, we have already derived
an expression for the thermal efficiency of an ideal Brayton cycle, the simple Brayton
cycle with regeneration. If you were to derive an expression, we would get thermal
efficiency equal to 1 minus T 1 by T 3 times r p raise to gamma minus 1 by gamma.
We have thermal efficiency, which is not just a function of the pressure ratio, it is also a
function of the temperature ratio. For the simple Brayton cycle, we have seen that the
thermal efficiency is only a function of the pressure ratio and as well as the ratio of
specific heat with regeneration. Now, the efficiency is also a function of the temperature
ratio. It means that as we increase or decrease the temperature ratio, it can affect the
efficiency of the Brayton cycle, which has a regeneration process or regeneration
mechanism.
Efficiency of a Brayton cycle basically can be improved using regeneration because you
are reducing the heat input to the cycle. You are transferring some amount of heat, which
is normally rejected back to the cycle. Therefore, the amount of heat that is required for
generating the same work output will be reduced. It means that there has to be an
increase in efficiency of the cycle. Brayton cycle with regeneration is primarily one of
the mechanisms of improving the net work output of the efficiency of a Brayton cycle.
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Now, there are other methods of increasing the efficiency or work output of a cycle. One
such method is known as intercooling. The other method we shall be discussing is
reheating. Now, intercooling is something, which consents the compression processes of
a cycle. Reheating is something, which consents the expansion or the expansion part of
the cycle. So, the net work output of a gas turbine cycle is basically the difference
between the turbine work output and the compressor work input. It means that the net
work output can be increased either by decreasing the compressor work or by increasing
the turbine work or doing both. That is either you reduce the compressor work input or
increase the turbine work output or you could do a combination of these two, which will
eventually lead to an increase in the net work output. So, these are two options that we
have for increasing the net work output of a cycle. It means that if we increase w net, we
can increase the efficiency.
In the first case, if you wish to reduce the net work input for the compression process, we
can do that by intercooling. We split the compression process into different stages and
then between these different stages, we apply a certain cooling to bring down the net
work required for carrying out the certain amount of compression process. So, the work
required for a compressor to compress a gas between two specified pressures can
basically be decreased by carrying out the compression process in stages and cooling the
gas in between them. This is basically known as multi-stage compression with cooling
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that is between different compression processes or compression stages; we apply cooling
of the gas in between them. This is known as multistage compression with intercooling.
Similarly, the work output of a cycle of a turbine can be increased by multi-stage

expansion with reheating. We split expansion process in two different stages and apply
reheating between them, so that the network output of the turbine can be increased. In a
limiting case, as we increase number of stages of compression and expansion, the
process basically approaches an isothermal process.
A combination of intercooling and reheating will basically increase the net work output
of a Brayton cycle. It is because; you are increasing the net work output by using
intercooling and reheating. What we shall see a little later on that? Using either
intercooling alone or reheating alone is not sufficient, it is also necessary that we use
some amount of regeneration. So that the over all cycle efficiency can be improved. So,
intercooling plus reheating with regeneration is one of the methods or mechanisms by
which, one can increase the efficiency of a Brayton cycle significantly.
19
Let us look at how intercooling can be carried out thermo dynamically. As we look at a
P-V diagram of a compression process, Process 1AC is the compression process without
intercooling or in single stage compression. Now, if we were to split this compression
processes into two-stage compression with intercooling, then this process becomes
1ABD. At the end of process 1-A, we apply cooling of the gas. Ideally, we assume that
cooling takes place at constant pressure. It means after the gas, which is stated as A at the
end of the first compressor.
As we apply cooling of the gas, it reaches state B at constant pressure. From B to D, we

again apply the compression process, which takes it from B to D. Therefore, the amount
of work has been saved as a result of intercooling. It is given by this shaded area, which
is given here. This is the amount of work that is saved as a result of intercooling. So,
process 1AC can be replaced, which is a single stage compression process. It can be
replaced by process 1ABD, which is splitting the compression process into two stage
compression process with intercooling. Similarly, we can also look at the reheating. We
will also be able to see the benefits as we get higher work output by reheating in the end
of the expansion process through a turbine.
20
Let us look at one example of an ideal gas turbine cycle, basically with intercooling
reheating and regeneration. What we have shown here is a two state compression process
and a two state expansion process. The cycle begins with at state 1 and there is an
isentropic compression, which results in state 2. At the end of state 2, we carry out
intercooling. It means that the process will now move along this path process 2-3. It
moves from state 3 to state 4 at the end of process. After it reaches state 4, it moves
along the process path, which is a constant pressure process, from state 4 to state 6. What
is shown here are the heat inputs and the heat rejection taking place. There is a certain
amount of rejection taking place here because the gas has been cooled from state 2 to
state 3. So, there is a heat rejection, which is also taking place during process 2-3.
Now, after the gas reaches state 6, which is the beginning of expansion process. 6 to 7 is
expansion and 7 to 8 is reheating, which means there is heat input. So, q in takes place
during constant pressure process 4-6 and as well as during 7-8. 8 to 9 is another
expansion process; the second expansion process. 9 to 1 is the heat rejection process.
Now, this is only with intercooling and reheating. So, intercooling of the compression
process and reheating during the expansion process.
Now, if you apply regeneration during this process, then ideally we should be able to get
a temperature equal to that of temperatures at 7 and 9. Therefore, the amount of heat that
is saved is equal to the difference between 9 and 10. The heat has been regenerated and
21
this much amount of heat has been saved or regenerated during this process. Heat input
is during process 5-6 and 7-8. The heat rejection is during process 2-3 and process 10-1.
This is one example of a Brayton cycle, which has intercooling, reheating as well as
regeneration. Intercooling is during process 2-3, reheating is during process 7-8 and
regeneration during process 9-10 or 4-5. So, Brayton cycle with all the three
intercooling, reheating and regeneration is likely to have higher efficiencies than that of
the simple Brayton cycle, which has no intercooling, reheating or regeneration.
Now, if we look at the benefits of intercooling or reheating, it has a standalone

component towards the overall efficiency. It is always not the case and you have an
improved efficiency. Intercooling alone or reheating alone normally does not mean that
you would have efficiency. If it was not used in conjunction with regeneration,
intercooling and reheating with regeneration can result in increased efficiency.
Intercooling alone or reheating alone will necessarily lead to increased efficiency of the
Brayton cycle.
The net work output of a gas turbine cycle will increase, which is already known as a
result of intercooling and reheating. For thermal efficiency to improve, it is required that
regeneration takes place. During reheating, there is additional heat input that is required.
It is possible that you may not necessarily get increased thermal efficiency. If
regeneration is used, it is possible to basically have increased efficiency of the system.
22
Now, primarily what is happening is that during intercooling process, the average
temperature at which heat is added decrease. Reheating basically tends to increase
temperature at which heat is rejected. Basically, it necessarily does not mean that you get
an increased thermal efficiency, unless you have regeneration applied in the process.
Now, as I mentioned, if you keep increasing the number of stages of intercooling and
reheating, you can ensure that you have isothermal. It is possible that you have
compression processes. If you extend the number of processes at which intercooling and
reheating are taking place, then it is possible for us in an ideal scenario. If you have
infinite number of compression stages and expansion stages, it means Brayton cycle with
intercooling, reheating and regeneration.
Brayton cycle will approach an Ericson cycle. You have isothermal heat rejection as well
as isothermal heat addition. If you apply regeneration, then this is like an Ericson cycle.
Ericson cycle consists of two isothermal processes and two constant pressure processes.
Brayton cycle with infinite number of intercooling, reheating and regeneration can
approach an Ericson cycle. It means that this will have efficiencies, which are equal to
that of the Carnot efficiency. So, Brayton cycle with several infinite number of
intercooling, reheating and regeneration stages can cause efficiencies which are equal to
that of Carnot cycle efficiencies. We have now discussed about the Brayton cycle, which
forms a basic cycle for gas turbine engines.
23
We will now have a very quick look at one of the vapor cycles. Most commonly used
vapor power cycle is known as a Rankine cycle. Rankine cycle is the ideal cycle for
vapor power plants like the steam power plants. We will have a very quick look at the
Rankine cycle. Basically, like the other ideal cycles that we have discussed, Rankine
cycle does not involve any internal irreversibility. An ideal Rankine cycle consist of four
process- an isentropic compression, which takes place in the case of steam power plant in
a pump.
Second process is process 2-3; it is a constant pressure heat addition, which could be in a
boiler, in a steam power plant. Process 3-4 is an isentropic expansion, which is in the
case of steam power plant in a turbine. Process 4-1 is constant pressure heat rejection,
which could be in a condenser. So, these are the four different processes, which
constitute a Rankine cycle. An isentropic compression, constant pressure heat addition,
isentropic expansion and constant pressure heat rejection.
24
Let us look at a Rankine cycle. On one of the coordinates, we have been plotting these
cycles with a T-S diagram. So, an ideal Rankine cycle on a T-S diagram looks like this.
What is shown by the black curve here is the saturation line for water. It basically
indicates that outside the saturation line, water exist as steam. There is no content of
water in steam of this region. It is basically known as super-heated steam. Within this
curve, you may have water in both these phases that is water as well as in steam.
Now, the process begins at state 1, state 1 is an isentropic compression. In the case of
steam power plant, it is through a pump. Process 2-3 is constant pressure heat addition
process. So, constant pressure lines on a saturation curve are shown here. This line here
corresponds to a constant pressure line. Process 2-3 is a constant pressure heat addition
process, as you add heat, water moves from it and saturates to become a super heat steam
at state 3. Process 3-4 is the isentropic expansion process. During process 3-4, there is a
net work output from the turbine at the end of process. The third process is expansion
process. We have a constant pressure heat rejection. So, process 4-1 is a constant
pressure heat rejection process. So, these are the four different processes, which
constitute the steam power cycle.
Process 1-2 is the work input in the case of compression. In the case of steam power
plant, it is through a pump. So, it is an isentropic compression. Process 2-3 is the
constant pressure process, during which, heat is added to the cycle. Process 3-4 is the
25
isentropic expansion process. There is a net work output from the turbine and process 4-1
is constant pressure heat rejection from the cycle. So, the net work output here is the
difference between the turbine work output and the pump input. There is a power
required for the pump. The difference between the turbine work output and the pump
input is the net work output heat input. Difference between q in and q out is the net heat
transfer during this cycle.
Now, carry out the energy balance for this particular cycle. We again assume that all the
components are steady flow and internally reversible systems. The energy balance for
each of the systems can be basically expressed, as q in minus q out plus w in minus w
out is delta h. Let us look at the each of the components, the pump, we have work
required for the pump. Work input is h 2 minus h 1, which is basically v times P 2 minus
P 1. For a boiler, there is heat input q in equal to h 3 minus h 2. For condenser, heat
rejection is q out, which is h 4 minus h 1. For the turbine, it is work output as h 3 minus h
4.
26
Basically, the thermal efficiency of the ideal Rankine cycle can be determined using the
cold air standard assumptions. The Rankine cycle efficiency is w net by q in, it is 1
minus q out by q in. W net is equal to q in minus q out, which is in fact equal to w
turbine output minus w pump input. So, these are the different components or
constituents of the efficiency. We can calculate the network output and the heat input to
determine the thermal efficiency of a Brayton cycle of a Rankine cycle.
For a Rankine cycle efficiency, we need to look at the different constituents of the
Rankine cycle because you have the work input for the pump, work output from the
turbine, heat input at the boiler end and heat output from the condenser. From this, we
can calculate the net work output and the heat input. This can help us in determining the
thermal efficiency of a Rankine cycle.
So, Rankine cycle efficiency again depends upon many of these parameters. Unlike an
otto cycle or diesel cycle, they are not really able to calculate or express the efficiency in
terms of one parameter like a cycle pressure ratio and so on. So, it involves multiple
faces. In the case of vapor power cycles, you have different faces of the working fluid
that is water, which can exist as water in the pump, super-heated steam in the turbine,
saturated steam in the condenser and so on. It is not possible for us to express the
efficiencies in a single term.
27
Now, Rankine cycle can also be operated with reheat and regeneration and also with
intercooling by multiple staging. So, Rankine cycle operated with reheat and
regeneration can increase the net work output and efficiency substantially. Average
temperature during reheat can be increased by multiple stages of reheat. You can also
increase the number of expansion stages during the reheat process. So that you can
increase the average temperature, during which heat is added and therefore, a Rankine
cycle with reheat.
Regeneration will have efficiencies, which are substantially higher as compared to the
simple Rankine cycle. I will not be taking up discussion on reheat and regeneration
during this lecture. I guess I leave it to you as an exercise. Look at Rankine cycle with
reheat and regeneration. We have already discussed that for the Brayton cycle. So, it
should be possible for you to extend the same for a Rankine cycle.
28
Let us look at what we had discussed in today’s lecture. We started our discussion in
today’s lecture with Stirling and Ericson cycle, which are basic ideal cycle. They have
efficiencies as high as that of Carnot cycle because they are totally reversible cycles.
Brayton cycle is the ideal cycle for gas turbine engines. We had discussed about Brayton
cycle and different variants of the Brayton cycle, methods of improving efficiency
Brayton cycle with regeneration, Brayton cycle with intercooling, reheating and
regeneration. We also discussed about the Rankine cycle that is the ideal cycle for vapor
power cycles.
So, in today’s lecture, we had discussed a lot about the various power cycles that are
used in engineering applications. Some of the power cycles, which we discussed today
were the otto cycle, diesel cycle and the dual cycle as well as the Brayton cycle with
many modifications. We also discussed in short about the vapor power cycle. What we
are going to discuss in the next lecture is a slightly different topic. It is nothing to do with
power cycle. It is basically something to do with basic thermo dynamic relations. So, we
will be discussing a lot about some of the important thermo dynamics relations that are
used very commonly in thermo dynamic analysis.
29
Let us take look at what we are going discuss in the next lecture. In the next lecture, we
will have some discussion on what are known as Helmholtz and Gibb’s functions. We
shall then talk about the Legendre transformations, which are basically used on the
Gibb’s equation. We will discuss in the next lecture and then we will also discuss about
thermo dynamic potentials. We will then discuss a very important set of relations known
as Maxwell relations. Maxwell relations are very basic thermo dynamic relations, which
are very commonly used in analysis.
We will spend some time on discussing about the Maxwell relations. We will talk about
the ideal gas equation of state. I guess you are already familiar with the equation of state.
What we should remember is that the equation of state which known as p v equal to r t. It
is basically for an ideal gas. We have tried to apply it for real gases and there are certain
effects that need to be considered.
We will then talk about the compressibility factor, which is applied for real gases. We
will also discuss about some of the other equations of state like the Van der Waal’s
equation etc. We will discuss about those equations in little bit of detail. Towards end of
the next lecture, we will be talking about Joule Thomson effect. It is basically to do with
fluid passing through a throttling device. So, these are some of the topics I shall be
taking during our lecture19.
30
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 23
Piston-prop engines: Otto cycles;
Ideal and Real cycles
Today, we shall begin to look at various kinds of engines that actually power the aircraft
to flight. You had good exposure to various kinds of laws of physics. We began with the
laws of motion, the Newton’s laws of motion then, you had a full exposure to various
kinds of laws of thermodynamics.
These are the laws of physics, which we shall refer to quite often when we look at the
various engines because many of these engines or all of these engines are actually have
to conform to these laws. If they do not conform to these laws, they cannot perform. This
is the fundamental issue on the basis of which the engines are built and operated.
It is necessary for you to understand that all the engines we have today that are powering
the aircraft are based on what is also known as heat engines. All these heat engines
basically have to conform to all the laws of thermodynamics that you have been exposed
to. Since they create motion of the aircraft, they have to conform to the laws of motion,
the Newton’s laws of motion. So, we have to implicitly and quite often explicitly, refer
to those laws of physics all the time that we are talking about the engines.
To begin with, today we shall start off with looking at the most fundamental and the
most probably the ancient form of aircraft engine, the piston prop engine. The kind of
engine that actually power the first flight by the Wright brothers and almost 50 years
thereafter all the aircraft flew with piston prop engines. Even today, most of the aircraft
that are flying around the small aircraft and they are actually more in number, most of
them are flown with piston prop engines. So even today, 1000 of aircraft are flying
around with piston prop engines and hence it is probably a good idea for us to take a
good look at how the piston prop engines work.
Basically, the piston prop engines have two components: one which is the piston engine
which can also be called some form of internal combustion or IC engine. We will have a
good look this kind of engine basis fundamental, basis today and later on in this lecture
series, we will take a look at the propellers which are thrusters which make the thrust. So
piston engine or the IC engines create the power and the propellers convert that power to
useful thrust for flying the aircraft. So we need two components and we will look at them
separately.
Today we shall look at how the piston engines or the IC engine actually is fundamentally
created, what is the basis? We will have to go back to the thermodynamics that you have
exposed to we have to bring back the concept of energy, the concept of work and how
the energy is finally converted to useful work or power which can finally fly an aircraft.
The piston engines that we will be looking at are based on what is known as Otto cycles.
Now Otto cycles are the thermodynamic basis on which the piston engines are created.
Otto cycle is one of the cycles on which various heat engines are made, almost all heat
engines that we know would be based on one of the cycles that you have been exposed
to; the piston engine that we are looking at is based on what is popularly known as Otto
cycle.
Today, we will look at the ideal form of the Otto cycle as was originally proposed by the
thermodynamicist and then we will look at the real form of the Otto cycle which is how
the piston engines actually work. What are the difference between ideal cycle and the
real cycle; this is what we will have a close look at today.
As I mentioned, these cycles based on which the engines are made are also called
internal combustion engines. Now one of the reasons they are called internal combustion
engines is because combustion is the method by which the energy is supplied into the
system which we call engine. That is the input from outside the system into the system
and then the system converts that energy to useful work. So conversion of energy to
useful work is something, you may have studied in your thermodynamics and this is
what we will now explicitly make use of in actually creating the engines.
So we would be continuously making use of the concept of putting in the energy from
outside. In our case for example, by burning fuel through the process of combustion and
then we will have to find a way to convert this energy which is released by burning the
fuel into useful work and the mechanism by which it is done.
Finally, converted to what we can call mechanical work is what the whole engine
fundamentals is all about. So, we will take a look at the thermodynamics of how the
engine functions, the cycles and in the process we will try to understand how the
thermodynamic concepts are finally used to make an engine that actually perform work
which is useful to us finally, for the process of creating thrust which makes an aircraft
fly.
As I mentioned, all heat engines are conceptually based on one thermodynamic cycle or
the other. It is necessary that heat engines conformed to one cycle or the other, so that
you always have a continuous process of control over what is happening in various legs
of the performance of the engine. More importantly with the use of the thermodynamic
principles, thermodynamic laws and the mathematics that goes with it, you can actually
predict pretty closely how the engine is going to perform, this is very important.
It is necessary for a creator of engines to know very closely how the engine is going to
finally perform and this knowledge is very important. So, it is necessary that they
conform to one of the known kinds of thermodynamic cycle or the other, so that their
final performances could be very closely predicted and later on closely monitored.
As you know, a cycle is made up of number of legs which are actually thermodynamic
processes and they combine together to make a cycle. Now each of this process could be
different processes; one could be constant volume process, one could be constant
pressure process, one could be isentropic process so on and so forth. So, they all made up
together to make a cycle and we got to have continuous control over each of these legs or
each of these processes when they are occurring. We got to have a priori knowledge of
these processes, so that we can predict what is happening in each of these legs which
makeup the engine together.
The other important thing is these cycles which we are using for making up the engines
they use or recycle the same working medium, now this is very important. The working
medium we have in abundance around us is air and that is freely available in the
atmosphere to us. So, all these cycles and all these engines have been created with the
purpose of using freely available air as a working medium. So that the bulk of the
working medium that is used for creating work and in our case, creating finally thrust is
available in air and as a result of which all aircraft engines are essentially air breathing
engines.
We are looking at various kinds of engines from now onwards, all of them almost
invariably would be air breathing engines. We shall see later on towards the end of this
course, when we look at the rocket engines those are non-air breathing engines; so till we
come to the rockets as long as we are talking about the aircraft engines. Remember we
will be talking about air breathing engine that use air as the basic working medium.
The cycles as I mentioned are made up of number of processes and all of them have to
conform to the thermodynamic laws that we have done. Each of this process is a
thermodynamic process and they have to conform to the thermodynamic laws that you
have studied over the number of lectures till now and remember that we will be using
those thermodynamic laws quite explicitly and sometimes implicitly in understanding
these processes which make up the entire cycle.

Let us look at what is known as the ideal Otto cycle. The cycles essentially consist of 6
processes and let us start from the beginning. It starts from a point which may call a,
from which we have what presently let us call intake of air and it starts from a goes to b,
so the process a to b is called the intake of air.
The air is in taken into the system and from b to c, this air is now compressed, this is
called compression process (Refer Slide Time: 11:30). It goes to higher pressure over
here, as you can see in this p-v diagram. Then from c you have a burning of fuel this is
combustion process. So, in the process of burning of fuel, this compressed air now raised
in temperature to higher level as per laws of thermodynamics, when you raise the
temperature, the pressure also goes up so, it goes to higher pressure at d.
Now at this high pressure and temperature the cycle now does the process of expansion.
So from d, the process is expanded which is in engine terms is called power stroke. It
expanded from d all the way down to e and that is the end of the process of expansion
which is also called power stroke. In the ideal cycle conceptually over here between a
and b, you can say that there is a certain amount of heat rejection which occurs from the
system, just like there was a heat intake into the system through fuel burning, there is
heat rejection through various kinds heat transfer.
Then the process reaches b and from b the air that is been inhaled is now exhaled and the
exhaust of the air goes out of the system and then fresh air is brought in to the system. So
this is the cycle, the air comes in gets compressed, the fuel gets burnt, then it is expanded
the high temperature, pressure air is expanded. Then there is bit of rejection of heat into
the out of the system and then the exhalation the air is exhausted from the system and
this is a cycle which continuously occurs in this process which we call Otto cycle.
Now, if you look at a schematic of an engine which occurs which operates as per Otto
cycle, so just below the p-v diagram you will see this diagram here of a schematic of a
piston engine (Refer Slide Time: 13:45). Now what happens is when this is the piston
stroke as it is often called and this is what we were calling as stroke, the L p is length of
the stroke.
Now what happens is over here, the end of the piston stroke one end is called BDC over
here if you look at, if you take the piston in a upright position the lower one is referred to
as the bottom dead center and the top one is called the top dead center (Refer Slide Time:
14:11). So, the idea that is how the names were given that this is the bottom dead center
and this is the top dead center, the names not necessarily the pistons are always in
upright position quite often they are in horizontal position like this but, the names TDC
and BDC have remains for almost 100 years and people continue to use those
terminologies.
Now what happens is when the air is inhaled, that is the process from a to b the piston
actually moves downwards over here (Refer Slide Time: 14:57) and this entire space is
opened up. So, air from one of the ports over here comes in and fills up this entire space.
Then the process of compression starts from b all the way to c, then the piston here
piston head as it is called moves from BDC towards TDC as it moves the air, which had
come in and had got captured inside this volume of the piston gets compressed to a much
smaller space.
As a result of which the piston now creates a very small space within which the air is
now entrapped and is compressed. Now this compressed air is then subjected to burning
of the fuel; now this burning of the fuel then in this small space creates even higher
pressure and of course, the high temperature.
So this small highly compressed air, when subjected to high temperature and pressure
then exerts huge pressure backwards on the piston head, as a result of which the piston is
forced to move forward and that undergoes the process of expansion all the way from d
to e. During that process, the piston head is now moving backwards back from TDC all
the way back to BDC. So, once it comes over here, we have this process of heat rejection
out of the system and then the process of exhaust starts. That means the piston again
starts moving now what we have inside here is a burnt fuel and air mixed up, so what we
may call burnt gas.
So this exhaust of the burnt gas now starts happening as the piston head starts moving
and this burned gas is exhaled out of a port here. The port is timed to move to open up at
this point of time and this burnt gas now goes out through this port in to the outside the
system. Then the fresh charge or the fresh air is coming into the body of the cylinder. So
this is how the cycle occurs, the fresh air comes in; it is time to open exactly when it is
air is supposed to come in.
Once it has come in, this port is closed down and then the process of compression starts
and then again the combustion and then again the power stroke and then exhaustion or
exhaust of burnt gas out of the system. So this is how the entire cycle actually operates
that we have a continuous process by which the whole cycle does the same job again and
again.
Now if you look at some of these processes thermodynamically for example, the process
a-b can be referred to as a constant pressure process because during this process there is
no change of pressure. So this is what we call a constant pressure process
thermodynamically. Now the process b to c, is refer to as isentropic compression in the
ideal cycle because this process is now occurring under a thermodynamic process in
which the entropy of the system is said to be conserved. So during this process, there is
no change of entropy as envisaged in the ideal cycle and the process of compression
occurs along that.
Then process from c to d, now this is combustion occurs under constant volume process
during which as you can see in the p-v diagram, there is no change of volume envisaged
in the ideal cycle. As a result the combustion is expected to occur in constant volume
combustion process. At the end of the combustion, we have the power stroke or
expansion thermodynamically. This is again an isentropic process which means during
which the process undergoes no change in the entropy, which essentially means the
process is essentially adiabatic and no losses are occurring during this process.
Same was true for the compression that means these two processes are isentropic process
during which there is the processes are adiabatic and there no losses are envisaged in the
system. That means the two processes are reversible processes, so they are reversible
adiabatic processes which in short or in other words we call isentropic process.
We have work done or power stroke which is isentropic, work input or compression
which is isentropic and then at the end of the process e at e, we have a constant volume
heat rejection from the burnt gas a mixture of fuel and air. Then at the end of this
rejection process, we again have this exhaust of the fuel of the burnt gas from the system
which is again a constant pressure process; it is ideally envisaged to occur in constant
pressure.
All the legs that we have seen now, can be now cast in the form of one thermodynamic
process or the other that you have already done. Hence all these processes are now
conforming to various thermodynamic laws. So we can now apply the thermodynamic
laws to these processes and to the cycle as a whole to find how this entire cycle is
actually going to work because finally, we want work out of this whole system.
So the entire process that entire cycle consisting of all these processes, that we have now
talked about have to now conform to various thermodynamic laws and all of them put
together finally, will tell us how the entire cycle which means the entire engine is
expected to work in this ideal process as envisaged.

The net area of the p-v diagram in this thermodynamic cycle diagram is sought to be
increased for maximizing the power output. Now what we can see here, this was the
power stroke and this is the input stroke; so this is the so called output stroke, this is the
so called input stroke (Refer Slide Time: 22:05). Typically it is envisaged or it is
understood that the area subtended under this is essentially the output work. So, the
entire area under the curve d-e is the output work; on the other hand, the entire area
under the curve b-c is the input work.
So out of the output work, certain amount of work goes inside the system back again in
the form of compression and hence the difference between these two areas that is the
area subtended between b c d and e essentially, now represent the work that is available
for doing some useful work. That is in our case, it will be used for creating let us say
thrust or making the engine work.
So that is the useful work that would be available or often thermodynamically or in

simple terms referred to as the net work. So the gross work done by the power stroke
minus the work input of the compression stroke is the net work that is available.
Now it is stands to reason that every engine designer would try to create a
thermodynamic cycle in which the power output if it is to be increased, the net area that
is available in this p-v diagram is to be maximized. How to do that? That is another story
but, the designer of the engine he has to design a cycle first. The engine designer needs
to design a cycle first and that cycle design needs to concentrate on the concept of
increasing the p-v diagram, the net area of the p-v diagram, so that the work output
expected can be maximized. Now, how do you do that? So, the idea is so if you want
power output maximized you got to have a change of specific volume or the increase of
pressure or temperature through the cycle.
If you look at the cycle diagram, you are trying to increase this volume. Now if you want
to increase this volume, there are 2 or 3 simple ways one can do it. The length of this
stroke can be increased by which you can increase the volume or the difference between
compression stroke and power stroke; this vertically can be increased which requires that
the point d is to be raised to higher level and the power stroke occurs at higher pressure
and compression stroke occurs at a much lower pressure. So those are the ideas by which
the cycle can designed to maximize the power output from this system.

What it requires then is you have a large change in volume which shall require then a
large size engine. The large change in specific volume shall also require large change in
pressure and which requires again a large change in volume. Large change in
temperature shall require large input of fuel or fuel of high heat release capacity.
So these are the means by which you can try to increase the work done of the system.
Some of the troubles that we have is if you want to increase the volume, you want to
increase the size of the engine; it may have some limitation when it comes to the use in
aircraft.
Those are the limitations which we will again look into later on but, if a cycle is being
designed to create an engine these are the issues that the cycle designer, the engine
designer will have to look into will have to contend with for designing engines that
create certain amount of power or a maximum amount of power under given operating
condition.
Let us try to understand how the Otto cycle analysis can be done to quantify some of our
needs. We need to quantify some of the parameters that we are talking about. Now this is
the cycle, you have just had a look into and this is where the heat is coming in, the fuel is
being burnt and the heat is coming in and this is where we assume that certain amount of
heat is being given out of the system which could be called Q 2, so Q 1 is the heat that is
coming in.
Now understand that, not withstanding this long compression stroke and power stroke
the input to the system is through here and output through the system is from here. So the
heat input Q 1 is in a constant volume process, it is given over here. It depends on the
temperature level from here to here and the heat rejection is from here which is the
temperature differential between this point and this point. We may call these points 1 2 3
4 and we shall be doing that again, so this gives the heat input and the heat output of the
system.
What the power stroke does is converts the heat of the energy released by the fuel
burning and the pressure that is built up by the compression stroke to mechanical work or
mechanical motion; so the net work that could be available from this cycle is Q 1 minus
Q 2.
This is the work done by the power stroke minus the work done by the compression
stroke. What we call the net area that is available in this cycle between b c d e and that is
the area that we are looking at in terms of the work done or work available from this
cycle.
If you look at the cycle, you would probably see there are number of parameters that one
can create to characterize this cycle. These are often called the characteristic parameters
of the cycle. The first one is the compression ratio, which is the volume ratio between V
b and V c. That is the compression ratio under which this cycle operates and this volume
ratio is simply called compression ratio.
The other is the pressure ratio that is between the pressure that is occurring between this
line and this line and this is referred to as a pressure ratio (Refer Slide Time: 29:12). We
shall see later on that this pressure ratio has greater importance in other kinds of cycle. In
this particular cycle, the compression ratio it is a more important item and then the
temperature ratio that is the maximum temperature which the cycle experiences starting
from the starting temperature, this is often called the cycle compression ratio. So, this is
the cycle compression ratio and this is the cycle temperature ratio.
So, every thermodynamic cycle is actually very sensitive to these ratios because these
ratios, we shall see as we go along actually decide the work capacity and the efficiency
with which this work is accomplished. These ratios are extremely important as I
mentioned, they characterize the cycles, they are the characteristics of the cycle and the
cycles are often mentioned in terms of compression ratio, temperature ratio.
Later on we will see in case of open cycles, other kinds of cycles, the pressure ratio;
some of these ratios would be coming back to us as important parameters. As you can
see, they are non-dimensional parameters and they are very important in terms of trying
to prima facie find out what could be the efficiency of some of these working cycles.

Let us look at the ideal Otto cycle that we are at the moment trying to understand. That is
a cycle that we have looked at and as the compression and the expansion processes as we
have seen are isentropic, we can use the isentropic laws that you have studied. Then we
have the combustion and the heat rejection processes, which are a constant volume
processes and we can use the thermodynamic laws that you have used for those kinds of
processes.
If we use all of them and we can sit down and do a simple derivation what you can find
is the cycle efficiency can be written down, this is the thermal efficiency of the cycle. It
can be written down in terms of the compression ratio or the volume ratio and the
specific heat ratio that is of the working medium that we are using in our case that is air.
If we have just these two values available with us, that is the compression ratio and the
specific heat ratio of the working medium, we can quickly find out what the cycle
efficiency would be. So you see its quite simple that if you prima facie have the
compression ratio available with the working medium that you are using, you can
quickly find out what the cycle efficiency is likely to be and as we shall see this allows
the cycle designer, the engine designer to indeed configure a cycle or configure engine
even before it is actually built.
Using this for example, we can put down some numbers. This is the compression ratio
(Refer Slide Time: 32:37) for example, the cycle designer or the engine designer is trying
to build and if you have these kinds of values, these are the thermal efficiencies with
which the engines will work. Now I have used here, two different specific heat ratios
1.35 is what is quite often used for hot gases or when the fuel has been burnt quite often
that is a kind of value used; 1.4 as you might know already is normally used for simple
air.
So if you use those specific heat ratios, you get various values of efficiencies and as you
can see here, as the compression ratio increases, the efficiency of the cycle and that of
the engine actually increases. If you have a pure air of course, the efficiency’s little
higher but, as you know we have to burn fuel to put in the energy into the system and
hence this is the kind of value that we are normally likely to encounter in actual engines.
That gives an idea to what extent you can have high compression ratios to get higher and
higher energy efficiency of the engine. What the compression ratio can be depends on
number of parameters or number of practical considerations. We shall be talking about
some of that as we go along in this lecture and in the next lecture.
So the cycle designer has an idea now, if he chooses certain compression ratio and given
the working medium, he would be able to attain certain kind of cycle efficiency which he
hopes to come pretty close to in an actual working engine.

Now the p-v diagram that we have looked at can also be recast in the form of what can
be called what is often called the T-s diagram which is of course, as you know the other
way of diagrammatically representing a cycle. So cycle is often represented either in p-v
diagram or in T-s diagram. In this case if we cast the Otto cycle in the form of T-s
diagram to begin with for example, we have written down the thermal efficiency all over
again.
In the T-s diagram, we can now see that the work done. For example, if we take the first
cycle here 6 3 2 and 5 and that is the work done of the system or the heat input in to the
system. Heat output Q 2 is in terms of 6 1 4 5 now, T-s diagram directly tells us the work
the heat input and the heat output of the system and as a result of which the thermal
efficiency can be quickly found and it tells us again that the net area that is 1 2 3 4
actually gives us the net work output or net energy available for work divided by the net
work input or net heat input and that is thermal efficiency of the system.
Now let us consider in this T-s diagram, another cycle which has a same net area as the
first one that is area 1 2 3 4 is same as the area let us say 1 7 8 and 9 so, these two areas
are exactly same. So, two different people let us say have configured two different cycles
and the net area of both of them are actually same. Let us say, designers have created
these two different cycle what happens is in this second cycle which is 1 7 8 9 1 this
actually would have a higher efficiency and this higher efficiency is because this area 6 1
9 0 is actually less than the area 6 1 4 5. That means the heat rejection in the second
cycle is actually much lower and a result of which the area 6 7 8 1 0 that is 6 7 8 10 is
actually higher than it is also the area 6 7 8 10 is lower than the area 6 2 3 5.
As a result of which the efficiency which is now given in terms of the net area and the
heat input into the system the because of the fact that the net area of 6 1 4 5 is actually
higher than the 6 1 9 0. The efficiency of the second cycle comes out to be much higher
which means, if you can do the heat input at a higher pressure, now this is the higher
pressure line in the T-s diagram, 7 8 is a pressure line constant volume line; that constant
if you can do that the heat input at a constant volume line you can get a higher efficiency
of the system, even if the net area is same. It means the cycle design or the cycle
designer who looks into creating the cycle has a very important role to play in finally,
creating the engine that finally, is out of various kinds of materials.
So the conceptual cycle that the Otto cycle is designed on creates the engine and a lot of
thought needs to be given to creating the Otto cycle which finally, creates the piston
engine that works and that supplies power for creation of thrust.
Let us now take a turn our attention to what could be called the real engine or the actual
piston engine, according to which the actual engine would work. Now some of these
things are born out of the understanding of how the piston engine actually works and as a
result of which we shall see here that what we can call now a real cycle. Let us say
conforming to some piston engine differs quite a lot from the ideal cycle.
The difference is for example, you see the net area that is created by the real cycle seems
to be substantially less than the net area that was being created by the ideal conceptual
cycle. This is due to the fact that the work which is being done during the expansion
compression process quite often is not isentropic. You remember, we had assumed that
the processes are isentropic and as we shall see as we move along more and more that
these processes cannot be isentropic quite often they can indeed be adiabatic; they can be
pretty closely adiabatic but, quite often they are unlikely to be reversible processes.
So we are going to have processes which are mostly irreversible processes which means
they undergoes certain amount of loss; this loss in the form of loss of energy and as a
result of which the net work that is available outside of the system, out of the system is
going to be much less than what is conceived in the ideal cycle. As we shall see here, the
intake and exhaust processes are not on the same pressure line; these are the reasons
because of which the real cycle differs quite a lot from the ideal cycle.
Let us get into them a little more in detail the intake of the fresh air. Let us start from the
intake often happens at a pressure which is 1 to 2 and which is often a little lower than
the ideal cycle. As we shall see later on that the exhaust often happens at a pressure
higher than that of the ideal cycle, it starts from here and it goes around here (Refer Slide
Time: 41:41) then this is how the intake occurs.
Now this is how the air is driven out to the piston and this is how the piston actually
takes in the air, as a result of which there is a slight different between exhaust stroke
pressure line and the intake stroke pressure line. It creates a certain amount of work that
goes away in the process of exhaust and intake that would not be available to the external
agency which requires that work for creating thrust through the propellers. So, the intake
and exhaust do not conform to the ideal cycle concept.
Now, let us look at the compression process. The compression that process quite often
since the intake process finishes its intake line at 2 which is as you can see a little lower
than b, compression process starts at a pressure which is lower and quite often proceeds
along a isentropic line which is a little lower. As a result of which it quite often and as a
result of the fact that it does not conform to the reversibility and it encounters certain
amount of losses due to the motion of the piston inside the cylinder; it does not quite
reach the point c, the compression process often goes up to 3 and then at 3 the
combustion is initiated.

So the compression process, the only compression process as we know goes from 2 to 3
and at 3 the combustion is initiated. This combustion starts at 3 the compression actually
continuous a little it goes to what we had called TDC in the piston and then the
combustion process continuous up to 4 so, the pressure and temperature keeps on rising.
Then over here, the expansion process starts; so the process of combustion you can see
quite often due to the process of either incomplete combustion or due to the fact that the
movement of piston has somehow come in the way it never quite finally, reaches the
point d somehow or other. It finishes off at somewhere around 4 and then the process of
expansion or the power stroke starts.
This expansion process now starts as you can see quite often somewhere over here
(Refer Slide Time: 44:27) which means, the expansion in some manner has started even
before the combustion process is actually completed. From here, we can officially say
that the expansion has started now, by now the fuel has been burnt and we have a
mixture of fuel and air and then the power stroke starts at pressure 4 and this high
pressure now moves the piston down to 5.
As we can see slowly that finally, it starts at a pressure lower than d it finishes off at
pressure eventually which is lower than e and over here as we shall see that the power
stroke actually takes around over here quite often you do not have much of a time really
for the heat rejection process which is ideally conceived or envisaged. As a result the
exhaust process starts right away here and the heat rejection process which is shown
from e to b or e to f is quite often very quickly almost instantaneously rounded out over
here.

In fact, the exhaust gas that is going out carries away the heat, so the heat rejection often
happens with the exhaustion process and the exhaust gas or the burnt gas that is going
out actually carries away a lot of heat. So, the ideal process and the real process as you
can see, happen quite differently because the motion of the piston, the burning of the
fuel.
This as a result of which the exhaust process is completed when it reaches 6; this often
occurs, now you can see at a pressure which is at a higher pressure its start off actually as
I mention over here, little after 5 and then as a result of which it settles down at a
pressure which is exhaust pressure which is at a higher pressure than the ideal pressure
envisaged and it ends up at 6. Then the intake process starts all over again, so the whole
cycle of the engine starts all over again. This is how the real cycle operates and this is
how the real cycle is quite often different from the ideal cycle.
This particular cycle was initially used for creating what is known as 2-stroke engines.
Various kinds of 2-strokes engines are operational even today; however the 2-strokes
engines are not used in the aircraft power plant anymore. All the modern aircraft engines
used what is known as 4-stroke engine, now very quickly the 2-stroke engine what it
used to do are wherever they are used even today they kind of combine the intake and
power stroke, then they combine the compression and exhaust stroke and somewhere in
between the combustion is expected to occur in a very short time when the piston is at
TDC.
So this is a kind of hand drawn sketch of a 2-stroke engine, so when this reaches the top
over here, the combustion is expected to occur and then the power stroke could occur
and when the power stroke occurs, the intake also starts coming from this side (Refer
Slide Time: 48:20). This is the side from which the intake comes and when the
compression stroke occurs, the burnt gases simultaneously exhaled out of the system.
This is called 2-stroke because the 2 legs of the cycle are combined together into 1 stroke
and as a result this engine operates on 2-stroke principle whereas, as I mentioned most of
the engines today are 4-stroke. So from now onwards, the cycles and other forms of
engines that we look at would be 4-stroke engines.
This is a kind of 4 stroke engines that is used in the modern aircraft engines, all kinds of
modern aircraft engines. Let us quickly understand how the thermodynamic processes
are converted to what we call now strokes. The familiarity of the engine very quickly we
have an intake valve over here, which opens this intake port through which the fresh air
comes in and there is a timing given. So, this has to be timed properly and air comes in
through this and comes in and fills it; so when this is at the bottom what we call BDC
and the piston is going down in the intake process. This entire space is now filled up by
the air coming in from here and this valve is open (Refer Slide Time: 49:44).
Once the air is filled up over here and once the compression process start that means, the
piston starts going up this valve closes. So this air cannot go out from anywhere anymore
and it is entrapped within this space of the cylinder and now the piston is moving up, so
this is entrapped air is compressed in this enclosed volume. Once this moves right to the
top and it reaches the top dead center, the fuel is burnt and we have a spark plug over
here, which initiates the ignition process and as a result of which the combustion occurs
over here.
This combustion creates a high pressure, high temperature and the high internal energy
level of the air and the burnt gas which then pushes the piston backwards and what we
call then have the power stroke. So, then the piston again starts moving backwards
pushed backwards by the pressure or high internal energy and it creates the power stroke.
Once the power stroke is completed that means, the piston reaches the bottom dead
center, the piston then starts moving upwards again in the form of inertia of the system.
Then this outlet valve is opened its time to open when the piston starts moving up wards
after the power stroke. Then the burnt gas - now this is closed (Refer Slide Time: 51:30)
so - this is burnt gas the work has been taken out through the power stroke and then this
burnt gas goes out of the cylinder altogether. This reaches top dead center and almost the
entire amount of burnt gas is now moved out of the system.
What does happen is a very small amount of burnt gas actually stays back. So, when the
fresh air is coming in, it mixes with the burnt gas and as a result of which you do not
actually have fresh air from the second cycle onwards; you always have a residual burnt
gas mixing with the fresh air. As a result of which as we have seen, the real cycle
operates slightly different from the ideal cycle.
This is another reason why the real cycle differs from the ideal cycle. So this is the
mechanism, this is the mechanical mechanism by which the cycle is converted to an
engine. Now what we are looking at is a picture or a diagrammatic sketch of an engine
by the virtue of which you can create work or mechanical work and this engine then
moves the crankshaft over here (Refer Slide Time: 52:50). This is the crankshaft which
creates the motion rotary motion and through the shaft power is taken out on a
continuous basis for running any working body, in our case that would be the propeller
which creates thrust.
So these are the details of a working engine and some of these are what we will be
looking into in the next lecture as to how an engine of this kind is finally converted to an
aircraft power plant.
So our next lecture will be on converting or arranging some of these engines into various
kinds of useful power plants that can be used on an aircraft which finally, will create
thrust. Our business is finally, creating thrust engine is the method by which we create
power. We have just looked at the thermodynamics of the engine; in the next class, we
will look at the arrangements of these engines in the form of aircraft power plants.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 24
IC Engines for aircraft application
In today’s lecture, we will look at the development of aircraft engines using the piston
cylinder concept of IC engines, using various considerations of thermodynamics and
various other mechanical engineering issues that needed to be all put together to make
aircraft power plants.
First, we will deal with various issues that are related to basic IC engines starting with
thermodynamics, which we did in the last class. We shall see, how all these fundamental
sciences and certain amount of mechanical engineering is put together in to the making
of engines that finally go on to fly the aircraft.

The various thermodynamic issues that need to be considered, much of it has been dealt
with in the earlier lectures. The cycle consideration is needed to be looked in to. As we
have discussed, all engines - the engines that we are talking about are the heat engines,
need to be based on thermodynamic cycles. We will look at some of these
thermodynamic cycle issues once again. Then, we will look in to the various mechanical
engineering issues that need to be put together along with the thermodynamic issues to
create aircraft engines.
The IC engines or the piston engines, as they are more popularly called - are quite often
the main source of power plant in aircraft, literally for 1000s of aircraft over the last 100
years. Even today, literally 100 - probably 1000s of aircraft are still flying around with
engines or aircraft power plant based on piston engines. These are the small aircraft,
which are flown by small engines. We shall have a look at some of these engines today,
how these engines are actually put together - created and put together to fly aircraft.
We started with talking about cycles. Now, we look at the cycles all over again to see -
that is where we start again from to build up our engines.
Now, we had a look at the concept of a cycle, both in PV diagram, as well as in TS

diagram. Let us have a quick look at that all over again. We have seen that if you have,
let us say, two different ideal cycles at this moment, let us just considered simple ideal
cycles.
If you have two different cycles given by, let us say 1234 or 12341 and then the other
one, which is 17891. If the two cycles are doing same amount of work, from both the
cycle considerations, we can write down that the work done by both of them may be
same, but the work input requirement in case of one cycle is more than the other, as a
result the work output is also different from the two cycles. The result is that the cycle
1234 actually has more work heat input and more heat output. However, when you
consider the efficiency, the efficiency of the cycle 12341 is actually less than the efficacy
of the cycle 17891. Now, this comes from the efficiency definition, which we have done
in the last class.
If you look at the PV diagram or again if we look at the work done, now we had seen,
there are two legs of the cycle, where the work is done; one, is of course what we call the
power stroke, during which the work is extracted from the engine; the other is a
compression stroke, in which the work is actually put inside the engine. In this, we can
see here that the work is being put in and work is being taken out from both the cycles.
In terms of the basic consideration that we have seen, the two cycles are supposed to do
same work. So, for both the cases, Q 1 minus Q 2 is actually equal to W 1 minus W 2 so
that the net work done is equal to the net heat that is gone in to the system and that is
same for both the cycles.
However, as we have just seen that the efficiency of one of the cycles that is 17891, is
actually more than the efficiency of the cycle 12341. Now, this brings us to the point that
if I have two cycles with same work output, but the efficiency of one could be better than
the other one; that means the efficiency translated to fuel efficiency. It would mean that
one cycle would actually consume less fuel than the other one doing same amount of
work. Now, that is obviously very attractive thing for any engine maker.
Now, if we look at the schematic of the piston that we have here, we have discussed this
in the last class, let us look at it again quickly. We have this piston stroke, during which
you would need to perform the work, so when the piston is moving in, it is actually doing
the compression work and when it is forced out, it is the power stroke.
Now, what happens is, if you want to do more work out of this piston, you would need to
change the volume of this, this will come to the actual formulae in a few minutes. The
point is that if you want to create more efficiency of one cycle, you would need to create
more compression ratio, as we have seen in the last lecture.
The thermal efficiency is directly dependent on the compression ratio, which means that
one of them has a higher compression ratio than the other. Which means, a process 1 7
actually is executing a higher compression ratio than the process 1 2 and that is the
source of the higher efficiency.
Now, to create higher compression ratio, this piston has to move more; that means the
length of the stroke would have to be more. This would require the piston to be of a
larger size, so if you want more compression ratio, more efficiency, which translates to
more fuel efficiency and fuel conservation, you would need to probably have a piston,
which has a longer stroke length. Now, this is something which comes out of the basic
consideration of thermodynamics as seen from simple ideal cycle analysis.
Now, this means that you would require a piston, which is of larger size or longer in
length to obtain higher efficiency. Now, this a bit of a problem that in an aircraft, if you
are looking at anything that has to go on a flying aircraft, the size and weight are
restrained, they are premium. Because, anything that you carry in an aircraft would have
to be compensated for, by creating more thrust.
So, larger size and higher weight are something that severely restricted, whenever an
engine is being considered for aircraft. This is one of the reasons, why - for example -
aircraft do not use diesel engine; which as you know are higher in weight, because of the
fact that they operate under higher compression ratio; those compression ratios do give
the diesel engine higher efficiency.
So, conclusion from the earlier slide is that you can go for higher compression ratio. If
we move towards the diesel engine, it could become unacceptable to the aircraft
designer, because diesel engines are typically heavier, would not be carried in an aircraft
in efficient manner - taken the aircraft as a whole.
So, even the engine is more efficient, the aircraft as a whole would become inefficient
device; so that is one of the considerations. The other is of course that the size limitation,
if you have larger piston sizes, the size of the whole engine would tend to go up. As we
have seen before, we shall see again today that the total size of all the cylinders put
together, make up the whole engine. That means there is restriction on the total number
of cylinders that you can put, the total sizes of each cylinder that can go on an aircraft,
because finally whatever goes on an aircraft has to meet the aircraft shape.
The shape of the aircraft is very important to make it air over - as a result of which, there
is a restriction in the size of the piston length and the cylinder volume that can go on an
aircraft. Such limitations, of course normally are not there in land based vehicles, so land
based vehicle quite often can go on for higher efficiency using a heavier or larger
engines.
So, as a result of these restrictions, the work done per cylinder in a piston engine that
goes on an aircraft tends to get somewhat limited. This limitation is what aircraft
designers have to live with.

Now, as a result of the fact, to make an aircraft fly, you need certain aggregate amount of
power. To use this aggregate amount of power, you need to then put together a number of
cylinders, so that the aggregate amount of power is quite sufficient to meet the
requirements of aircraft thrust requirement.
So, the power of reciprocating engine, as we know, is proportional to the volume of the
combined pistons, quite often to many of the IC engines or piston engines. You may have
heard often is referred to as or sited as so much of volume, because the volume does
represent the work capacity of that particular engine.
The other thing that is required in an aircraft is a light weight; anything that goes on an
aircraft, it has to be as light as possible. As a result of which, many of the piston engines
very quickly started getting made of aluminum alloys, which were developed specifically
for the aircraft grade.
So, the aircraft grade aluminum alloys were developed, of which the aircraft engines
were made, which are quite often not used in the land based vehicles. So, both terms of
the way the engines are designed and created, then the way they are made, needed to be
developed differently for aircraft engines. This is something which happened probably
more than 40 or 50 or 60 years back, as a result of which, most of the aircraft engines
today are much lighter than corresponding, and much smaller than corresponding
engines used in land based vehicles.

Let us take a quick look again at some of the arrangements that are quite often done in
various kinds of aircraft engines, which often tend to be multi cylinder engines. As we
seen, the multi cylinder is often arrived at by putting together the total amount of work
that is necessary to drive the propeller, which of course creates a thrust that flies the
aircraft.
Now, as we have seen, the number of cylinder arrangements, let us quickly look at it
again. You can have cylinders lined upon one after another, what is known as the inline
version, where they are one after another. The other version is where you can put two
cylinders in a V formation and then you can have a V inline; so, you can have 2 by 2
cylinders lined up. Or you could have X type, where four cylinders are around one
central main shaft or crank shaft. Then, you can have a four inline, which means you can
have multiples of 4 or 8. Just like, you can have multiples of two, which means 2, 4, 6,
and 8, etcetera.
However, there are options where you can have four cylinders in this fashion, which is
often refer to as H type, so that four cylinders are arranged in an opposed fashion and not
in X type. The other possibilities is that if you have odd number of cylinders depending
on the - as I mentioned earlier, the aggregate amount of power that is required finally to
drive the propeller - if you land up with a number that is 5 or for example 7 or 9, if the
aircraft shape accommodates it, quite often one of the arrangements is refer to as the
radial arrangement, where you have 5 or 7 or even up to 9 cylinders arranged radially
around the central crank shaft.
So, all these pistons supply power to a central crank shaft. Except, in this case, as you
can see here, you would need a large diameter to accommodate all these engines, so the
point here is that each of these as you have has different kind of final shape.
This would have one kind of shape, this would need another kind of shape, this has a
different kind of shape and this of course has a different kind of shape. The outer shape -
I am talking about right now, the outer shape within which all these cylinders are
arranged, because this outer shape has to conform to the aircraft body, inside which this
engine is going to be housed.
So, the final arrangement is quite often decided by two considerations. One is the
aggregate amount of power that is required to drive the propeller, which finally flies the
aircraft. The other consideration is the shape of the aircraft, in which, this arrangement is
going to - go inside, whether it can accommodate this arrangement, is the other
consideration. So, these two put together finally create the aircraft engine, which goes
inside an aircraft.
As we have seen, in the earlier one, each of these pistons actually operates under a
particular thermodynamic cycle. Thermodynamic cycle is the basis on which each of
these pistons is actually working.
However, what happens is that since they are all supplying power to the same central
crank shaft, it becomes necessary to supply power to the crank shaft almost on a
continuous basis. To do that the mechanical engineering requires the power supplies
stroke or what we call the power stroke needs to be time staggered. So, each of these
cylinders are now operated in such a manner that the power stroke of those cylinders do
not occur simultaneously, they are time staggered.
Let us quickly go back to the earlier one. If you can see here, for example, this diagram,
the cylinders, as you can see here, are at different positions. These two are more or less at
same position; whereas these two are at same position. So, the power stroke of these two
are probably time together, whereas the power stroke of these two cylinders are probably
time together.
Whereas in X type, you can see each of them has a different stroking arrangements, so
the strokes are essentially staggered in time so that the supply to the central crank shaft
occurs in a time staggered manner. So, almost at every split second there is a time stroke
being supplied to the main crank shaft. Now, this is the mechanical arrangement, which
needs to be created when you have a multi cylinder arrangement.
Especially, most of the aircraft do have multi cylinder arrangement, even though each
and every of these cylinders is actually operating under same thermodynamic cycle.
Let us take a look at how the piston engines actually create power in terms of actual
operation. We had seen how they can be put together in terms of thermodynamic
considerations, now we can look at it from pure mechanical considerations.
The power created or as we said the power stroke, is directly proportional to the average
pressure that is applied on this piston, by this length of the piston stroke and the area.
That into n by 2 n is of course the rpm; n by 2 is the power stroke per minute.
So, these parameters put together L p into A that of course is the volume though which
the piston is displaced, so that is the displacement volume of the piston. As I mentioned
earlier, is often refer to as one of the specifications of an every engine that is multiplied
by the piston, so that of course gives you the force in to the rotation, gives you the power
per unit time.
Now, this of course tells you that if you have longer piston stroke, you get more power, if
you have a bigger area of the piston, you get more power, if you have a higher mean
effective pressure, you can get more power, or if you run the - if you can offered to - if
you are in a position to run the engine at a higher rpm, you can get more power.
Now, let us look at these parameters quickly again. We have just seen that in an aircraft
engine, you cannot - there are size restrictions, there are weight restrictions, so you
cannot have a large piston stroke, you cannot have a large piston, you cannot have a large
piston area, because of the size restriction. So, those two get automatically restricted by
their requirement of the aircraft, they have to be restricted.
The pressure gets a little restricted, because of the fact that if you have a very high
pressure - very very high pressure, this piston would have to be built with very heavy
material that is what is normally done. For example, in a diesel engine is made of very
thick material to with stand the very high pressure; that is normally created in a diesel
engine.
So, the pressure has some restriction, otherwise this have to be - the whole piston
cylinder would have to build like pressure vessel. So, all this restrictions put together the
aircraft engine need to be designed or created.
The fourth possibility which we have here is the rpm. So, most of the aircraft engines do
operate at somewhat high rpm, so that the power created is of a reasonable amount and it
is sufficient to drive the propeller that creates the thrust. As a result, the power stroke that
is created would have to be very fast.
So, this is the aircraft engine requirement, you cannot have high length of the piston
stroke, you cannot have large area, those are restricted. You cannot have very high
pressures, because of the limitation on the weight, but you can go for a somewhat higher
rpm. As a result, most of aircraft engines do operate at a somewhat higher rpm than
many of the land based engines.
Hence, we can say that the ideal work that is done by an engine. This IHP is something
we can be also configured from the PV diagram or which is often sometimes referred in
many books as indicated diagram, which comes from the thermodynamic cycle diagram
of a pressure volume diagram. You can get the amount of work from that diagram that
would have to be equal to the work done, as we have written down above. This is now
expressed in terms of the volume; this is a volume of the cylinder. As I mentioned, quite
often cylinder volume is mentioned in the specification of the engine as indicator of its
work done.
Capital N c is the number of cylinders, now that tells you what is the total amount of
work that would be required to be done for a whole aircraft, not by one cylinder, but for
the whole aircraft. So, when you put all of them together, you get the total work
requirement for the whole aircraft to drive, let us say a propeller.
Now, the question here is, let us go back to this pressure, which I have written here as
mean effective pressure or MEP. Now, this mean effective pressure is quite often - you
know is average pressure, which is operative on this piston during its piston stroke. As a
result of which, we have what is called - the pressure is actually changing from TDC to
BDC as the piston is moving.
So, mean effective pressure is defined; it is not one single pressure, it is a mean effective
pressure between this point and this point during the traverse of the piston. This is often
defined as mean effective pressure or MEP to facilitate certain amount of computation of
the power or the prediction of the power that can be made from various prior
calculations.
Now, we shall define the mean effective pressure later on in the next lecture, in various
ways, which can be connected to either IHP or what we call BHP. As a result, you could
have two mean effective pressures, indicated mean effective pressure or break mean
effective pressure. So, there are two slight different variants of mean effective pressure,
we shall define them appropriately in the next class.
So, for a piston engine, the increase in mass flow, either you have more number of
cylinders or you have higher rpm, so that the mass flow per unit time is very fast. So,
cylinder is filled up and exhausted very quickly - in very quick succession, as a result of
which, you get more power or you do both. That means, you have higher rpm, then you
have higher size; now size is restricted. So, some of these things would have to be
optimized for every engine that you need to configure. Now, suppose you have an
increased rpm to create large mass per unit time, this will being the piston, will be
moving up and down the length of the cylinder more frequently, as a result of which, it
will actually encounter more of sliding friction.
As a result of which, there will be friction losses, which we shall be talking about a little.
As a result of which, there will be a loss of efficiency that is a mechanical loss not a
thermodynamic itemreally, but all that has to be considered.
Once you consider how the aircraft engine works, there are thermodynamic issues, there
are mechanical engineering issues and all of them put together make an aircraft engine.
We shall look in to them one by one, as we go along.
Let us quickly look at some of the thermodynamic issues all over again. We have the real
cycle, which we had a look at in the last class. We see here that the actual work involves
the number of things; we have the heat input here and then the work output here.
Now, what happens during the heat input is, it is entirely possible that the processor
combustion that we are looking at is not a complete combustion. As a result of which,
during the process 3 to 4, the combustion of fuel is actually incomplete. As a result of
which, it does not reach the top value, this is what we had seen happens in a real cycle.
Apart from the incomplete combustion, the combustion within the piston engine, if you
have a quick look at the volume that is created here, at the end of TDC, this is the
volume in which the combustion is to be performed - combustion is to be done. It is
entirely possible that when the combustion is initiated, it is not uniform along this
volume or it is not uniform around the cross section of the piston head, this known
uniformity also again leads to certain amount of work done, which is less than the ideal
amount of work considered.
Then, we look at the fact that the piston is moving. Now, the movement of the piston, as
I said, the mechanical friction loss between the piston and the cylinder body, as a result
of which it happens twice, once during the power stroke and once during the
compression stroke. So, the friction losses would have to be brought in to the reckoning
while considering the real efficiency of the engine.
Then larger the engine size that is length and diameter, more is the surface of the friction
loss, as a result the higher are the losses. Larger the cylinder size, more are the heat
losses through its cylinder surfaces. So, those are the other losses that start coming into
the picture now.
Now, the cycle efficiency, as we have seen, is directly influenced by the compression
ratio, the pressure ratio and the temperature ratio. More the compression ratio or pressure
ratio, we have seen the cylinder would need to be built heavier; these things as I have
mentioned are prohibited. So, if you want to overcome some of the incomplete
combustion by building a heavier engine; you really cannot do that because, aircraft
requirements puts prohibition on such increases.
Now, the another issue that often occurs in aircraft is that quite often an aircraft, as you
know, it has to fly; which means that it has to take off, it has to climb, it goes through a
cruise operation, then it as to come back and land.
Now, dealing these entire processes of operation, the engine has to continuously operate
at various operating condition, as a result of which, it has to create more power or less
power during all these operations.
Now, as a result of which, the power input to the propeller from the main shaft is finally
the consideration that is referred to as the brake horsepower; that is a power finally
supplied to the propeller. Now, this work done and heat transaction of the engine, it has
to be controlled, it has to be changed with the operation of the aircraft. It can be changed
with the fuel flow in to the cylinder that is the primary control of the engine - the fuel
flow and the fuel control provides the engine control primarily.
Now, what we can see here, from a thermodynamic diagram version of the real cycle that
we have seen before in the PV diagram that if you have fuel supply that is reduced, the
work done will be reduced. So that is the reduced work done, quite often aircraft could
do with reduced power, especially when it is cruising. On the other hand, you may need
to have more power, when the aircraft is climbing. So, it has to climb from low altitude
to high, you would have to pump in more fuel in to the cylinder and you would need to
get more power.
So, as a result of which, the piston has to operate with differential or different kinds of
fuel flow. Now, the fuel flow that is considered depending on the property of the fuel,
most correct is often referred to as a stoichiometric ratio. This is the chemically correct
fuel-air ratio that needs to be supplied to the engine, it depends on the fuel. Every fuel
depending on it is chemical composition has identified stoichiometric fuel-air ratio.
Quite often around this ratio there is safe fuel-air ratio zone that can be identified and the
aircraft has to operate within this safe fuel-air ratio zone. That means the reduction of
fuel-air ratio and the increase of fuel-air ratio has to stay within his safe zone, so that the
engine continues to operate. If you go outside the zone, the engine could actually get
blown out; that means, the combustion process could get blown off and the engine would
stop operating.
Hence, it is necessary that you stay within this fuel-air ratio all the time during its entire
operation. Now, when we talk about entire operation, we just said that the entire
operation means it has to aid the aircraft to fly, it has to take off, it has to climb, it has to
cruise. During the World War 1 and 2, many of the aircraft were actually used for
military purposes, which mean they have to do all kinds of maneuvers. During this entire
- all these maneuvers, finally landing of course, the engine has to be supplied with fuel in
a controlled manner within the stoichiometric ratio defined by the chemical property of
the fuel.
If you can do that then the engine is in a position to continuously supply power to the
aircraft during its entire flight spectrum.
Now, to do that it is necessary that you supply power within the stoichiometric ratio,
which means, the engine could be operating under lean fuel-air ratio or a rich fuel-air
ratio. If it is too lean, it could have a lean blow out; if it is too rich, it could have a rich
blow out. So that is the danger which I was talking about, you will have no work done
out of this cycle.
Now, quite often, the way the engine is design and put on an aircraft during its entire
cruise, it actually operates at the lean fuel-air ratio. During which, as you can see, the
fuel consumption would be less, which is good that the amount of fuel carried in an
aircraft would be carried further.
So, engine has to be designed such that during the cruise it will always operate under
lean fuel-air ratio. Now, this means that the actual working cycle changes with a fuel-air
ratio, each fuel-air ratio then actually produces one real cycle, as a result of which, one
can say that every engine during its entire flight spectrum is operating essentially in a
variable cycle manner. That means, the cycle of the engine is actually changing
depending on the fuel-air ratio and the work done capability, hence it effectively
becomes a variable cycle engine.
So effectively, all engines that are operating on an aircraft go through the entire spectrum
of flight, operate on an essentially variable cycle mode. Of course, there are terms like
variable cycle engines which now many people are trying to develop; that means,
something quite different from what we are talking about.
What we are talking about is a normal engine put on an aircraft. During its entire process
of flying it actually undergoes a variable cycle operation, so this is what we mean at this
moment that every engine operates on a variable cycle mode.
Let us look at the efficiency that we have talked about. Finally, engine has to fly the
aircraft; it has to actually power a propeller. The power developed - supplied to the
propeller creates a propeller thrust power, this thrust power is what is required by the
aircraft. What the engine supplies is the engine shaft brake horsepower, this is referred to
as BHP and this is available at the end of the shaft. Quite often the shaft operates through
a gear box, so there is certain amount of loss of power in the gear box. What is supplied
to the propeller is BHP, what is created by the engine is the IHP, so the ratio of those two
essentially refer to as the mechanical efficiency of the engine. As you can see, which is
different from what we had earlier considered the thermal efficiency of the engine, which
is burn out of the thermodynamic considerations.
This is the mechanical efficiency of the engine, but BHP is what the propeller gets. Then,
propeller creates thrust, so that thrust if you consider into thrust power, the ratio of the
two actually gives you the propeller efficiency. So, we have three efficiencies now; one,
which we refer to as thermodynamic thermal efficiency; now there is mechanical
efficiency of transmission of power from the engine to the propeller; finally, the propeller
efficiency by which the propeller creates thrust.
So, at the end of whole thrust creation, it has to negotiate through three different
efficiencies. It is necessary for the aircraft power plant designer to keep in mind that all
the three efficiencies need to be as high as possible to get maximum utilization of the
power that is being created by the engine.
Now, if we look at all over again a typical piston cylinder arrangement, as we have seen
here, quickly the cylinder you can have; this is the volume of the cylinder which we are
talking about; the cylinder is often typified or specified by it is volume.
Let us say six different equal volumes of the cylinder, you could have the cylinders made
of any of these number of volumes put together. So, more the volume more is the work
capacity of the cylinder as we have seen before; this is what the initial engine.
Mechanical designer will have decided what should be the volume of the cylinder which
creates a work, as a result of which - within which, the moment of the piston have to be
restricted, so movement of the piston is restricted within this. The volume of the cylinder
or more specifically the volume of the displacement of the piston is what is to be
considered in creating the engine.
So, one could have the volume that is most appropriate or most optimized for a particular
kind of aircraft, on which those cylinders would have to be arranged and put together to
create an a aggregate amount of power.
Now, let us look at an arrangement of cylinders, let us take say four cylinders - the kind
of thermodynamic arrangement that we have. We have four stroke engines, so let us say
that we have four cylinders, let us look at the four strokes that it has to undergo.
Now, it is entirely possible that if you have four cylinder arrangements, each of these
cylinders could be operating in a time staggered manner that I mentioned earlier. Let us
say, the first cylinder could be undergoing an air intake stroke, the second cylinder at the
same instant could be undergoing compression stroke, the third cylinder could be
undergoing a power stroke and the fourth cylinder would be undergoing the exhaust
stroke.
So, the time stagger that I was talking about is shown here in this diagram. If you have
cylinder arrangement in line, opposed, x type or whatever, you could have them
staggered in a manner in such a way that the four strokes that the engines typically
undergo can be operated simultaneously through these four cylinders. Each of them
would be supplying power to the central crankshaft.
This is the kind of radial engine that often powers a small aircraft. Now, this is the kind
of shape that typically a radial engine would have to be housed inside. You would have
circular front body of the aircraft within which the radial engine would be housed inside,
it would of course drive the propeller.
So, the shape of the aircraft then comes into the picture, we need to understand or need to
know what would be the shape of the front part of the aircraft within which the engine
would go. The other consideration as we have mentioned is the aggregate power that is
required by the aircraft for flying, it is passengers or whatever the other material that it
wants to fly. So, the shape of the front body of the aircraft is what accommodates this
radial kind of engine.
This is an engine, which is nowadays being considered; all over again, I mentioned
earlier that diesel engine was completely ruled out for aircraft usage.
However, very recently some people have started looking at the diesel engine simply
because of the thermodynamic consideration that we have talked about. A diesel engine
has intrinsically more thermal efficiency that is something which has triggered recent
research. In which, people have tried to design diesel engine that is light - made of light
alloys and uses normal aircraft variety of gasoline; it can be used to power a propeller.
This is the kind of engine people are now trying to develop to make use of the
fundamental thermodynamic consideration. The diesel engine is more efficient because
of their high compression ratio.
This is a design of a four cylinder opposed IC engine, which shows the internal parts of
the four cylinder IC engine. It powers one single crank shaft and powers propeller, so this
shows all the details of cut out of typical four cylinder opposed IC engine.
This is a 4-bladed propeller - piston propeller, you can see here that the shape of the
aircraft again has dictated the kind of engine it should use. One can make a guess that the
engine used here is the opposed type - multi cylinder opposed type, probably 3 in to 3
that is 6 cylinder in opposed formation housed inside; this fore body of the aircraft
powering for 4-bladed propeller.
This is a very famous spitfire military aircraft used during the Second World War. It is a
4-bladed propeller, it had engine here, which is big engine probably 8 or 12 cylinders.
This particular spitfire military aircraft use the piston-prop. As I mentioned, military
aircraft need to have all kinds of maneuvering capability, as a result of which, many of
these were configure to have very good combination of aircraft and engine to aid the
aircraft maneuvers. Some of these need to be considered during the choice of the engine
or the design of the engine itself, so that they provide the continuous power during
various maneuvers of the aircraft. This is extremely important for aircraft operations.
Once the amount of engine power required goes up, we have seen that you could have 6
cylinders, you could have 8 cylinders, you could have 10 cylinders, you could have 12
cylinders, you could have 9 cylinders and you have 9 in to 2, so18 cylinders. So, there
are engines - piston-prop engines, where up to 18 cylinders have been put together to
power an aircraft.
However, if the aggregate power becomes more, it becomes more and more difficult to
put together more of these cylinders. In which case, one has to look for some other
solution which is not probably piston based, you need more power, you need to have
engine that supplies that power. Aircraft engine may not be the piston engine, may not be
the best aircraft engine in such circumstances. These are the situations in which you then
start looking for other alternatives; that is why the jet engines came in after the second
world war when the requirement of power for the aircraft to fly faster, for the aircraft to
fly higher and the aircraft to become bigger; to carry more passengers, more material or
more cargo required more power, the bigger engines had to be, not in the form of piston
engines, they had to be in the form of gas turbine engines.
These gas turbine based engines are what finally created today what we call the turbo-
props; that means, the propeller remain as the thrust making device, but the engine that
finally came in to being were not the propellers, not the piston engines, but the gas
turbine engines. So, the amount of aggregate power of an aircraft needs to decide to what
extend or to what level you can arrange the piston engines, how many cylinders you can
put together. At the end of the day, if the amount of aggregate power required is more,
then you have to go outside the piston engine requirement, you have to look for other
kind. So, what is shown here is a turbo-prop engine, in which supplier is a gas turbine
engine, but the thrust is still the propeller.
However, we will continue to look at various kinds of piston engines and the
performances of piston engines in the next class. We shall see how the piston engine
performance can be estimated; we shall see the various kinds of ways by which the
aircraft engineers have devised method, by which the piston based engines can continue
to give good efficiency and good power supply during its flight; much of the flight often
happens at high altitude. We shall see how aircraft engines are configured to create
power at high altitude, where the air is thin - the density of the air is thin, but the piston
engine continues to give good efficiency and good power supply. We shall look in to
some of these aspects of engine design in the next class, in which, we shall consider the
performance of the piston engines as used in aircraft.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep

Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 25
Performance parameters of IC engines
Today, we will discuss in this lecture, various ways in which the piston engine supplies
power to aircraft propulsion unit. As we have been discussing in the last one or two
lectures, piston engine has been used as a power supplier for aircraft engine, for last
more than 100 years. We have been discussing various basis of these piston engines or
IC engines, as they are often called and how they have been configured based on certain
thermodynamic principles and certain thermodynamic cycles. We had looked at some of
these thermodynamic cycles which actually govern the fundamental concept behind
functioning of these engines.
Today, we will look at some of the mechanical aspects of how these engines actually
work, how they actually create power and how this power is finally harnessed for flying
of the aircraft. So this are the basic principles under which, the piston engine works and
that is what, we will discuss in this particular lecture. The mechanical theories we had
looked at, the various thermodynamic cycles and the thermodynamic theories, the cycle
theories and how they work, the ideal cycles and the real cycles. Today, we will try to
look at the theory of the mechanical engineering that makes these engines work and
exactly how do you go about designing them, how you go about predicting their
performance or calculating their performance. We need to do that to make sure that the
engine is working.
If you look at an engine and the first thing that you would see is the power that is created
within a restricted volume which we call a cylinder. Now, within the cylinder, everything
that you have seen in a thermodynamic cycle happens. The thermodynamic cycle
basically is the metrics on which this piston and cylinder combination functions. So,
inside the cylinder, you have a piston and as the movement of the piston allows certain
amount of air, which we often call charge that comes in and then the fuel is burnt and
what is created is a gas, which is a mixture of air and burnt fuel and when this hot gas
starts operating, the cylinder moves. That is how, the movement of the piston is created
inside the cylinder and this creates the power or work. That is what, we are mostly
interested in. The fact that we burnt fuel, the fact that the burning of the fuel creates hot
gas is the reason for which these engines are all called heat engines.
Basically, what we are looking at is of course, a heat engine and it is also referred to as
an internal combustion engine - IC engine as it is popularly known. This internal
combustion obviously refers to the fact that we have the combustion or heating inside a
restricted identified space. This space is the cylinder and the piston and the volume
contained within the piston and the cylinder and this is the space within which the
heating is first done. Then we see the mechanism by which this heat is converted to
work. So, conversion of heat to work is what we are actually dealing with, at this
moment and that is why this is called generally, in a very generic manner, a heat engine.
(Refer Slide Time: 04:31) Now, what we see here is a piston, which is enclosed within a
cylinder and then as the ignition occurs, a fuel mixture is burnt and a high pressure is
created somewhere at the top of the cylinder over here and that high pressure, then
activates the piston. So, this movement of the piston is created by the hot gas and that
creates what we have already called power stroke.
It moves the cylinder from the top of this station to the bottom over here, which we have
called the top dead center and the bottom dead center. Once they reach this top and the
bottom, the piston starts their journey backward. That means, from the bottom, it starts
moving to the top and when it reaches the top, after the ignition and the heating, it starts
moving to the bottom. So, that is a movement of the piston. It moves from bottom to top
and top to bottom and it keeps doing that all the time and during which we have the
execution of the thermodynamic processes which are contained within the
thermodynamic cycle, which we have presented in the last lecture. So, that is a
mechanism by which basically, the whole thing works.

Now, you see the movement of the piston is created from the top dead center and as we
know, when it moves from the top to the bottom, we call it a power stroke. As we know
by now that only one leg or one process within the whole thermodynamic cycle actually
is a power creating or work creating process; rest of the processes within the
thermodynamic cycle are not power creating processes. So, same thing here; typically,
these IC engines have 4 strokes and these are often called 4 stroke engines and only, one
of the stroke is power creating.
How does the motion of the piston get sustained over other 3 strokes? This is normally
done through what is known as a flywheel, which is in case of aircraft engine, it is a
combination of the crank shaft, the propeller and rest of the things which means when
once the power stroke is delivered and the power is delivered, this entire flywheel motion
that is the propeller and crank shaft starts moving. That means, the rotary motion is
initiated and once a rotary motion is initiated, that motion is sustained by itself for
another 3 strokes. For, other 3 strokes are created by the continuous motion of these
which we may now call flywheel for the time being let us say, and as the fly wheel
moves the other 3 strokes are sustained till the next power stroke comes. So, out of the 4
strokes, one stroke is a power stroke and the other 3 are sustained by the flywheel so that
till the next power stoke comes, the motion of the entire engine, motion of the pistons,
motion of the shafts are sustained. This is important; if you do not do that obviously, the
engine is going to come to a halt.
Once the power stroke is over, as we know, the next thing that needs to be done is the
gases need to be exhausted. That means, the gases which were burnt, pressure were
created and now the power stroke is over, which means the work that we wanted to get
out of this high energy gas, has been taken out. Actually, we do not have any need for
this gas anymore. So, we need to get rid of this gas and this is done by what is known as
the exhaust stroke. In this exhaust stroke, this piston now starts moving upward and as it
starts moving upward, the gas which contained the entire cylinder gets exhausted through
one of the exhaust valves and as a result of which the used up gas is now sent out of the
cylinder.
Cylinder is our working space and it is now sent out of the working space. As a result of
which, once a cylinder is more or less exhausted, fresh charge or fresh air or fuel air
mixture can now come in through the inlet valve and fill up the cylinders space all over
again for the next 4 strokes - that means that the next cycle through which the work is
performed. So, this is how the work is actually sustained from 1 cycle of 4 strokes to
next cycle of 4 strokes. The linear motion of the piston, this is a bit of mechanical
engineering which we need to know, is sustained through the connecting rod and is
transferred to the crank shaft. the crank shaft You see what we have here, is a linear
motion of the piston. It is just moving up and down, up and down or if it is positioned
horizontally, it would be moving sideways.
So, what we have here essentially is a linear motion. The work is being done simply in
the form of a linear motion and this linear motion now needs to be converted to a rotary
motion and that is done through this crank shaft. As a result of which the crank shaft that
supplies power to the propeller in case of an aircraft engine and that is how, the propeller
rotates and creates thrust. So, we need to convert linear motion of the piston to a rotary
motion and that is done through the system of connecting rods, cams and the crank shaft
and then, we have the concept of flywheel, which then sustains the motion or continued
smooth motion through the other strokes so that we have continuous motion.
When you have multiple cylinders, as we have seen that many of the aircraft engines
actually have more than one cylinder, quite often up to 10, 12 or even 16, 18 cylinders.
Now, what happens is the supply of power to the central crank shaft. Every engine has
only 1 single engine crank shaft and all the cylinders supply power to that crank shaft. As
a result of which, now that the cylinder power strokes are time staggered, the supply of
power to the crank shaft is now, time staggered. As a result of which, when one
particular cylinder is executing some other stroke, let us say, exhaust stroke or intake
stroke, some other cylinder is probably providing the power stroke. As a result of which
continuous power is being supplied to the crank shaft and the whole flywheel or the
crank shaft propeller combine continues to rotate all the time because some cylinder or
the other almost on a continuous basis is supplying power to the main crank shaft. This is
how, typically in an aircraft engine, a multi cylinder arrangement continues to supply
power to the main crank shaft.
Now, it means that when you have more number of cylinders, there are certain
mechanical advantages and today, we are discussing some of the mechanical issues
involved with the engine. It actually creates a little more vibration free or smooth
operation. This is very important in actual operation of an engine. If you can create
engine that is vibration free - because what happens is as we have seen we have 4
strokes; one of them is a power stroke and during the other strokes the engine has to
sustain itself in its motion. As a result of which, it is possible that there is an uneven
application of force or movement on the crank shaft.
Now, this uneven application of force and movement on the engine can create certain
amount of vibration. If you have more engine - more cylinders 6 or 8 or 10 even 12 as
we have seen, up to 18 cylinders is possible and if you put them together, sometimes or
the other, every spilt second, one of the cylinders is supplying power to the crank shaft;
then that particular engine is likely to be more vibration free - it is likely to be more
smooth because the crank shaft is almost getting supply of power, almost on a
continuous basis. So, a multi cylinder arrangement quite often comes out to be a
smoother operating engine compared to let us say, a single or a 2 cylinder engine.
The aggregate power of a reciprocating engine is then normally given in terms of the
total volume of all the pistons together - that means the displaced volume. The amount of
volume that is typically created between the top dead center and the bottom dead center -
this motion is what the piston is executing every time as it moves from one end to
another and this is what we call the displaced volume. This is the volume of
displacement of the gas and this is the volume which is often quoted as a capacity of the
engine. This, all the cylinders together, you can quote certain total amount of volume and
that is often specified as the engine specification and is representative of the engine’s
capacity to produce power. So, total volume of all the pistons together is often quoted as
the engines capacity and is indicative of the engine’s capacity to produce power.
Let us see, how the particular cylinder actually creates power. We can put now numbers
or simple relations to some of the concept that we have been talking about. You have a
piston which we say that it has a piston stroke of length L p and it moves as we see, from
BDC to TDC and then of course, back from TDC to BDC.
Now, when the piston is at TDC, from the cycle we have seen, it reaches a pressure of P
4; from the cycle diagram we have seen that. This pressure then is very high and it is also
hot gas of course. As a result of which, it executes a lot of force on this head of the
piston or often is called piston head and this has an area. Obviously more this area of the
piston head more is likely to be the force, but as we have seen the aircraft engine have
certain limitation of its size and weight and as a result the size and weight are often a
little restricted.
The pressure created here, creates the force which then starts driving the piston to its
power stroke - that means, its motion backwards from TDC, back from TDC to BDC and
it executes the power stroke. The power delivered to the engine by 1 cylinder is often
given by this simple relation which is power is equal to P effective into the power stroke
into the area of the piston into n by 2, n by 2 being the power strokes per minute, where n
is actually the rpm or the motion of the rotary motion of the crank shaft. So, it tells us
very quickly that if it is rotating or if we are managing to rotate the crank shaft at high
speed, we are able to get more power or vice versa, whichever way you look at it. As it is
obvious, if you have more area of the piston then you get more power. You have a longer
piston length which is the force into distance and that is your work done from your
Newton’s laws of motion and as a result of which, you get the power done. Now, P
effective is something which we are yet to define actually and mind you, P effective is
not same as P 4.
So, P effective is some kind of an average power - that is, average pressure that is
applied on the head of the piston during its power stroke. We will define that little more
formally in a couple of minutes. Just at this moment, remember P effective is not same as
P 4, which is the maximum pressure that the piston or the cylinder actually experiences.
The number of cylinders, if it is given by capital N c, the total amount of engine power
that one can say, is created is given in terms of, as we know, in terms of IHP, which we
call indicated horse power. Nowadays of course, they are all mentioned in terms of
kilowatts and the N c comes in as the last parameter and hence you get the indicated
horse power or what we can call a mechanical estimation of the ideal horse power. The
total volume displaced which we are talking about just a while earlier, is now given in
terms of area of the piston head, the length of the stroke into the number of cylinders.
That is, the volume which I was talking about and that is a total displaced volume which
is often quoted as the engine capacity. You might hear same things about the various
automobile engines, where the total displaced volume is quoted as the engine capacity
and hence we can write now IHP in terms of effective power, the total displaced volume
into the power stroke per minute which is n by 2.
So, that gives us an idea about the mechanical estimation of the indicated horse power as
we know, we have earlier defined indicated horse power from the thermodynamic cycle
diagram. Now, we can see that we can have an estimation of that purely, from the piston
and cylinder configuration point of view.
Now, some of the power that is developed in the piston cylinder is actually lost in
friction of the piston and the inner surface of the cylinder. This is often referred to as
frictional horse power and this is a continuous affair; this is going on during all the
strokes of the piston. Mind you, one of the strokes is only the power stroke, others are
not power stroke and even during the other power strokes, this friction is continuously
happening and as a result of which, a lot of power is actually lost in the process of
overcoming the friction between the piston and the inner surface of the cylinder. This
needs to be, This not a small amount, this is a reasonably good amount and this needs to
be factored into the actual power availability of the engine.
Actual power available at the end of the shaft may then be called the break horse power
or BHP and this is of course, IHP minus FHP, which we call the frictional horse power.
Now, the BHP can be written in terms of twice pi into RPM into the torque that is
produced. We shall see as we go along that the torque produced by the engine is of great
importance in running the propeller. The propeller has certain torque characteristics and
we shall discuss that later on in this course. Unless you meet those torque characteristics,
the thrust would not be created.
So, the torque created by the engine needs to match with that of the propeller and we
know, from simple mechanical formulations that the horse power or the BHP can be
actual looking down in terms of torque. Now this torque of course, can be also written
down; the BHP can also be written down in terms of IHP into the mechanical efficiency
of transmission of the crank shaft and that again into the various parameters here, the P
effective, the total volume, the RPM and as a result of which, we get a parameter which
we call P effective break. This is what we had mentioned earlier as P effective and now,
we call this break mean effective pressure BMEP. Actually speaking, if you measure this
whole thing with reference to IHP, you can actually come up with something which is
indicated mean effective pressure IMEP; it is possible, but that will be an ideal mean
effective pressure.
The more useful mean effective pressure is the break mean effective pressure, which is
related to the final BHP that is being created and through the piston cylinder
arrangement. This is why I said that this is some kind of an average pressure that is
actually created by the theoreticians. It is not something that you can measure actually
and it is not the physically active pressure which is active inside the cylinder. So, it is a
kind of measure of the average mean gas load through which the piston actually operates
and it has become a widely used index of the engine performance. As a result of which,
we need to keep an eye on this break mean effective pressure for our various
understanding of how the piston cylinder arrangement actually works.
Since the entire objective of an aircraft engine, the IC engine or the piston engine that we
are looking at is fundamentally to convert the chemical energy contained within the fuel
into finally, propulsive thrust. What we have first to begin with the input to the engine is
the fuel which has chemical energy contained within it. Once it is burnt, this energy
manifests in the form of heat and then the heat is converted to the piston motion - linear
motion, which is converted to the rotary motion; that rotary motion is transmitted
through the crank shaft to the propeller and which then creates the propulsive thrust. So,
it is a fairly a long drawn out procedure through which finally, thrust is created.
We have quite a few steps to contend with, before we get the thrust and thrust is what
makes the aircraft fly. The overall efficiency of this entire process also needs to be
understood and estimated, for us to know, what the energy efficiency of this entire power
plant is. We have an engine which is fed with a mass flow let us say, m dot f and which
let us say, has a thermal input of Q f and this mass flow has a thermal input of Q f and
BHP is normally as I mentioned, expressed now in terms of kilowatts and it may also
expressed in terms of kilo joules per hour and where Q f is the heating value of the fuel;
this is a characteristic of the fuel; this is the chemical energy that is expected to be
contained within the fuel. It will vary from one fuel to another quite often and quite
substantially and hence you need to choose your fuel very carefully. You need to choose
a fuel that has a good heating value and quite often many other characteristics of the fuel
are also taken care of in choosing the fuel, but one of the main things or probably the
first thing that makes for the choice of the fuel is the heating value of the fuel. You want
to have a lot of heat generated by burning the fuel. As I said, the fuel is characterized by
the heating value. It is a typical chemical energy content of the fuel that comes out
through the heating value.
Now, ratio of these two quantities that means the chemical energy that we have, we can
expect to be available in the form of heat and the final power that is created in terms of
BHP. The ratio of the two is the break efficiency of the engine and this is a break thermal
efficiency of the engine, which is the most important efficiency parameter that actually is
quoted as efficiency of the engine. This can be written in terms of 1 by m dot f by BHP
into Q and m dot f by BHP of course, is the parameter which is of importance and this is
often referred to as break specific fuel consumption. This is given in terms of m dot f by
BHP and is often expressed in terms of kgs per kilowatt-hour.
Now, break specific fuel consumption is conceptually based on the BHP. You can again
Conceptually, you can have indicated specific fuel consumption, where instead of BHP
you can use IHP and you can get that, but as I mentioned the more useful one is the
break specific fuel consumption. When we say BSFC, we are talking about the utility of
the fuel in terms of the break horse power, the final horse power that is available from
the engine. In most of the modern engines, BSFC is quoted as the figure of engine
efficiency or figure of merit for the engine efficiency. We have justifying the engine
efficiency, a break thermal efficiency, but most engineers would like to prefer to use
BSFC as a measure of the engine efficiency. So, quite often in the engine specifications
you may not find the value of engine efficiency actually mentioned anywhere. It is more
of a theoretical understanding by the designers, but the engineers and operators quite
often would use BSFC as the measure of the engine efficiency. Now, we can also look at
the overall efficiency of the piston and propeller combine. This is often given in terms of
the overall efficiency which is equal to the break thermal efficiency into eta p which is
the propeller efficiency and quite often the propeller efficiency comes out of the
propeller understanding, which we will probably do later on in this course. Typically,
when an aircraft is flying at cruise condition, the break thermal efficiency is likely to be
of the order of 30 percent whereas, the propeller efficiency, aerodynamic efficiency and
propeller functioning could be of the order of the 85 percent and in which case, the
overall engine thrust producing efficiency could be of the order of 25.5 percent. Now,
that is a kind of overall thrust production efficiency with which the aircraft power plant
functions.
A word about the fuel: some of the fuels that are used in typical aircraft engines are
basically the petrol based. In some parts of the world, they are also called gasoline. Now
they have, as I mentioned a very high heating value; that is how they are chosen and
quite often, they are to be used under high compression ratios. We need to have high
power output and of course, as we have just seen the efficiency definition, good
efficiency at various operating conditions of the aircraft and most specifically at high
altitudes where the aircraft actually flies.
This kind of fuel is typified by what is known as high octane value and octane weighting
is given in terms of 100 and the aircraft fuels are often of 100 octane. They often have
what is known as a small amount of lead content. This lead is tetra-ethyl lead, which is
often added to a basic fuel, blended with the basic fuel which is often as I mentioned
some variety of petrol and provides high octane rating. We know that in the land based
auto mobiles, this addition of tetra-ethyl is now banned because of the environmental
issues, but in aircraft engine, it is still being practiced because aircraft mostly flies at
very high altitudes and as a result of which, we require the high octane rating that is
necessary to operate at very high compression ratios, at high speeds for producing high
power, at reasonability good efficiencies.
We now see that quite often an aircraft engine has to operate at high altitudes, where it
has to produce good power at good efficiency and for power production at high altitudes,
we have a few issues. If we go back to the cycle diagram which we are familiar with, we
shall see that the exhaust that starts at the 0.5, well while in the cylinder, pressure is still
quite high actually, high above the atmosphere. You realize the aircraft is gone to high
altitude and the atmospheric pressure is rather low. The exhaust stroke which ends at
near atmospheric, which as I mentioned by virtue of the inertia of the piston motion
happens at a lower pressure. So, the difference between the exhaust pressure and the
intake pressure starts going up and as a result of which, this loop which we see here, the
intake exhaust loop starts consuming more and more, this area becomes higher and
higher which is the non-productive or non-power creating loop of the cycle. As a result
of which, a lot of power that is produced actually goes into this loop and it is not
available at the end as BHP.
Now, this is a problem and as a result of which, the available BHP would go down. One
of the ways of getting around this is by what is generally known as augmentation
procedure and in this, an attempt is made to raise this intake pressure to higher level
through a process which is known as super charging and a device that is called
supercharger, which raises the intake pressure to higher value so that this intake exhaust
loop again becomes a small one and does not take away a lot of power. As a result of
which, the BHP available would again become a reasonable value for supplying power to
the propeller. This super charging is a business which we will look into in some detail in
the next class. For the moment, just remember that for aircraft engines you need to have
this augmentation, which is normally not required in land based automobiles, but in
aircraft without this augmentation procedure or without the supercharger, the aircraft
would not be able to get sufficient power supply from the engine for executing its flight
motions.

Now when the cylinder is operational, we have just seen that at the end of the exhaust
stroke, the burnt gases are exhausted from the cylinder. However, we also know that at
the end of the stroke, when the piston reaches the top dead center, there is a certain
amount of volume which is still containing the burnt gases. All the burnt gases do not go
out of the cylinder, a very small amount remains and when the intake valve opens and
the fresh charge air comes in, it gets mixed with the fresh air and as a result of which,
what you get finally, is a combination of fresh air charge and a certain amount of residual
burnt gases that has remained after the exhaust stroke. As a result of which, effectively
the piston capacity or the volume which we have been talking about effectively gets
reduced.
This error is attempted to be now quantified through a term which we called volumetric
efficiency. Volumetric efficiency, we shall define in a minute, but let us quickly
understand what it is all about. What happens is, the density of the fresh charge effects a
volumetric efficiency and we have seen in an aircraft engine, we need to hike this density
through the process of supercharging and then the pressure and the temperature of the
outgoing burnt gas which has remained or the residual amount and then of course, how
quickly or how efficiently, the intake and the exhaust valves or manifolds as they are
often called, open and close. So, the closing of the exhaust and the timing of the exhaust
and the intake manifolds is of great importance and this is where the mechanical
engineering comes in a big way. The engine needs to be designed to create a very
efficient intake and exhaust manifolds otherwise, it will affect the volumetric efficiency
and the timing of the opening and closing of these valves.
This is the engineering that needs to be engineered into this particular piston cylinder
arrangement otherwise, it will affect the volumetric efficiency and this needs to be made
with sufficient attention by the piston designers. Otherwise, the volumetric efficiency as
it is defined would be coming into the picture and it is simply defined as the charge that
is coming in or the charge that is now available by the theoretical charge, which we
assume to be effective in the cylinder.
So, the ratio of the two is the volumetric efficiency: The actual charge is the mass that is
theoretically estimated from the geometry of the cylinder and the total number of
cylinders etcetera, which we often quoted as I mentioned earlier, as the engine capacity
and as we see now quite often that theoretical capacity may not actually be effective or
operational during the operation of the engine due to the various factors that we have just
mentioned. So, the actual operation of the engine would get effected by the volumetric
efficiency of the engine which is typically, less than 100 percent.
The various power that is created is affected by the various losses that occur. We
mentioned one of the losses; that is the friction losses due to the motion of the piston.
There are other losses which we need to contain with and they all affect the final power
supply of the engine. One of the losses is due to the cooling of the cylinder body. You
see the cylinder is getting heated; we are burning fuel. The cylinder is getting heated; the
piston is getting heated and they get heated to very high temperature. In spite of the
advancement of the material science and metallurgy, the heat bearing capacity of these
metal bodies has certain limitations and if you have to provide them with certain amount
of life span or working, which often is in terms of thousands of operational hours, then it
is necessary that these bodies are cooled on a continuous basis to lend them a certain
respectable amount of life.
As the result of which, a goodly amount of heat is actually lost through the cylinder body
through the process of cooling. This process of cooling is absolutely essential for the life
of the engine, but it affects a continuous operation of the engine in terms of its actual
power supply efficiency. (Refer Slide Time: 40:13) So, a good amount of cooling losses
actually take place and as we see in this particular simple graph, as the engine speed
increases from the low to high, the cooling losses actually stay more or less of the same
order. The friction losses keep on increasing as the motion of the piston becomes faster
and faster, the friction losses are more and that is of course, easy to understand as this is
a mechanical friction. The other important loss is due to the radiation of the various heat
that is produced within the cylinder due to the exhaust, which the gas is going out and it
takes away lot of heat with it.
So, the exhaust gas when it is exhausted or forced out of the cylinder goes away with a
lot of heat. That loss of heat, the radiation losses and many other losses such heat related
losses put together amount to a large amount of losses. Certain amount of losses is due to
the improper inlet and exhaust valve operation. All of these are the mechanical functions
of the engine and when you put all of them together, we find that the useful work
actually is a small amount - little more than 25 percent of the energy that is produced
through the burning of the fuel. So, only 25 percent of the energy is finally, probably
available as useful work and it goes down a little with the speed of the operation of the
engine.
Typically, one can say at high speed, you can get work done - total amount of work, but
the efficiency of the work done is likely to be somewhat of the lower order. This is the
penalty that you have to pay aircraft engine because you do want high work - high
amount of work supply and as a result you are consigned to or you have to be content
with the fact that you may have to be working at a slightly lower efficiency because the
frictional losses and the other losses are somewhat on the higher side, at high speed
operation.

The other thing that we need to keep in mind is we have talked about ideal cycle and real
cycle. One of the main differences between ideal cycle and real cycle is that the ideal
cycle is actually operating on air cycle whereas; the real cycle is operating on a gas
cycle. Inside the cylinder, fuel has been burnt, gas has been created and actual operation
of the cycle is especially from point 4 to point 5 and through the exhaust, it is not air, it is
gas combination of air and burnt fuel. What we have from 4 downwards - 4 to 5 and then
on to 6, is actually gas. So, this part of the cycle is definitely gas cycle and that is why,
that is one of the main reasons you see, there is a big difference between the ideal cycle
which is given from d to e and the gas cycle - gas process from 4 to 5 and there on to 6.
This difference is mainly due to the fact that you do not have air and as we know and we
can count the numbers now, that for air, the specific heat ratio given by K - in some
books is given as gamma, it is often of the order 1.4 whereas, for the gas it is 1.33 and
when you factor them in your some rhymic cycle calculations, you will find there is a big
difference between use of these two values in the power calculation or pressure ratio
calculation. As a result of which, there is a big difference between these two areas and it
is due to the simple fact that you do not have air here; what you have here is gas.
Let us look at some of the issues of the engine as a whole. What happens when an
aircraft engine is a piston engine is performing for powering an aircraft? As we can see
here, the air consumption per cycle - that is given over here as y axis and that goes up
with the speed. On the other hand, air consumption per cycle goes up and it reaches a
peak somewhere over here and it goes down whereas, the air consumption per unit time -
per unit second or minute, actually continues to go up over here and it reaches a peak at a
very high speed. So, there is a difference between the air consumption per cycle and the
air consumption per unit time. The air consumption per cycle peaks at a somewhat lower
speed, not at the high speed and then it actually starts going down with increase of speed
of operation whereas, the air consumption per unit time actually goes up till the very
high speed and then plateaus up. As a result of which, IHP, the indicated horse power
actually, keeps going up and reaches the high value at high speed.
On the other hand, the torque created, peaks with the air consumption or charge
consumption per cycle and it is approximately around and may not be exactly with the
same engine speed, but somewhere around. As a result of which, the high torque is often
created at somewhat lower speed not exactly at high speed, but high power is created at
high speed. Now, this is a dichotomy which most engines have to live with, that high
torque creation which is important for operation of the propeller and high power supply
which is also important for creation of the thrust are at two different speeds, quite often
two very different speeds. As a result of which, the engine operation needs to be properly
configured or matched with propeller operation. We shall discuss about some of these
later on again, in this course.

The maximum torque of the engine occurs, as we now see at a somewhat lower speed
and the IHP keeps going up, as we have seen in the last graph. Whereas, the BHP which
takes into account now, the FHP, actually keeps going up and then somewhere over here,
the high FHP forces the BHP to level of and it sort of plateaus out and BHP may not
increase any further, after certain engine speed.
So, every engine has high speed at which BHP reaches its peak and there is no point
operating the engine above that. So, quite often, most engine speeds are cut of slightly
about this high speed and it does not operate anywhere higher than those speeds and this
is found out from this engine estimation, before the engine is actually installed.
If we look at BSFC, we have seen it is one of the most important parameters of the
engine operation; it is indicative of the efficiency of the engine. However, in this graph
we see that BSFC and the total fuel consumption are two slightly different issues. BSFC
is a unit fuel consumption per unit mass flow or unit power consumption, it is indicative
efficiency and it reaches some kind of low plateau somewhere in the speed range over
here, in this particular engine that is being shown. It reaches a low value over here at
lower speeds; it actually has higher BSFC at high speeds and again, it starts going up and
BSFC is no more the lowest.
So, the engine operation in this range of speed would probably give a low BSFC. That is
true of most or almost all kinds of IC engines or piston engines and even automobile
engines that run the cars or vehicles on the ground. Car manufactures or operators would
tell you that car operation at certain a medium value of speed or rotation, often produces
the best efficiency of fuel consumption. On the other hand, if you take the total fuel
consumption and we are talking about full throttle operation, it continuous to increase
with the speed. So, higher the speed of operation, higher is the fuel consumption. So, we
have to balance between the We have also seen that higher the engine speed, higher the
power production. So, there is always a balancing act that the operator has to find out
between high power consumption, high power creation which reduces which obviously,
has high fuel consumption. On the other hand, the BSFC also starts going up.
If you keep an eye on the efficiency of the engine, then you would probably like to
operate somewhere at a slightly lower values of engine speed. We have seen that at one
of these lower values, you also get high torque. So, high torque, BSFC, fuel consumption
and power production are four different parameters and engine operators have to keep an
eye of all of them, while operating the engine, to find the best balance during the various
course of operation of the engine.
We see now that maximum torque operates at some speed, maximum power operates at
another speed and minimum BSFC happens at third speed. So, we have three different
speeds and this is true of most of the engines - all kinds of engines, IC engines that
power the aircraft power plant. This is what an engine operator will have to quickly
figure out and apply his engine control to operate. Typically, he would like to do it in
such a manner that taken over the entire aircraft flight let us say, from takeoff to cruise to
landing, finally, the total fuel consumption would be at a low value. This is something
which requires a certain amount of control, which require a certain amount of engine
control, propeller control, some of which a little bit of which we might discuss later on in
this course and the two controls together we will have find a balance of using the engine
for maximum torque or maximum BHP or minimum BSFC so that the total fuel
efficiency of the engine is quite good, competitive and has an economic repercussion in
the operation of the power plant. These are the issues that typically, an engine operator -
an engineer would have to deal with, in the operation of the engine for flying an aircraft.
In flight flying of an aircraft engine, one of the things that is required is, once the engine
takes off, it has to climb to a cruise and the engine typically needs to provide certain
amount of extra power not only for cruising but also, for climbing and this is how the
measure of the extra power needs to be quickly arrived at, so that when an aircraft takes
off and then it finally, reaches a cruise where the power available and the power required
are matched. Typically, cruise will be somewhere here, actually little before this and we
shall talk about that again, later on how the matching of the aircraft and engine is done.
This excess power availability from the engine is vitally important because this is what
makes the aircraft climb; otherwise, aircraft would not be able to climb from low altitude
to high altitude, to the cruise altitude.
So, this excess power requirement needs to be factored into the engine design and this is
vitally important for aircraft engines.
In this lecture, we have now looked at various aspects of engine that goes into the
aircraft. In the next lecture, we shall see various issues that go into the operational
reasons for loss of engine power. We shall see what happens, when the engine operates
at part-load, which is when the engine is not at its full BHP, a full power creating
capacity, but at some kind of part power creating capacity and what happens during those
operations and we shall see that for an aircraft engine, for it to operate at high altitudes, it
is necessary we have a supercharging which creates augmentation of power; without
super charging, we cannot have an aircraft engine. So, these are important issues,
specifically with reference to aircraft engines and these are the things, we shall discuss in
the next class.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 27
Tutorial: IC Engines
In today’s lecture we will be covering some of the problems related to IC engines with
specific reference to their usage in aircraft power plants. We have covered the
introductory ground of the IC engines, how they operate, how their performances are
measured, and the cycle on which they are based on and how to get the basic parameters
calculated through certain fundamental formulae.
Today, we shall use some of that knowledge to solve a couple of problems and then I
will pose a few problems to you for your own homework and I will also pose a few
questions in the form of quiz questions for you to ponder over. Those will be based on
things that we have discussed in the course of our lecture here over the last three four
lectures. You may refer to those lectures or you may refer to any of the books that you
have at your hand and try to find out simple answers to some of those quiz type
questions. So that it will clear up some of the fundamental notions and possibly similar
questions may be occurring in you as you have gone through these lectures.
The problems we are looking at today are based on the otto cycle that we have done for
IC engines. We will be looking at two problems to which I will bring the solutions. The
first problem is an IC engine based on otto cycle. The second problem is actually
futuristic engine which I mentioned in passing during the course of our lecture that it will
be a diesel cycle.
Now I mentioned, some are in the course of our lecture, there is a new kind of diesel
cycle which is being designed for aircraft power plants. Over last 100 years that aircrafts
have been flying with various kinds of piston engines, the diesel engine was never
considered. One of the reasons is that the diesel engine tends to be quite heavy since it is
based on high pressure and a compression ignition engine. But in the recent years,
attempts have been made to develop diesel engines for aircraft power plants also and one
of the reasons is that the diesel engine is intrinsically more efficient heat engine.
You have done a little bit of this in your basic thermodynamics. So, we will bring that
together and try to solve a problem. In the course of solving the problem, hopefully, you
will get the notion that how the diesel engine actually works, quite similar to the way
otto cycle works; except that otto cycle is slightly different cycle. The basic steps of
calculations are of the same order.
So, in the course of solving the problem, some of those small differences would be
introduced. You would get firsthand experience of how the diesel cycle which is likely to
be good future candidate for aircraft engines actually operate and how do they finally,
calculate the performances of a typically diesel engine which may be used in aircraft
engines.
Then of course, I will be posing a few problems to you with specific reference to the
aircraft engines. Those are very simple problems making use of the theories that we have
done earlier, simple things that we have done. It should allow you to make use of those
simple ideas in solving those problems. The answers of those problems will be given, so
you would be able to check out whether your solution is correct or not.
So this is what we will be doing in the course of today’s lecture. First, I will be solving
couple of problems and then I will be posing a few problems to you for your own
homework. Let us start with the problems that we would like to do today.
The first problem that we would like to pose is that you have an ideal cycle of
reciprocating IC engine, in which heat is added in the working medium, which is air at
constant volume. This is what you remember is basically an otto cycle and the following
working conditions are prescribed.
The pressure at the inlet is 1 bar, temperature is 320K, the compression ratio is 4 and the
gas constant given is 287 joules per kg. The pressure ratio that is prescribed normally
operating through the combustion chamber would be 4 and adiabatic exponent of air as
working medium continuous to be 1.4, which is a standard value.
The problem asked for solution for 1 kg that means all solutions per unit kilo gram of
mass of an air charge. The parameters required to be found in the solution are the
amounts of heat added and heat rejected.
Thermal efficiency of a Carnot cycle for the given working condition, Carnot cycle if
you remember from thermodynamics is the fundamental cycle on which heat engines
were conceived. This cycle of course, gives the ideal best cycle possible given those
conditions; the efficiency of the Carnot cycle is the ideal maximum efficiency of any
heat engine.
Any heat engine given can quickly also find the equivalent heat engines Carnot cycle
efficiency which of course, gives the maximum possible efficiency that particular
condition can achieve by any means.
Having found that we would also like to know actually, what is a thermal efficiency of
this cycle; that is the otto cycle that we are looking at and the Indicated Mean Effective
Pressure-IMEP, which we have defined earlier. These are some of the parameters that we
would like to find out. We will see that in the process of finding these parameters, he
would require to complete the cycle. The temperatures, pressures at all these radius
cyclic loads will have to be found to actually calculate these required parameters. Let us
go and do that and solve the problem as posed and find the various parameters at the
various nodes of the cycle.
This is the cycle which we had looked at earlier. What is prescribed here is the
compression ratio which is 4. The pressure ratio is also given as 4, that temperature ratio
is not described, so that is one of the thing we will probably have to find out before we
complete all the calculations. As a result of the prescribed values, the specific volume
given in small v at intake to the cylinder v subscript b can be now found from the
equation of state using the basic thermodynamics. If you use that you would get a value
of 0.92 meter cube per kg.
Now that is a specific volume at the intake to the cylinder and then the process goes
through a process of compression, which is normally the compression stroke, which goes
from b to c. When it goes from b to c it goes through a compression ratio of 4. As a result
of which the v c; small v c, would give you specific volume of the order of one fourth of
the earlier one and that would be 0.23 meter cube per kg. So that is a specific volume at
the end of the compression stroke.
The pressure rise through this process can now be found, because the process is assumed
to be an isentropic process in this particular cycle. We are considering an ideal cycle at
this moment, so if you use the ideal cycle expressions and the isentropic expression, the
pressure rise from b to c could be found using the isentropic relations. Hence, p c would
be 7.38 bar using the isentropic relations that we have done earlier and we have also
done that in basic thermodynamics.
At station c the pressure now is 7.38 bar and now we have to find the temperature. The
temperature again can be at that particular point can be found by using the equation of
state. At any point when there is no process you can always use the equation of state to
find the temperature or pressure or volume whichever is yet to be found whereas,
through a process you have to use the process relationship to find the change in
temperature, pressure or volume. At station c end of the compression stroke, the
temperature is now found by using the equation of state and that is found to be 592 K.
We have the volume - specific volume, the pressure and the temperature at station c
calculated using the thermodynamic laws that we have done earlier.
The next thing would be of course, to find what is happening through the combustion
process. Now, the pressure, temperature and specific volume are shown here at the
stations b and c. From c we have to now progress towards d, which is through the
combustion process during which of course, as you can see the specific volume remains
constant. So, the specific volume at d remains same as specific volume at c and that
would be 0.23 meter cube per kg whereas, the pressure goes through a rise in pressure
and that pressure ratio was prescribed to be 4. Now, we have p d 29.6 bar 4 times more
than what it was at c.
As a result of which the constant volume now comes out to be - at constant volume, the
temperature can be found. Now, this is a constant volume combustion process, fuel has
been burnt, the pressure and temperature are raised at constant volume. As a result of
which the pressure has gone up to 29.6. Now, the temperature will go up by the same
ratio and it comes out to be 2368 K. This is a value which is the highest temperature in
the cycle, so the cycle maximum temperature is reached at point d.
Now, from there starts the power stroke. Of course, we are considering the ideal cycle, so
the power stroke goes from d to e in a ideal manner. Hence, we can again use the
isentropic relationship, so the power stroke of the expansion process occurs in isentropic
process. Hence, it goes from d to e and as a result using the isentropic process, we can
find the values of T e; the temperature at point e at the end of the power stroke using
isentropic relationship. If we do that the temperature at point e comes out to be 1340 K.
The cycle that we are using at a point e at the end of the power stroke it comes back to
the same specific volume as it started with at b. Essentially, the specific volume at e
would be same as the specific volume at b and that would be 0.92 meter cube per kg,
which we have calculated already earlier.
So that is a known parameter given the kind of cycle; ideal cycle we are looking at.
Hence, from equation of state we can find the value of the pressure at point e and that
comes out to be 4.17 bar. So, these are the values that you get through the cycle
calculation. As a result now we have a temperature pressure and specific volume at b, c,
d and e.
What we can do now? We can show all those temperature, pressure and specific volume
at various points b c d e and then go on to calculate the parameters which is been asked
in the question statement. First is the work that is being created or what that is taken out
and that can be found by using the work done relationship and this is the power stroke
work. This comes out to be using the work done relationship that is change of pressure
volume from d to e and that gives us the work of the order of 742 kilo joules per kg. Now
this calculation, this thermodynamics has been done earlier and this is the work done or
work output from the power stroke (Refer Slide Time: 15:40).
On the other hand, the compression work that needs to be done to compress the flow is
calculated again from change of pressure and volume from b to c. If you do that you get
work that needs to be put in of the order of 195 kilojoules per kg. Now, it is shown here
is minus because that is the work you need to put in to do the compression stroke. So, the
work done during the compression is put into the system and the work done during the
expansion process or power stroke is taken out of the system. These are the two works
that was needed to be found out to calculate the net power or net work that can be found
from the cycle or the engine that we are at the moment concerned with.
Now, if you use the two works, the useful work or the net work that you can take out of
this engine is 547 kilojoules per kg. So that is a kind of work you can expect to get out of
this cycle that has been prescribed. On the other hand, the heat is added to the system
through the process of combustion and a certain amount of heat is rejected from the
system in the exhaust process and those values now can be calculated.
Now, heat added to the system which is done during the process of combustion that is
between c and d and that is given by the temperature differential between the two states.
Since, the process was in constant volume we use C v to find out the heat that is added
and if you do that you get the heat addition of the order of 1280 kilojoules per kg. So that
is the heat added to the system by the combustion process.
The heat rejection of the system can be found again from the constant volume heat
rejection process typically that would be the exhaust process ideally. That is also at
constant volume, so the temperature differential into C v gives us the heat that is to be
rejected that comes out to be 737 kilojoules per kg. Hence, the differential of the two
between heat added and heat rejected is the net heat that is available for utilization or net
heat to be utilize by this engine and that comes out to be 543 kilojoules per kg.
Now, if you compare the value at the bottom in red and value at the top in blue, the two
are very close to each other the work done is 547 and the heat available or utilized is 543.
These two need to be very close to each other they cannot be greatly different, because
the work done is to be accomplished out of the heat that is been made available by the
system. So, these two would have to be very close to each other if not exactly same.
Since, two computations of work done or heat added or done in a slightly different
manner quite often, a very small difference comes up but, that difference has to be
extremely small, ideally or very rigorously or very accurately they should be exactly
same as each other. But, in actual calculation quite often a very small difference always
comes up. The work done and the heat utilized that is needed by the question statement
have now been found. We can now move forward to find the efficiency of the system.
Now, given the work done and given the efficiency of the system, we have found the
work done and the heat added and rejected. If we use those two parameters we can find
that the thermal efficiency of the cycle is typically given by the heat that is utilized by
the heat that is actually put in the system. That comes out to be 0.425 that is 42.5 percent
would be the thermal efficiency of this cycle, which is as we have mentioned earlier is an
ideal cycle.
On the other hand, thermodynamically the thermal efficiency can be simply calculated
from the compression ratio that is been prescribed right in the beginning. That
prescription gives us ideal thermodynamic cycle efficiency of the order of 0.426, which
is 42.6 percent. We see that an ideal thermodynamic thermal efficiency calculation
comes pretty close to the thermal efficiency calculation from the heat transaction in the
cycle, which was calculated earlier.
So, they also need to be very close to each other if not exactly same well they are pretty
close to each other; it means that answers that you are getting for various steps are
generally more or less correct. Those small differences often are acceptable differences
because they are calculated in different ways, in the two methods by which the two
efficiencies are computed. So that is very small differences normally accepted.
The other thing that was asked in the Carnot cycle definition is the Carnot cycle
definition, which efficiency of the Carnot cycle was done in your thermodynamic course
in some detail. If you will just refer back to that the Carnot cycle definition was very
simple, it is 1 minus the cycle temperature ratio. This is something which quite often is
used to find out, what can you maximum expect out of a cycle. Once, the cycle
temperature ratio is found, you remember this ratio was not given to us, so we had to find
it in the process of calculating the various parameters. Now that we have found the cycle
temperature ratio 1 minus inverse of that actually gives us the efficiency of the idealized
Carnot cycle and this comes out to be 0.865 or 86.5 percent.
That would be the maximum possible efficiency any heat engine can get out of this
temperature ratio that we have got at hand. There is no heat engine possible which can
give you efficiency more than 86.5 percent. Compared to this Carnot cycle efficiency our
efficiency if you look at, was of the order of 42.5 percent. So, the otto cycle efficiency
that we are getting is almost half of that of the Carnot cycle efficiency that typically one
would get from ideal Carnot cycle theory.
The last thing that was needed for this cycle was the mean effective pressure, which we
had defined earlier as some kind of theoretical average pressure acting over the cycle and
this is normally found theoretically by using the work done that is been calculated. The
compression difference between the specific volumes at the two ends of the stroke and
that gives us mean effective pressure of 7.9 bar. So, this if you remember was averaged
theoretical pressure definition over the entire cycle. Now, you know what the mean
effective pressure would be for this cycle.
These are the parameters that we are wanted out of the cycle, as we have seen before
once you have these values, you can now easily go on to find out, how this engine can be
utilized for some practical purposes. If we put all this parameters together, we get the
final picture; the cycle is shown here (Refer Slide Time: 25:01). At these points b c d e
the various pressure, temperature and specific volume are shown. What input into the
system for compression is 195 kilojoules per kg and the work output of the system is 742
kilojoules per kg.
The heat input into the system is 280 kilojoules per kg and the heat rejected is 737
kilojoules per kg, so that is the whole cycle of the engine that we have at hand and this
has an ideal Carnot cycle efficiency of 86.5 percent whereas, the thermal efficiency
would be 42.5 percent. Mean effective pressure or theoretically computed pressure is 7.9
bar; so that gives us the answer to all the questions that have been posed in this particular
question.
The next question that we will be looking at is question that deals with diesel engine.
Now, I have brought this problem to discuss the diesel engine, which is being considered
as a future candidate for aircraft propulsion and one of the reasons is that diesel engine
can operate at high, much higher, pressure ratio. This much higher pressure ratio actually
gives the diesel engines prospectively a better efficiency.
Now, this better efficiency of course, translates to better fuel efficiency and as a result of
which we have an engine a heat engine that is fundamentally a better engine. Now, this is
what some of the people are now working on to create a new diesel engine, which could
probably be put on an aircraft and fly with an aircraft. Through the process of solving
this problem, we would like to take a look at how the diesel engine actually works.
The basic thermodynamic cycle you have done in your thermodynamic course, the cycle
is slightly different from the otto cycle, which we have done but, through the process of
solving this problem, you would probably get the notion of how the diesel cycle or diesel
engine would be expected to operate. Find out the various parameters, very similar to the
parameters that we have found in the first problem. As a result of which the diesel cycle
operation would hopefully become clear to you.
The problem that is being posed is for an ideal IC engine operating with combustion at
constant pressure and that is the cycle that we are now looking at differently, earlier
cycle was at constant volume combustion. Now, this cycle at constant pressure
combustion is operating again with a pressure of 1 bar, temperature at 350 K. The
compression ratio is now given as 20 and the isobaric expansion during which the
combustion would be actually done; expansion ratio is given as 2.
The working medium is again air with a specific ratio k equal to 1.4 and the gas constant
287 kilojoules per kg. For 1 kg of air the problem asks for pressure and temperature at all
cycle point, this is the same thing that we have done for the first problem. The work done
under various cycle processes various legs of the cycle the heat added or rejected during
various cycle processes. Again, the Carnot cycle efficiency and we will also find the
thermal efficiency and the indicated mean effective pressure as before.
The parameters that are required to be computed in this cycle is more or less same as the
parameters that we had done for the earlier cycle, except that this one is now a constant
pressure combustion process. Hence, the steps would be slightly different and in the
process of solving this problem those slight different steps would be made known to you.
Now, let us look at the cycle. This cycle shows that process which is occurring from b to
c is an isentropic process again, but the combustion is from c to d is now at constant
pressure, earlier we had at constant volume that was otto cycle. Now, this cycle gives the
combustion at constant pressure from c to d during which heat is added. So that is the
only difference between the earlier cycle and this cycle.
As a result of this, the process of expansion effectively has started from c and it goes to d
during which actually combustion is done and then of course, you have the power stroke
from d to e. So, the process is slightly different from what we have done. This is
typically the picture if you remember, we had seen this one before, typical diesel engine
that is been develop to power an aircraft propeller, which would hopefully be flying with
aircraft very soon. So, this diesel engine would be made of lighter material however,
strong enough to withstand very high pressures. So that it can operate and we can get
some benefit of prospective high efficiency that normally the diesel engines promise.
Let us see whether we get that kind of efficiency from this particular cycle that has been
prescribed to us. What is given in this cycle definition is the compression ratio is 20,
which as you now see is much higher from b to c compare to the earlier otto cycle. We
have an expansion ratio which is of the order of as given here and the temperature ratios
again not prescribed, which we will have to find actually.
As a result of which the specific volume at station b we can start finding. Given the
parameters using the equation of state, we can find the specific volume at station b to be
1 meter cube per kg. Now, it is compressed from b to c and the compression ratio
prescribed is 20. As a result of which the specific volume at point c of the cycle would be
0.5 meter cube per kg.
The pressure can be computed by using the isentropic laws. As the process is from b to c
is an isentropic process and of an ideal cycle. Hence, using the isentropic laws we can
find the pressure at c to be 66.2 bar and then again using the equation of state, we can
find that the temperature at station c would be 1155 K. At station c we have the pressure,
temperature and of course, the specific volume.
Then we can compute the values that are needed to find in pressure at point d, which is
the process from c to d is the combustion process. At d we have pressure which is
conserved or remain same as c. So, p d would be same as p c and that would be 66.2 bar.
The specific volume now under goes an expansion process and that expansion ratio was
prescribed and as a result of which we now get specific volume of 0.1 meter cube per kg.
Now, using the expansion ratio that is been prescribed to us, we can find the temperature
at point d to be 2310 kelvin. Now, this is again the highest temperature of the cycle,
because now combustion has been done even though pressure is same as c, the
temperature at d would be much higher because of the combustion process that has been
accomplished and that now is the highest temperature of the cycle.
Across from d to e of course, again you have the power stroke. At e the specific volume
again comes back to 1 meter cube per kg with which it started from b and hence that is a
known value. The temperature change from d to e can now be found using the isentropic
laws.
Now, isentropic laws because the process from d to e is an ideal isentropic process and
hence, the isentropic laws can be used to find the temperature variation between d and e;
that is the power stroke, so the temperature at e now is 920 K. Using the values of
temperature and specific volume, we can now find the pressure at a point e and this is
now 2.64 bar. As a result of which we now have the pressure, temperature and specific
volume all the three parameters at point e.
At various parameters; at various point of the cycle we have all the parameters that are
needed to find the cycle performance. Now, we can calculate the cycle performance, now
the relationship shown here for the power stroke is slightly different from what we have
done for the otto cycle.
So that is one of the differences between the weight is calculated for constant pressure
combustion and the weight is calculated earlier in the earlier problem in constant volume
combustion. This work done now comes out to be 1326 kilo joules per kg.
This is the work output from the power stroke. On the other hand, the works needs to be
done to create the compression and this work can be calculated as before. This procedure
is very similar to that we had done in the earlier problem. Using the values that we have
got in this problem the work of the compression comes out to be 578 kilo joules per kg.
Again, it is shown here as minus because that is a work that is put into the system
whereas, the power stroke produces work out of the system.
The net work output of the system would be the differential of the two and that comes
out to be 748 kilo joules per kg. So that is the work that you can expect out of this
particular engine given the parameters that have been prescribed to us.
We can now also calculate the heat addition and heat rejection using the thermodynamics
that you have done in great detail earlier. That gives us the heat added in the constant
pressure process, so we use a value C p and not C v that we have done earlier, because
that was a constant volume process and this is a constant pressure process. As a result of
which we now get heat added of the order of 1162 kilo joules per kg.
Correspondingly the heat rejected between the points e and b and that is again a constant
volume process. As a result of which we again use C v and using that we get a heat
rejected of the order of 410 kilojoules per kg, so the heat that is utilizable of this cycle
would be the differential of the two and that is 752 kilo joules per kg.
As we had seen earlier the net work output was 748 as calculated and the heat that is can
be utilized as 752. Again, they are very close to each other and that shows that the
calculations are probably more or less correct. As I had explained earlier, the two would
give slightly different answers but, they need to be very close to each other to ensure that
your calculations are correct through the cycle processes.
Now, we can calculate the thermal efficiency of the engine as was asked for and that can
be found to begin within a simple fashion that we have the net heat that is utilizable. Of
course, the heat that was added and the ratio of the two, straight away gives us the
thermal efficiency and that is 0.648 or 64.8 percent thermal efficiency as calculated of
this cycle.
Now, if you use the basic thermodynamics again to calculate the cycle efficiency and the
efficiency definition of this kind of cycle is given to you here. We had not done this in
the theory coverage, so I am giving the formula here which is a derived formula and
using that the thermal efficiency comes out to be 0.65 or 65 percent.
The thermal efficiency is calculated by two different means again come out to be pretty
close to each other, which is the indication that the efficiency of the order of 65 percent
is likely to be achieved from this cycle that is been prescribed to us.
If we put all of it together in this diagram, we can find then last parameter that is needed
for solution of this problem. That is the indicated mean effective pressure, which is
found the same way that we did in the last problem and that comes out to be 7.88 bar.
Hence, we have all the parameters now shown here on the cycle diagram that pressure,
temperatures, specific volume, the work input for the compression, the work output for
the power stroke, the heat input through the combustion chamber and the heat output
from the heat rejection process. The Carnot cycle efficiency which was asked for given
the cycle parameters and the cycle temperature ratio that are available comes out to be of
the order of 85 percent or 0.85 percent.
Now, we can see here in this particular engine that is been prescribed to us. That a
typical diesel engine can actually give efficiency of the order of 64 to 65 percent
whereas, a typical otto cycle would give efficiencies of the order of 42 43 44 percent and
anything more than that is quite difficult to get out of an otto cycle.
So, intrinsically a diesel cycle promises to give substantially higher efficiency during the
course of its operation substantially more than that of otto cycle. This is the promise, this
is attraction based on which people are now trying to create new diesel engines made of
lighter material that would take this theoretical promise to a practical engine design and
we shall wait for that kind of engine to fly with an aircraft.
Next, I shall be giving you a few questions in the form of quiz. Now, these questions are
posed to you on the basis of the various things that we have discussed in the process of
this lecture on IC engines. Many of which you would probably remember and you might
get the answer to most of these questions in some of those things that we have discussed
earlier.
You may also like to look at one or two books that you have at your hand and you would
be able to get the answer to all the questions quite easily. You may have pondered over
these questions yourself, so you may like to know what the answers would be, so I am
posing the questions to you, for you to figure out what are the answers. I am sure it will
not be difficult for you to find out the answers for this simple quiz type questions.
The first question that I would to pose is which is more important? The air charge per
cycle or air charge per minute for engine power performance estimation, to find out how
much is the engine power or how powerful the engine is, which of the two parameters is
the more important parameter. We have seen that there are two definitions air charge per
cycle and air charge per minute and you can probably try to find out which of them
would be actually more important than the other. Of course, both are important but, one
of them probably gives a more direct indication of the power production capability of the
engine.
The next question is the volumetric efficiency of the engine that we have prescribed. The
question here is does the volumetric efficiency matter anymore once supercharging is
used in aircraft engines? That means the supercharger induced engine, do you need to
have volumetric efficiency computed at all.
Third question is the high torque production coincides with high BMEP this is a most
probably the case, what are the other operational requirements? To achieve high torque it
goes probably with high BMEP what would be the other operational requirements to do
that.
The fourth question is in IC engine fuel, what is the difference between compression
ratio and pressure ratio? Now, compression ratio and pressure ratio both have been
prescribed to you and it is necessary that you understand the different between the two.
Fifth question is does a turbo supercharger provide higher efficiency of the engine, or
that it provides a continuous control mechanism for the supercharger? Exactly, what is
the utility of turbo supercharger? Does it actually give a higher efficiency of the engine?
You can think about that and try to find out what the role of turbo supercharger is
compare to the other kind of superchargers that we have discussed in the course of our
lectures.
The next question - a quiz type question that I would like to pose to you, is very high
supercharging beneficial at low altitude flying of aircraft? We have seen in the course of
our lecture that your supercharging can be a low, it can be medium and it can be high.
The question is do you always need to deploy high supercharging all the time when you
are flying. This is something you need to understand that you have a supercharger for
aircraft engines, when do you use low supercharging? When do you use medium
supercharging? When do you use high supercharging? So, the sixth question is pointed to
that.
Seventh question is, is there a limit to the degree of supercharging that can be applied to
the aircraft engines? If you think of the various things that we have discussed you would
probably start getting an idea what should be the answer to this.
The eighth question is when does the intake and exhaust valve operation overlap? There
is a certain point of time when both of them are operational almost around the same time
and when does that happen? The next corollary to that question is does the design and
timing of operation of these intake and exhaust valve operations affect the engine
performance? We have discussed this in the course of our lecture, so you probably might
get an answer to it, if you go back to some of the things we have discussed in the earlier
lecture.
Ninth question is when should the engine produce more power and when should it
produce more torque during an aircraft flight? Now, this is an important issue with
relation to the engine usage in an aircraft, because at a certain point of time of flight of
the aircraft the engine actually needs to produce a more power, whereas at certain other
point of time of the flight the engine actually needs to produce more torque.
This is true of the engines used in automobiles also, but in aircraft it is extremely vital
and the difference between these two operating situations is pretty much known - I can
tell you right now for example, that unless you have this differential worked out and the
engine operation scheduled accordingly we are going to have problem during the flight.
The tenth and the last question is, for typical aircraft engines which fundamental
parameter is kept high by design for maximum power output? Aircraft engines, we have
seen there are lot of limitations in terms of size, in terms of weight, keeping in mind all
those limitations, what is it that needs to be done to make an aircraft engine so that it
continues to produce high amount of power during the course of its operation.
The typical aircraft engines are built and designed slightly different from the land based
engines. So, this question is asking, what makes an aircraft engine fundamentally
different from the land based engine? One of the main parameters that make it different
from the lane based engines.

Now, I shall pose to you, some of the numerical problems that you may like to solve on
your own based on the theories that we have done. Some of the simple introductory
theoretical definition that a parametric definition that we have done in the course of our
earlier lecture. Those things can be used in solving these problems to get the answers.
The first question is, a four-stroke engine produces an output of 420 kilo watts, when
operating with mechanical efficiency of 87.5 percent. The fuel consumption is given as
164 kilo gram per hour, when the air consumption is 2780 kilo gram per hour, when the
fuel heating value is prescribed as 44200 kilo joules per kg, for the kind of fuel that is
normally used in engines.
It is asked for that you calculate indicated horse power, frictional horse power and the air
to fuel ratio that is operative in this given operating condition, indicated thermal
efficiency and the break thermal efficiency of this particular engine for the condition that
are prescribed over here. The answers are given here, so when you get your answers you
can check out whether your coming very close to these answers which are given, you
should be coming very close to ensure that you have got the correct answers.
The next question that is posed is for an aircraft engine which is equipped with a single
stage, supercharger is flying at 7 kilo meter altitude where ambient pressure is given as
minus 41.1 kilo Newton’s per meter square and the ambient temperature is 241 K. So, it
is flying at a high altitude.
The carburetor delivery condition after the carburetor where air and fuel are mixed and
that condition is given as pressure is 75 millimeters of water and the temperature is
minus 24.4 degree centigrade.
Now, if we use those conditions and assuming that you have air as the working medium,
for which the specific ratio is 1.4, assuming that there is no loss of inflection or no loss in
heat in the process of supercharging, so the entire supercharger is assumed to be ideal.
Calculate the supercharging pressure ratio and the corresponding cycle intake
temperature, so this is a supercharger based problem for an aircraft engine. The answers
are given here and you can check out our answers, when you start getting your
calculations done.
The third question that is prescribed for you is a four-stroke aircraft engine, which is
running at 3600 rpm probably during an aircraft ground operation. Most aircraft engines
run probably at a higher rpm than that while flying, now given that operating condition
the inlet air temperature is 15.6 degree centigrade and the pressure is 1 bar.
The engine has a total displaced volume of 4065.6 cc, which is as you know is quite a
good number. The air fuel ratio is prescribed is 14 is to 1 given here are the values of a
break specific fuel consumption, which is given here as 0.377 kilojoules per kilo watt
hour for a power output of 83.5 kilo watt.
Those are the operating conditions given, bsfc is given, power output is given, what we
wanted is the volumetric efficiency of the engine. The answer is given here, you can
check out whether your answer is coming quite close to the answer that is been given
with this question.
With the help of these questions you should be able to understand some of the issues that
we have discussed in the class, some the basic theories and basic parameters that we
have been talking about and have been defined. You should be able to get the cycle
operation and the engine operation quite well calculated through very simple methods
that we have done in the course of last few lectures.
These problems are illustrative of some of the things that we have done in the course of
last few lectures. In the next lecture, we will move on to a different topic all together. We
will be moving on to the propeller fundamentals; we have been talking about engines and
the engines produce power of the shaft power they run the propellers. It is the propellers
that finally create the thrust which make the aircraft fly. In the next class, we will be
talking about propellers and the propeller fundamentals and over the next two three
lectures, we will be looking at various issues and how the propellers actually finally,
create thrust.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 28
Propeller Fundamental
Today, we will start a new chapter on propellers. Propellers have been providing thrust
for flight of aircraft, for little more than 100 years - 107 years to be exact. Ever since,
Wright brothers flew their first aircraft, it is propellers, which have been providing thrust
for flight of aircraft.
The creation of thrust by the propellers is done differently, than let us say compared to
jet engines, which came much later. The propellers create thrust by virtue of rotation of
blades. How the thrust is created by the rotating propellers is what we will discuss in
today’s lecture and in-subsequent lectures.
The propellers initially when they were flying, the aircraft were made of wood - ordinary
wood, because that was the material that was most suitable for giving the complex shape
of the blades that the propellers are made of. Later on, over the years, new materials have
given in, materials like aluminum alloys, materials like titanium alloys. Of late, the
composites have given rise to more intricate and more accurate shaping of the propeller
blades that has enhanced the efficiency of the propellers and allow propellers now to go
to high speed applications. In fact, today, some of the modern propellers are working
under supersonic and transonic working conditions.
That is the advancements that happened over a period of almost 100 years. To begin with
the propellers, where made of very simple material, as I said wood, as a result of which,
the shapes were also rather simple. Let us start with the fundamental issues that govern
how a propeller works.
To begin with, a propeller is an interface between an aircraft engine and an aircraft. You
see the engine, which we have been discussing; for example, in the last few classes, the
piston engine, IC engines, they do not give you thrust, they actually provide only power.
This power needs to be harnessed for creating thrust, which only then makes the aircraft
fly. So, the aircraft requires thrust to fly. The propeller is the intermediary between the
engine and the aircraft, for creation of thrust.
As we have discussed, this thrust creation needs to done differently during different
modes of the aircraft flight; for example, when the aircraft is taking off, you need one
kind of thrust or one amount of thrust. When it is cruising, you need another kind of
thrust, another amount of thrust. All these need to be provided by the propeller during the
various modes of the flight. So, the engine and the propeller need to be matched in a
manner that will enable the aircraft to fly during its various flight modes.
The creation of thrust for flying of an aircraft is what the propeller is mainly entrusted
with. So, let us see what kind of propellers people have been using over the years.
For example, propellers create thrust essentially by harnessing the air, which is available
in the atmosphere. So, propeller works in the open atmosphere unlike an engine, which
works inside an enclosed atmosphere, in an enclosed chamber of an engine. Whereas, the
propeller is out in the open, it is working medium is the atmospheric air, the open air.
So, the air is deflected or rather pushed backwards by the propeller, this push backwards
creates the thrust. The propellers over the years have changed their shape, size and
number of propellers. We see here, in the picture, there are 3-bladed propellers and there
are 4-bladed propellers. One could actually have 2-bladed propellers for very small
aircraft, one seater or two seater, it is very small aircraft, or you can have propellers,
which have up to 8 blades.
If the number of propellers blades is more than ten, in a propeller, the modern designers
would prefer to call it profane, rather than propellers. They are propellers, which are
counter rotating propellers, so we have two rows of 4-bladed propeller - let us say eight
of them. The rear four is rotating in a direction - rotating direction counter to the front
four, so that is a counter rotating propeller. Such very large propellers have been used in
the past for flying very big aircraft in subsonic flight speeds.
So, some of these designs have been used over the years for creating maximum amount
of thrust. We have also seen that the propellers actually are very efficient means of
creating thrust. It is actually a more efficient device for creating thrust than a jet engine.
Because of this basic inherent efficiency of the thrust creation that propellers have held
their ground, even today - even after 100 years. In fact, many of the very modern aircraft
propulsive units that are coming up essentially using the concept of propellers for
creating what are known as profanes. Essentially, they are modern versions of the earlier
propellers, we will probably have a chance to look at those later on in this lectures.
Let us take a look at what a propeller details are, of a propeller blade. A typical propeller
blade would have - what would be called as leading edge and what would be called as
trailing edge. The root of the propeller is shaped in such a manner that it blends with the
hub over here. Quite often the root may not have a proper shape for creating a thrust.
Whereas, the tip of the propeller quite often is very thin, often may not make a very large
contribution to the thrust creation.
We shall see very soon that the main portion, let us say from here to here, which actually
are the main thrust creating part of the propeller, are made up of airfoil sections. So,
propeller blades are essentially made up of airfoils, which invariably then participate in
the creation of thrust. In this lecture, today, we shall see how that actually happens.
The propellers are finally rotating around central shaft, which is the hub of the engine
and this shaft is getting power from the engine as necessitated by the actual propeller
rotation. This matching between the propeller and the engine in terms of power is
extremely important. We shall see today that this matching is required for power as well
as for torque, which is also to be supplied by the engine. So, the matching of the power
and torque is important for creation of appropriate amount of thrust, which then flies the
aircraft.
So, these are the some of the details that we will be going into in today’s lecture. Let us
look at the fundamental concept of how the propellers actually start creating thrust.
Propeller is fundamentally what can also be called a propulsor; a propulsor by definition

creates thrust. The creation of thrust, the fundamental notion of creation of thrust is by
making a small change in the momentum of the propulsive fluid, which in our case is air
that has to be in the direction of motion and direction of motion of the aircraft. So, the
direction in which the aircraft needs to move, in that direction, a net positive change in
momentum needs to be created, which then creates the thrust.
Now, this is what a propulsor is supposed to do. The amount of thrust that is necessary is
fundamentally dictated by the amount of the drag that the aircraft is experiencing. That is
the minimum amount of thrust that the propulsor must create. If the aircraft is climbing
or doing any other maneuver, then the thrustive part could be more. The propulsor is
supposed to provide that additional thrust that is required for such maneuvers.
Now, again, fundamentally the propulsor creates thrust by changing the momentum. This
is an equation, which you probably have seen before. In which, the thrust is equated to
the mass of working medium, in our case air, which is taken from a velocity V a, which
is the incoming velocity, let us say and the exit velocity V e. The differential of these two
velocities multiplied by the mass of working medium essentially creates a thrust.
Now, in case of a propulsors or propellers, more specifically it works on the principle
that the mass of air, it is activating, is very large. The amount of change in velocity is
rather small compared to many of the jet propulsion units, which you may have already
encountered.
So, in a typical jet propulsion, the mass of activation of air is comparatively much
smaller, whereas the change in velocity is of a much higher order. Then, thereby, they
create a sufficient amount of thrust for flying aircraft. In case of propeller, the mass of
activation of air is very large; it takes a very small change in velocity to create sufficient
thrust for flight of aircraft. So, there is a fundamental difference in the way propellers
create thrust and how the jet propulsion devices create thrust, using basically same
concept of creation of thrust.
Let us take a look at the propeller blades, the modern propellers have many blades, but it
can have minimum of two blades or more. Each blade is exactly similar to the other; they
are set in a symmetrical fashion in annular space. So, you could have 3 or 4 or 6 or 8
blades, all arranged in a symmetrical fashion, in an annular space. Each of these blades is
actually created by stacking of airfoil sections from root to the tip of the blade. So, the
entire length of the blade is actually made up of airfoil sections.
What you see here in the picture is what can be called a plan form of the blade - typical
propeller blade. In which, typically from the root to the tip of the blade, the size of the
airfoil actually changes. The width of the propeller is approximately representative of the
code of the airfoil. This width quite often in more popular way changes from root to tip,
it is somewhat large in the middle section of the propeller, becomes somewhat lesser
towards the tip. Quite often the tip is rounded essentially for reducing the losses related
to the tip flow, the flow around the tip. The root is quite often a round kind of a section,
could be almost a circular section, sacrificing all the airfoil shapes, essentially to provide
good structural strength to the blade. Because, as you can see here, the entire blade is a
cantilever, it is fixed only at the root. Rest of the blade, when in rotation, is actually a
mold like a cantilever beam.
So, it experiences lot of bending forces over this entire length. The entire force and the
moment have to be bound by the root section, which is fixed over here is also rotating.
So, those sections are called often non aerodynamic sections, so they do not participate
in the creation of thrust. Their basic job is to bear the stresses that are coming up due to
the activation of the blades in rotation.
So, the shaping of the blades is done for various purposes. As I mentioned, the middle 60
to 70 to 80 percent of the blade, actually is aerodynamically shaped for creation of thrust.
The root section essentially bears the load - the stresses; the tip section quite often
rounded to ensure that the aerodynamic losses around the tip are minimum, so that the
efficiency of the propeller is also maximized.
So, this is how normally a blade shape is created for propellers. We shall see later on in
this lecture series that very modern blades often have somewhat different looking shapes,
to cater, to the modern blade design and the modern aerodynamic thinking. We shall
introduce those things as we go along in this lecture series.
As I mentioned, the blades which are used in thrust creation are actually made up of
airfoil shapes. If you take a sectional cut at any part of the blade, you will probably see
an airfoil section. These airfoils have certain properties; as you probably know, these
properties are harnessed essentially in a stack top manner to create the blades. All the
blades together are then composition of airfoil sections, which are then together, creates
the thrust. We shall see today how actually the blades finally create thrust, because as
you all know blades fundamentally - their aerodynamic properties create lift and drag.
We shall see today how this lift and drag are finally harnessed for creation of thrust.
What you see here today is a particular kind of airfoil, which has been created essentially
as a basic airfoil shape for propellers. These blades are often designated by the creators;
for example, some of the blades are known as the NACA airfoils, those are created by
the American organization NACA more than 60 years back.
Some of the blades are known as Clark Y profile; some of them are known as Gottingen
profile, which were created in Germany. These are the profiles which have been made,
greatly used of in various propeller designs. The common feature in some of these
profiles is that many of them actually have large part of one of the surface as a flat
surface or what is often known as flat under surface. So, one of the surface is deliberately
made rather flat, there is a rounding near - around the leading edge of a typical airfoil.
Then you have that cambered side or the back of the propeller, which is then the main lift
producing surface of this propeller. So, one of the surfaces is basically more of a non-lift
producing surface, whereas the main lift production is left to one surface. This makes the
job of the propeller designer a little easier and that is one of the reasons why these
airfoils were created.
The airfoil always ends with a trailing edge, which normally has a very small rounding
over here, much smaller than the leading edge rounding, typically much smaller, as a
result of which, they create lift. The airfoil surface - as a result of the various frictional
losses experience certain amount of drag, so that is a property of the airfoil. These
properties are harnessed in the process of creation of thrust, in a rotating blade.
The co-ordinates of the NACA airfoil are given here, they are little small. I hope you
would be able to sit down and look at those profile co-ordinates. However, these profiles
are available in the open sources; you may be able to get them from various books and
another literature, quite easily.
The other profiles which I was talking about, the Clark Y and Gottingen airfoil. The forth
one is RAF, which is royal air force, airfoil given here. I hope you would be able to look
at these profiles and create your own airfoils. These profiles are also easily available in
open literature, in many books and other literature. All of these profiles given here have a
common feature that all of them are flat under surface airfoils, as shown here.
So, those are the airfoil, which have been used for many years, for creation of propellers,
which are mainly subsonic propellers. But, many of the modern propellers are transonic
and very high subsonic, those airfoil are likely to be quite different from these airfoils
which are given here. These are the standard airfoils used for somewhat low speed
applications and they have been used for little more than 100 years. Now, we will look at
the modern airfoils later on in this lecture series.
Let us see how airfoils actually are stacked in a blade. Typically when a blade is
operational, the lift creation depends on the way the flow is locally incident on the
airfoil. It depends on the airfoil characteristic, which is often decided by the local angle
of attack.
So, what is shown here; for example, in this is that at the root section of the blade, it is
subtending a very high angle of blade setting and this angle of setting is necessary for the
root blade section. We shall have a look at the velocity diagrams in a few minutes - now.
On the other hand, near the tip of the blade section, it is set at a low angle. So, this is
often called fine angle, this often called the course angle. As a result of this, necessity of
tip being at a fine angle and the root being at a somewhat course angle, inevitably the
blade gets a twisted shape. That is the amount of twist, which the blade would invariably
have. Now, this would depend on the particular profiler design and it will vary from one
propeller to another, it also depends on what it is being designed for.
Quite often the propellers may like to optimize the blade shape keeping in mind the
various aircraft operations, which are often given in terms of so called design point.
Various off design points, which cater to various aircraft flight schedules or various
aircraft maneuvers, are required for the aircraft.
So, quite often the propeller blade shape could be some kind of an optimized blade
shape. Finally, it is given certain amount of twist to cater, to all kinds of necessities that
the propeller would have, to bear during its operation for creation of thrust.
So, a propeller not only is a composition of various airfoils, the airfoils are stacked at
various angles of setting and that gives rise to the twisted blades, which are invariably
the shape of each and every blade that are part of the propeller.

So, what we see now is that a propeller is typically dependent on the local aerodynamics
of the flow incident on the blade elements. These blade elements are stacked, as we have
just seen from root to the tip of the blade. This root to tip stacking essentially creates
local flow incidents at various stations or various sections of the blade. The flow incident
at the root, as we have seen in the earlier picture, is likely to be at this angle, whereas the
local flow incident at the tip is likely to be at this angle.
So, the blade setting is actually given to the particular blade section, because the
incoming flow or the relative flow angle would be actually around this angle at the root
and around this angle near the tip. So, to meet the incoming flow incident on to the blade
section, the blade sections are provided with the particular blade setting.
For efficient operation of each of these blade elements, which are airfoils, as we have
seen, we need to create an appropriate angle of attack. As we know, all airfoils have a
characterized value of angle of attack, at which, it is most efficient. It has a zone of angle
of attack or a range of angle of attack, over which the airfoils are actually operative and
they give good performance over this range, but beyond these range, the airfoils often
likely to give very bad performance.
There is maximum angle of attack, where this airfoil is likely to stall; that means, it will
simply refuse to create anymore lift and the drag would be too high. So, these ranges of
angles of attack for each of these airfoil sections would have to be facted in, for each of
these blade sections, which are stacked in creation for of the entire blade.
We have to see that if possible, most of the sections or as many of the sections as
possible should operate somewhere near its maximum lift creating angle of attack. Or
more appropriately, the maximum elemental lifts to drag ratio of each of these blade
sections; that is what the designer has to do. Stack the blades in a manner that most of the
blade sections operate somewhere near their individual maximum elemental lift to drag
ratio.
Now, let us take a look at a typical propeller blade, its sectional geometry and the local
flow details. You see the sectional geometry, as is shown here, is fundamentally often
airfoil section. What happens is you have a propeller, which is rotating. The rotation
provides a certain rotational speed of the particular blade section, so each blade section is
now rotating at a particular rotational speed or what may also be called a tangential
velocity, which is omega r. Omega being the angular velocity, which can also be
expressed in terms of twice pi nr. n being the rpm or rps of the blade that is rotating in a
solid body, r is the radius of the particular section from the axis of rotation of the
propeller. So, this provides a sectional rotational speed or tangential velocity of that
particular section, with which it is now rotating.
Now, if the aircraft is moving forward and if the propeller together with the aircraft is
moving forward, it has a forward velocity, which we may now call V infinity, which is
the entire forward velocity of the aircraft propeller combined. Now, with which, if they
are moving, it creates an angle of phi between the two velocities - the rotational velocity
and the forward velocity, then two of them together create this resultant velocity V R,
which is now the relative incident flow on to this airfoil section.
This incident flow now creates an angle of attack of alpha with reference to this blade
section, which is an airfoil section. So, this angle of attack is what we were talking about,
this needs to be something which is within the characteristic property of the particular
airfoil that we have chosen. So, this angle of alpha needs to be kept in mind while
creating the propeller blade, because this angle of attack has a maximum - beyond which
this airfoil will refuse to do any aerodynamic action of any use to us. Very low angles of
attack or negative angles of attack also could start creating non-aerodynamic effects of
the propeller, which are again of no use as far as creation of thrust is concerned.
Now, what happens is, by virtue of the geometry that has been created these propellers
have, what can be called an ideal forward motion, which is created or built into the
geometry of the propeller. So, if this is the angle at which the blade has been set, it is
expected ideally or theoretically that the forward motion of the propeller would be so
much per revolution of the blade. So, for one revolution of rotational motion of the
blade, the forward motion would be so much and that is called the geometric pitch. So
that is the ideal pitch of the motion of the propeller - forward motion of the propeller.
What happens quit often is, because of the fact that air is flowing over the blade - the real
flow that flows over the blade, an certain amount of small angle of attack is created, the
angle of attack and the final angle that is subtended by the actual velocities creates an
actual pitch, which is a result of real flow aerodynamics over the blade. There is a small
difference between this geometric pitch and an actual pitch; we shall be talking about
this difference in a few minutes.
So, when a blade is operational, it has a certain ideal geometric feature, which is built
into the airfoil shape of the particular blade section. It is given a shape and a blade
setting, keeping in mind certain norms of its operation, certain aerodynamic properties
that it has. Then, the real flow happens.
So, there is always a small difference between what actually happens and what it was
ideally designed for that difference is in terms of the geometric pitch and the actual pitch.
The geometric pitch is given in terms of twice pi r into tan beta, which is the angle at
which the blade has been set. So that is the geometric pitch, which the blade is supposed
to encounter in its forward motion per revolution of the propeller.
Now, angle of attack, which we are talking about, it is a property of the airfoil section, is
a function of the blade element and the geometric pitch, which is the blade setting and
which is built in to the design of the propeller, the effective pitch angle. So, these two
things together create the angle of attack, which means the geometric pitch is something
which is already designed, created and set. Let us assume, for the time being that it does
not change; on the other hand, the effective pitch angle - the flow angle could change
depending on the operation of the propeller.

For example, if it is rotating at some other speed, this tangential velocity rotational speed
would change. If the aircraft is moving with some other velocity - forward velocity, V
infinity would change, in which case, this value of phi would change. Now, you see the
beta has already fixed by design, for the time being, we are assuming that beta is not
changeable, in which case, the difference between beta and phi that is angle of attack
alpha would change. Now, this change occurs during the actual flight or operation of the
propeller, as a result of which, the angle of attack is a variable quantity during the
operation of the aircraft.
So, we have to keep an eye on this variation, see to it that it conforms to the airfoil
properties, which has, as I mentioned, a range of angle of attack, within which, this
airfoil is good, beyond that the airfoil is really not good for use as an aerodynamic entity.
The rotational speed often designated as U, which is equal to omega r - of each blade
element, it is different, it varies with r. Omega is fixed from for the entire blade, but the r
varies from root to tip, hence that rotational speed would vary from root to tip. As the
forward speed is let us say same from root to tip, the pitch setting needs to be varying
from the hub to the tip.
So, as to maintain the best angle of attack for each of the blade elements, this is what
gives rise to the twist. This is the reason because of which, we needed to have the blades
at various angle of setting from root to tip. Because, the local rotational speed at the root
is much less, the local rotational speed at the tip is much high, as a result of which, the
angle required here, in fact, the value phi also here will be very low, so that we need to
keep the angle of attack low over here.
Whereas, in this case, for the root, the angle of attack also needs to be kept within in a
certain value, but the value of phi here is going to be high. As a result of which, your
blade needs to be given a twist. This is from the fundamental fact that the rotational
speed omega is constant from root to tip, but the actual rotational speed that is U varies
from root to tip - the tangential velocity varies from root to tip for each element of the
blade.

Thus the angle beta, which is made and that is what we are talking about, it is known
often as the pitch angle or the blade setting angle. This is defined often with respect to
either the 0 lift line of an airfoil or the chord line, which is more easily understood. Or in
case of propeller, quite often the flat undersurface of the blade section, as we have just
seen many of the propeller blades are indeed made up of flat undersurface airfoil
sections. So, for propeller making that is quite often a very convenient reference line to
which the blades could be set.
The pitch which we have just defined refers to the forward movement of the propeller for
one revolution of the blade or the particular blade section.
We shall see that theoretically. Each section of the propeller, as per the definition, we
have just given, may have its own pitch, which is theoretically possible. However, you
know that entire blade of the propeller is a solid body and hence the entire blade is
moving together with all its blade sections and airfoil sections as one solid body. Hence,
all of them have only one single forward motion, as a result of which, this difference
between the geometric pitch and the actual pitch, which is for the entire blade, could be
different for different sections. This difference arises as a propeller or the aircraft
together starts moving.
So, the difference between geometric pitch and the actual pitch for the same section
arises when the propeller starts moving, both rotating, as well as in forward motion. So,
this is basically the concept of pitch, which needs to be understood with reference to the
operation of the propeller. We shall see later on that this pitch as a concept has great
importance in the operation of the propellers.
We are using airfoil sections for creation of the propeller blades. Airfoils fundamentally
create lift and drag; they are fundamentally shaped to create lift and drag. Lift is the
positive component, which we want; drag is the penalty you pay in the process of
creation of lift.
So, these are the fundamental forces that are created by the blade shape. Typically the lift
is perpendicular to the chord of the blade and drag is parallel to the relative wind
direction coming on the blade element. The wind direction is often described with
reference to the chord of the blade. So, these are the fundamental properties of the airfoil
section, which is the blade element of the propellers.
What we shall see now is how these fundamental forces of lift and drag are harnessed
towards creation of thrust and the tangential force, which is met by the supply of torque
from the engine.
If you look at this picture, now you see that an airfoil is used here. Fundamentally for
creation of lift a particular blade element being shown here. So, we are showing the lift
in the form of dL - a small elemental lift let us say. So, L is lift, D is drag, T is the thrust,
Q is the torque, V infinity is the forward velocity, V R is the relative velocity incident on
this airfoil section, r is a radius at which this particular blade section is of the propeller.
Alpha is the angle of attack, more specifically the local angle of attack for this particular
blade section.
What we are showing here is the elemental values of lift and drag for this particular
blade section. Hence, we are showing them as dL, dD, dT, etcetera to designate, they are
elemental values for this particular blade section.
But, this particular blade section is now creating a lift over here and it is experiencing a
drag. As I mentioned, drag is the penalty you pay in the process of creation of this lift.
This is created by the shape of the propeller subtended at an angle alpha, which is the
local angle of attack.
Now, if you decompose this lift and drag, which are perpendicular and parallel to the
chord, if you decompose them in the form of axial force and the tangential force, which
is dQ by r, what you get are elemental contribution to the thrust. So, dT is the elemental
thrust of this particular blade section, dQ by r is the elemental tangential force, which has
to be met by the supply of the torque from the engine.
So, this is the component that the engine needs to supply for creation of this thrust,
through the shape of this propeller blade section, which is an airfoil section. So, this is
the aerodynamic mechanism by which the thrust is created by the propellers, where
airfoil shape is the fundamental element in the creation of thrust.
We had talked about various kinds of pitch settings from root to tip, however the pitch
settings of the propeller as a whole can actually be defined in different ways depending
on the operation which the propeller intended to have. The simplest of the pitch setting is
what is known as fixed pitch propeller, where the propeller pitch from root to tip is fixed.
It is not going to change during the flight of the aircraft; it is not changeable at all. This
kind of propeller is what the Wright brother used to begin with when they started flying.
It was being used in the early generation aircraft for many years, those blades, as I
mentioned earlier, used to be made of wood. These fixed pitch propellers were also
needed to be optimized as I mentioned, so that cater not only to the aircraft take off, the
cater to the cruise and then later on to various maneuvers. So, these were the fixed pitch
propellers, which were being used in the early days of aircraft flight.
The variable pitch propeller which came a little later actually had the capacity to vary the
pitch manually through variable mechanisms, which could be done on ground, during the
ground servicing or through some hydro mechanical control system. This could be done
also during flight by the pilot, he could fix a pitch depending on whether the aircraft is
actually taking off or whether the aircraft is cruising and then it becomes a fixed pitch.
So, quite often they have 2 or 3 or 4 settings, sometimes it is the fine setting which is
often used for takeoff and the other is often the coarse setting, which is often used during
the cruise. So that at these respective flight modes, the propeller works at their maximum
efficiency, which translated to the blade sections, means that the blade sections are now
optimized at their best angle of attacks at the each of the sections during takeoff and
cruise. So, this variable pitch setting propellers allows the propeller to work close to their
good efficiency operation, as a result of which the propeller efficiency is much better
during each section or each segment of the aircraft flight.
However, the most modern kind of pitch setting is referred to as constant speed
propeller, which is often controlled by a control mechanism. The propeller pitch has a
built-in control law, which is often also referred to as floating pitch. So, have to maintain
torque balance between what the propeller needs at a particular time of operation and
what the engine is supplying. This torque balance is extremely important during the
entire operation of the propeller.
The speed of the propeller which is being supplied by the engine through the shaft is
maintained constant during this operation. So, the pilot or the control system tries to
maintain a constant speed, which is good for the engine, because the engine can supply a
steady power supply at a constant speed. If you can keep it at a high speed, the engine
can continue to supply at that high speed a good quantity of power.
On the other hand, the pitch is now set on a floating mode, the result of which is that it
automatically sets itself to a good pitch setting so that the propeller efficiency is good or
as high as possible. This is often an electro hydro mechanical control system, most of the
modern day propellers do have this kind of control systems built in to the aircraft control
system, which is simply called control constant speed propellers.
So, these kinds of propellers are being used in all the modern aircraft today, which
allows the propeller to set its own pitch during actual flight. It sets its own best pitch for
the best possible efficiency of the propeller, for that particular flight segment of the
aircraft.
Let us try to take a look at some of the propeller performance parameters that are often
used as figures of merit for the propeller. These performance parameters are the
fundamental parameters by which a propeller is often specified or designated. The first
parameter that is typical of a propeller is known as advance ratio. In most of the
literature, it is designated as J at equal to V infinity divided by nD. n is the rotational
speed of the propeller often expressed in rps and D is the propeller diameter, which is the
tip diameter of the propeller, expressed often in meters.
Now, this advance ratio is a non-dimensional parameter, is often used to characterize the
propeller. As you can see, from the definition, it will change with the forward speed; it
will change with a rotational speed. So, if you change any of the two parameters, the
diameter of the propeller let us say is fixed once a propeller is made. If you change any
of the two operating parameters, the forward speed or the rotational speed, the advance
ratio - J is going to change. Hence, the J is fundamental parameter by which the propeller
needs to be characterized.
Now, the basic definition of J actually means that it is the forward motion of the
propeller per unit rotational speed. Now, this brings in the fundamental concept that
propeller is actually executing a screw motion through the working medium, which is air
in some of the literature, or many of the literature, is often referred to as air screw.
Hence, a propeller effectively is executing a screw motion as it is going through the air.
This is what fundamentally propeller does when it is creating thrust, it is executing a
screw motion through the air in the process of creation of thrust.
The other important characteristic parameters of a propeller are the thrust, which is what
we need to fly the aircraft. The torque which is needed to be the supplied by the engine
and the power needed to be supplied by the engine, so power and torque are the two
quantities that need to be supplied by the engine. Thrust is what you get from the
propeller shape by the rotation of the propeller and it is used for flying the aircraft. So,
supply is P and Q, thrust is what you get by operation of the propeller.
Now, these parameters are often defined in terms of certain coefficients, which are as I
mentioned is figures of merit of a particular propeller or a propeller shape. These are
defined in terms of the density at which it is actually operating, the density of air, the
rotational speed n, the diameter of the propeller D. C T, C Q and C P, which are three
coefficients, which are characteristic of a particular propeller. These are called thrust
coefficient, torque coefficient and power coefficient; these three coefficients together
with advance ratio characterize the entire propeller. We shall have a look at these
characteristics later on in the course of these lectures.
Now, these are what defined in terms of the fundamental parameters of the propeller,
which are built into the size of the propeller, which is D, rho is the density of the air in
which it is operating and n is the rotational speed. So, we get the three parameters which
we need, P and Q which is to be supplied by the engine, thrust is what you need to fly the
aircraft. How are these parameters of these particular coefficients created? They are
created by using the dynamic similarity theories, often popularly known as the pi
theorem.
These created much the same way as the lift coefficient, the drag coefficient and airfoil
are defined; also you would remember the coefficients like Mach number, Reynolds
number, these were all created by the same dynamic similarity theories. The same
theories have been used to create these coefficients, which characterize the propeller. So,
instead of C L and C D of an airfoil, we now have C T, C Q and C P of a propeller,
which define the activities of a propeller. So, these are the characteristic parameter of a
propeller, we shall have a look at the characteristic nature later on in the course of these
lectures.
The propeller performance can also be given in terms of the efficiency of the propeller,
which is also can be called the propulsive efficiency of this particular thrusting device. It
is simply given in terms of the TV infinity, which is the thrust work being done by the
propeller and P is the power that is being supplied by the engine. So, this is the efficiency
of the propeller, which as I mentioned can also be called the propulsive efficiency of this
propulsive device.
Now, using the definitions of the coefficient that we just seen, the propulsive efficiency
or propeller efficiency can also be shown in terms of JC T by C P, J being the advanced
ratio, C P can be written in terms of twice pi C Q. So, we can see that the efficiency of
the propeller can be very quickly determined from the propeller characteristics, once we
know what the characteristics are. These characteristic are often designated in terms of
the advance ratio, which is operating at a point, which defines operating point of a
particular propeller.
So, these are the basic definitions of a propeller performance. We have one more
definition, which we can look at, which is the propeller tip speed. That is given in terms
of the diameter, the rotating speed of the tip and the forward velocity with which it is
moving forward. So, this is the rotational velocity of the tip of the propeller, this is the
forward velocity of the propeller that gives the tip velocity, which it can also be called
the helical velocity. Because, as we just discussed that the propeller is executing a helical
screw motion through the air, hence the tip actually executes a helical motion through the
air; hence the V tip actually is a helical speed.
Now, what happens is, this speed V tip, which is a combination of rotational speed and
the forward velocity can experience compressibility and even shocks when the tip speeds
goes very high. In the modern propellers, these tip speeds actually go very near the sonic
values, if it crosses the sonic speed the Mach number 1, you could experience shock.
Once we have shock, the shock losses come in to the picture, which you have studied in
the earlier lectures. They will tell you that the shocks would reduce the efficiency of the
propeller.
So that is exactly what happens if the propeller starts rotating at high speed. The
propellers would experience tip speeds, which are supersonic and then you would have
shocks. Those shocks would then reduce the efficiency of the propellers, the propellers
could become of lower efficiency, which would tell on the fuel efficiency of the engine.
These shock losses are avoidable things as far as the conventional propellers are
concerned. The conventional propellers, which earlier were being made of metal or even
earlier of wood, had limitations of tip speed. For the wood it was of the order of 0.75 and
for the metal they were of the order of 0.85.
However, the modern propellers are being made, which are made of carbon composites,
these have actually crossed the sonic barrier. I will have occasion to show you some of
these blade shapes later in the course of these lectures, where transonic airfoils have been
used as airfoil profiles for the propeller blades. They are transonic propeller, which have
been used in the modern propellers. They are made of carbon composites, where the
shock losses by design can be kept to the minimum. You can still have a very good and
very high efficiency propeller operating at very high speeds.
So, these are the various performance parameters that define how a propeller actually
operates during the course of its operation, under various operating conditions. In the
next lecture, we will have a look at the various propeller theories that are used in the
propeller design. Those are used for analyzing the propeller and creating the propeller
characteristics, which of the fundamental parameters, which we discussed today. These
parameters would need to be characterized by design; these characteristics are to be then
given to the propeller manufacturer and the propeller user for use of the propeller during
the actual aircraft flight.
So, we will have a look at these theories over the course of next few lectures. We will
see how these propeller fundamental parameters are characterized in what is known as
characteristic plots of the propellers over the period of next two lectures.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 29
Propeller aerodynamic theories - I
We are talking about propellers. In the last class, we deal with various fundamental
issues related to the propellers, how the propellers look, how they are made, how they
actually function and to some extent, how they create thrust.
Propellers as we have seen are made up of a number of blades and these blades have
sections, which are of airfoil sections. We stack airfoils to make 1 blade and then we
decide to have a number of blades in a propeller; number of blades as we have seen
could be 2 or 3 or 4 or even more sometimes 6 or 8 blades. When all these blades put
together, rotate, they create thrust. Now, the thrust creation is based on - also we had a
quick look - on the fundamental issue that blades are made up of airfoils and these
airfoils intrinsically have the capability to create lift and drag. Now, this lift and drag
creating capability of the fundamental airfoil sections are harnessed towards creating
thrust in a composite manner.
All the airfoils in a composite manner contribute towards finally, creating thrust. Now,
this is an aerodynamic principle. It is aerodynamics of the blade shape or the airfoil
shape which is finally utilized for creating thrust and this is something which we had a
look at in the last class.
Today, we shall have a look at some of the propeller theories, we will start off with one
of the theories today and we will do the other theory in the next class. We will try to see
how the propeller theories actually try to create various propeller fundamental
performance parameters, because these fundamental performance parameters are what
the propellers would be characterized with.
Propeller being a thrust making body, being fundamentally a propulsor, its various
characteristics or the performance characteristics or the figures of merit need to be
clearly defined. When a performance is going on, its actual performance numbers are to
be written down or clearly quantified. How you quantify these parameters is what we
shall be talking about today through one of the propeller theories, which has been in
existence for little more than 100 years.
Now, the propellers we have seen are actually made up of blades which again, are made
up of airfoils. The first theory that we will look at today is actually using a propeller,
which is not made up of airfoils, which does not have blades and the whole propeller is
mathematically modeled into another actuator disk, which per pets to actually model of
active propeller and gives us a reasonable notion of how this propeller is going to
function under various operating conditions.
The second theory that we will do in the next class of course, takes into account the
actual propeller blade shapes, so that a more exact quantification of the various
performance parameters can be actually done with the help of that theory.
Both the theories have been in existence for quite some time. Most of the propeller
designers, propeller performance analysts, they use both the theories, because the first
one which we will do today is actually a simpler theory. It gives you a very quick
estimation of what the propeller performance could be. It also has a number of other
advantages and of course, a few simplifications, limitations which we will talk about
today.
Some of these things together make up for what is called propeller theories and that is
what we will be starting today. The two theories that we will be discussing are called
momentum theory and the second one the blade element theory.
The momentum theory has been in existence as I mentioned for quite a long time
certainly more than 100 years and this is the theory that does not use the blade shape. It
replaces the propeller blade with an actuator disk but, it has been used by the designers
and the analysts for little more than 100 years and it is still a very handy and useful basic
theory for analyzing propeller performance.
The second theory, which actually is a set of theories, we will be doing the simple
version of the theory use the propeller blade shapes, which are as we know, made up of
airfoils.
Quite often, the analysts use both the theories in conjunction with each other. The first
one being the simpler version is used very quickly to estimate the basic propeller
functioning. The second one gives a little more detail about the airfoils which are being
used. As a result of which both the theories have been in existence and in use by the
propeller designers and the propeller performance analysts. So, let us take a look at the
momentum theory today in some detail.
The momentum theory what it does is, it replaces the propeller with an actuator disk in a
free stream flow and in a technical power lens it is often referred to as actuator disk.
Hence, this theory is often also referred to as actuator disk theory. So, in many of the
books or literature, you may find it mentioned as actuator disk theory.
What this theory does is it models the entire propeller flow. First of all, it replaces the
actual propeller with this actuator disk, which is working in a free environment. You
have static atmosphere all around and then you have this virtual domain which is been
created by the flow of air into the propeller, which is actuator disk. This domain is now
assumed to have a free surface like this, so it moves into the actuator disk and then goes
out of the actuator disk in a shape something like this (Refer Slide Time: 07:41).
It is a kind of circular shape all around the particular domain that we are considering. So,
the front domain is the inlet domain and the rear domain is the exit domain from the
actuator disk and the flow comes from far upstream distance; let us say the velocity far
upstream of the actuator disk is V infinity.
The exit velocity for downstream of this entire domain is V e that is the exit velocity. So,
it comes in with a velocity V infinity taken at for upstream of the actuator disk and for
downstream of the actuator disk you have exit velocity let us say V e. This entire domain
has this free surface, so it is bounded by this free surface which is actually as you know
air, so the air is flowing inside this free surface domain and the air, which is static
atmosphere outside this free surface domain.
Now, as the flow is kind of drawn into the actuator disk now a propeller is in reality is a
suction mechanism. It draws in air from all sides and that is exactly what is actually
shown here, in this domain definition; that the flow is being drawn in from here and its
area is actually decreasing as it is approaching the actuator disk (Refer Slide Time:
09:21).
Then of course, it gets thrown backwards by the propeller and it goes out finally, large
distance downstream with a velocity V e. The shape of the free surface is what is
generally known to happen that the air gets drawn into the actuator disk, the area
decreases, it continuous to decrease a little and then again it becomes more or less
uniform as it goes to large distance downstream of the actuator disk.
Now, as the flow moves into the actuator disk, it acquires a velocity V 1. Now, V 1 is the
velocity at the actuator disk which you change from V infinity, which is what it started
off with large distance upstream of the actuator disk and then it goes to the actuator disk
with a velocity V 1. So, the velocity through the actuator disk or the axial velocity more
specifically actual velocity is V 1 through the actuator disk.
Across the actuator disk there is a change of pressure, it changes from P 1 to P 2 this is a
jump change from P 1 to P 2; P 2 will have to be more than P 1 and the differential
pressure on the two sides of the actuator disk actually creates the thrust.
Now, a little more about this actuator disk, let us see a few things that we can write down
quite easily actually the propeller are replaced by an actuator disk. The most important
thing is this disk is assumed to be of very small thickness and it is a continuous and 100
percent porous body of no mass. So that is what an assumed actuator disk is that is it is a
disk of infinitesimally small thickness but, it is a continuous body and it is 100 percent
porous body of no mass what so ever. It has a projected frontal area of A through which
all the air passes and this A is also often called the swept area, which is normally equal to
the area of the rotating propeller blades. The rotating propeller blade which is being
replaced would have the same amount of swept area which this actuator disk would have.
The other physical property of the actuator disk is that it has no resistance. That means, it
is not offering any drag at all, so the porosity of the body is absolutely 100 percent and it
offers no resistance or drag what so ever to the air passing through this actuator disk. The
axial velocity which it acquires as it approaches or comes near the disk is uniform over
the entire actuator disk and is considered to be smooth across the disk. So, it does not
experience any abrupt change or jump change or anything as it passes through the
actuator disk. So, it simply passes through the actuator disk as if it does not exist and that
is where the 100 percent porosity actually is manifested.
However, it is an actuating disk, so it is doing some work and this work or energy
manifests itself in the working medium which of course, for our case is always air and it
manifests itself in the form of differential pressure that is P 2 minus P 1 and this is a
jump change across the actuator disk. In the mathematical model that we are putting
forward, we are now saying that the flow as it passes through the actuator disk
experiences a differential pressure of P 2 minus P 1 and this is a jump change and this is
uniformly distributed across the entire disk surface; actuator disk surface.
The actuation that the actuator disk does involves essentially a jump change in the
pressure across this disk. It does not involve any change in velocity it involves only
change in pressure. The fluid medium which is being used here is assumed to be a
perfect incompressible fluid to begin with that is a simple theory that we are doing we
will take it as an incompressible fluid.
The flow is assumed irrotational in front of and behind the disk, irrotational in the fluid
mechanics sense that you may have done before but, it is not assumed to be irrotational
when it is passing through it, which means it may acquire certain amount of rotationality
inside the disk. However, in front and behind the disk the flow is assumed to be
irrotational.
The static pressures far from the disk that is for upstream and for downstream are both
assumed equal to the atmospheric pressure let us say, P A. On the other hand, the
velocities are two independent velocities that is for upstream and for downstream they
are different from each other. These two velocities are to be found out or determined
separately for upstream velocity may be given for a particular problem and the
downstream velocities is to be determined or estimated depending on how the actuator
disk is modeled.
Let us go back to the diagram which we were looking at. We have now defined the entire
mathematical or physical model that we have in front of us. We have an actuator disk
which essentially replaces a propeller it has infinitesimal thickness, it is 100 percent
porous and it has no mass what so ever, the velocity of the flow as it approaches the
actuator disk acquires a value V 1 and remains V 1 through the disk and across the disk it
remains V 1.
However, the pressure across the disk jumps from P 1 to P 2 and this jump in pressure
manifest itself in the form of creation of thrust and that is what of course, the fluid static
tells us. This thrust creation is now entirely due to the change in pressure across the
actuator disk. After the flow leaves the actuator disk it continues to flow downstream and
acquires uniform flow for downstream with a velocity V e, so this V e would have to be -
- as per the thrust creation principle that we have studied before: in any form of jet
propulsion this V e will have to be somewhat more than V a or V infinity, how much
more depends on the propeller you using.
The general concept that we have used is that the change in velocity across a propeller is
normally somewhat small compared to any other kind of jet propulsion. So, this velocity
would be probably not very high and that would again give us another estimate of the
thrust, which we shall see would have to be pretty close or equal to the thrust creation
determined by the jump in pressure across the actuator disk.
This is the physical model basically, physics and mathematics model that has been
created to replace an actual propeller and then allow us to make a very quick estimation
of the propeller performance and acquire its performance parameters. We shall see later
on that it has number of advantages which of course, can be made use of by the propeller
designers or propeller analysts for very quick estimation of propellers performance. So,
let us go ahead look at and develop this theory in its full form.
The mass flow through the disk from general continuity that we normally use can be
written down as m dot that would be equal to rho A V and rho being the density of air, A
is the area of the actuation and V of course, is the velocity through which the flow is
flowing at any given point in that domain.
Now, the thrust produced by the disk from Newton’s principles or laws that we have
done before, because of the change in momentum in air would be available from the
momentum change and that reaction which normally gives us the thrust would be in
terms of rho A V, which is the mass of air; A and V can be taken anywhere in that
domain and the change across the entire domain from V infinity to V e and that gives us
the thrust. Now, this is the momentum method of the estimating thrust.
On the other hand, the physics model that we have put forward now from the fluid statics
the thrust can be estimated by simply taking the pressure differential across the two sides
of the disk. When that is multiplied by the surface area activation area of the actuator
disk, which we also call the swept area we get another value of thrust which is A into P 2
minus P 1. The thrust can be indeed actually calculated by two different methods: one is
the momentum method and other is the pressure differential method using the pressure
differential across the disk.
Now, what we can do is we can use the energy principles. We have assumed that the
flow across the domain is essentially incompressible in nature. This incompressibility
allows us to use the Bernoulli’s equation; Bernoulli’s theorem which all of you know
very well. Here, we have to be a little careful the Bernoulli’s equation needs to be used
on either side of the disk separately but not through it, because the actuator disk is a
working medium and it is energizing the flow. As a result of which Bernoulli’s equation
is not valid through the disk.
Typically, this is one thing you need to remember that you cannot use Bernoulli’s
equation and Bernoulli’s theory if any energy is added within the flow domain. We have
two domains: one upstream domain and one downstream domain. In the upstream
domain you can use the Bernoulli’s equation to equate the energy of the flow, which is
coming in at the entry that is P infinity plus half rho V infinity square and that has to be
equal to P 1 plus half rho V 1 square that is in front of the disk. From upstream to in
front of the disk, we can have equality of energy upstream of the actuator disk.
Now, downstream of the actuator disk as we have seen it acquires a pressure P 2 and
then it has the kinetic energy half rho V 2 square, V 2 we have seen actually equal to V 1
and for downstream we have P infinity plus half rho V e square and that is a downstream
Bernoulli’s energy equation, downstream of the actuator disk.
Since, we have already said that velocity through the actuator disk actually remains
constant V 1 is equal to V 2. As result of which we can now write down that the pressure
differential P 2 minus P 1 through the actuator disk is actually half rho V e square minus
V infinity square. As a result of this from the above equations, we can now say that V 1
which is the flow at the actuator disk is half of V e plus V infinity, which is just the mean
of the upstream and the downstream velocities. If you have the upstream velocity V
infinity and if you can estimate the downstream velocity V e then you can find simply by
averaging the two the velocity at the actuator disk.
Now, this is a very important and useful concept really coming from very simple
formulae or simple mathematical simplifications or equations. This gives us that if the
upstream velocity is measured let us say, a propeller is being tested in a propeller wind
tunnel. The easiest thing to do is measure the velocity for upstream of the propeller in the
wind tunnel and then measure the velocity for downstream of the propeller in that huge
big wind tunnel. Average of these two actually gives us the velocity through the
propeller. Now, this is a very important concept which comes from this momentum
theory and allows even the experimentalists to find out what the velocity of the air is at
the propeller which is of course, as you know extremely difficult to measure.
Measurement for upstream and downstream of the propeller very quickly gives us a
quantified value of the velocity at the propeller. As I said, this is a very important
concept used by the analysts and by the designers or even experimentalists can make use
of this to find out the velocity at the propeller.
Now, this shows that the air velocity through the actuator disk is the mean of the
velocities far upstream and far downstream of the propeller. This allows us to draw a
simplified model and this tells us that the thrust now can be written down in terms of half
rho V square minus V infinity square into A.
Now, this is a very simple way of putting the thrust, if the density of the air is known, if
the far upstream velocity and far downstream velocities are known and the activation
area or the propeller swept area is known, we get a very quick estimation of the thrust it
can create. Needless to say this is a somewhat idealistic and theoretical estimation of the
thrust but, nevertheless it gives us a very quick estimation of the thrust this propeller can
possibly create and given the working condition as defined in these parameters, one can
say that would be about the maximum thrust that this propeller would be able to create.
This is a very quick method by which the maximum possible thrust of a propeller can be
estimated with the help of the most important and the fundamental parameters that are
activating the propeller. The momentum theory does allow us to make very quick
estimation of the thrust if some of the fundamental operating parameters are available to
either by experimental verification or by analysis, which could involve CFD analysis or
for design purposes, which the designer would then make use of those parameters for
designing a propeller.
Now, as we see, the velocity at the disk comes out to be the free stream axial velocity
plus induced velocity. Now, this induced velocity is what is the average of the two and as
a result of which we can now write down that the thrust of this actuator disk, which is
modeling a propeller is in terms of rho A into V infinity plus this small v into 2 into
small v and that would be equal to twice the mass flow into small v. So that is a very
simple neat way of writing what the thrust of a propeller would be which is being
modeled by this actuator disk.
As you can see, it is born out of number of simplified assumptions which we made right
in the beginning. It gives us as I said a very simple handy method by which the thrust of
a propeller can be very quickly estimated.

Now, we need to know what the induced velocity is and this is of course, the velocity
that has been created through the actuator disk. This can now be written down in terms of
this relationship from the earlier relationships that we had developed and if you do a
simple mathematical analysis you would find that the induced velocity comes out to be
minus V infinity plus root over V infinity square minus 2T divided by rho A (Refer Slide
Time: 28:10). Now, this whole thing divided by 2. Now, this is of course, the induced
velocity that one can see in front of an actuator disk.
Now, using this induced velocity if one can estimate this induced velocity with the help
of those parameters if they are available. The static thrust where the propeller is not in
forward motion; for example, during takeoff, when the aircraft is not moving, the
propeller is not moving and the V infinity large distance is 0; that means the flow is
being sucked into the propeller from static atmosphere with no movement of the
propeller at all. The V infinity could be simply written down in terms of root over T by
twice rho A.
Now, this is a very simple way of trying to figure out, what the induced velocity would
be during takeoff and then allows us to quickly estimate what this thrust would be during
takeoff, when the aircraft and the propeller are actually static and they are not moving.
This is again a very simple handy way of quickly figuring out what the static thrust of a
propeller would be during the takeoff of an aircraft.
Now, some of these things are born out of the number of simplifications that we did in
the initial stages of the setting down this momentum theory. So, you need to remember
those things the flow is incompressible and all the physical definitions of the actuator
disk that has been put forward in this theory.
The next thing we can do is the power input. Now, you remember the power input is
what would have to be supplied by the engine, so the engine needs to be matched with
the propeller. This power input at takeoff can be found out using the thrust at takeoff and
A of course, is the swept area of the propeller and rho is the air density at the takeoff
condition.
This power input is what the engine has to supply. In various discussions, in the some of
the earlier lectures, we have seen that in most cases for aircraft operation the input power
during the takeoff is one of the highest powers; probably the highest power required
during any phase of the aircraft flight; which means the power required by the propeller
would be probably about the highest that is required by the propeller and that has to be
supplied by the engine during the takeoff. Equally, the thrust created by the propeller
during the takeoff is likely to be also one of the highest thrust required during the aircraft
flight. The highest power and highest thrust creation of the propeller quite often is asked
for during the takeoff.
The power required has to be supplied by the engine and only then the thrust that is
needed to fly the aircraft or for the takeoff would be possible through the activation of
this propeller. So, this power supply estimation is extremely important because that
allows the propeller to match with the engine. We shall see later on through these
lectures that propeller would have another requirement and that is torque, which also
needs to be supplied by the engine in a very accurately matched fashion otherwise, the
propeller operation would be quite difficult.
The efficiency with which the whole thing can be designated normally is the efficiency
definition is in terms of the power output by power input. In our case, the power output
of a propeller would have to be the thrust work done by the propeller. Now, thrust is the
work or the final output that the propeller creates. The input of course, is the power input
that is coming from the engine. In our case, we can say in this momentum theory that
power input is the thrust generated by the disk, when the thrust is multiplied by the air
velocity at the disk plane whereas, thrust is the power which is created by multiplying
the air velocity with the flight velocity of the aircraft.
So, if you write them down we will find that power output is thrust into the V infinity
velocity that is, with which the whole aircraft is flying which we have taken as a far
upstream velocity and power input is the activation power which is the thrust created by
the actuator disk into the velocity through the actuator disk. So that is the actuation
power required for actuating the propeller.
This calculation allows us to find out, what the values of power input would be and what
the value of power output would be, from which then we can find out what the propeller
efficiency would be using this actuator disk model.
The efficiency which we mentioned can now be written down in terms of power output
and power input. We can see that they can now be written down in terms of the velocity
fields that we have been defining and it comes out to be in terms of V infinity and V e.
The final efficiency parameter can be written down as 1 divided by 1 plus small v which
is the induced velocity by V infinity.
Now, as you can see here, the efficiency parameter is shown here with a subscript i and
this is because the efficiency of propellers computed though the momentum theory or
actuator disk theory is often called an induced efficiency. This induced efficiency is what
is normally obtained through the momentum theory of the propeller. Remember that we
had made a number of assumptions in setting together this momentum theory.
All those assumptions need to be understood to appreciate the fact that the induced
efficiency that we are getting now is based on the model that has been created in the
actuator disk theory. Hence, the induced efficiency is likely to be slightly different from
the actual efficiency of the propeller. So, we shall be able to see what this difference is
going to be.
There is efficiency estimated then using the momentum theory is simply called induced
efficiency in most of the literature. The induced efficiency as calculable through this
theory is zero for zero forward velocity and approaches 1.0 as the induced velocity, v
tends to zero. The induced efficiency reaches maxima but, does not show any fall with
increasing J which is the advanced ratio which we introduced in the last lecture.
Now, this is a bit of a dichotomy which appears over here that induced efficiency would
tend to be shown as 0 by this theory for 0 forward velocity, which is how you takeoff. At
the top of the takeoff run the aircraft, the propeller has no forward velocity but,
theoretically the induced efficiency there would be shown as zero.
So that is of a singularity which this particular theory shows us and then it approaches 1
as the induced velocity v tends to zero, which means you can have a 100 percent
efficiency if the induced velocity or the additional velocity through the actuator disk is
zero.
Now, as you know, if the induced velocity is zero your thrust is going to be zero. Your
efficiency would be 1 when the thrust is zero and when the thrust is maximum the
efficiency is going to be zero and this is the anomaly of this particular theory born out of
various models that we have put forward. As a result of that we have to take these two
points as singularities and not to be actually accounted for with the help of this theory.
The third point, which I mentioned is that the induced efficiency reaches a maxima and
does not show a fall with increasing J. Now, this is what is shown in here in the figure
(Refer Slide Time: 38:10). The actual efficiency of a propeller would go up and then
somewhere along the way the propeller efficiency would start falling with the advanced
ratio J, J is designated this as advanced ratio. So, if you plot efficiency verses advanced
ratio the efficiency keeps on increasing depending on the propeller design and at a
particular advance ratio it reaches its maximum.
Now, this is a typical propeller characteristic (Refer Slide Time: 38:38). It depends on
the propeller design it depends on what advance ratio the propeller is designed for and
typically most propellers are designed for actual operation within certain advance ratio.
Somewhere over there at one of the higher advance ratios the propeller efficiency is
suppose to be maximum and somewhere out there we may have a cruise point where the
aircraft is likely to cruise.
On the other hand, the efficiency estimation through the momentum theory actually tells
us that the efficiency would go along this line; the violet line and then it would reach
maxima over here and it will not fall any more. First thing you see is the induced
efficiency would be always a little higher than actual efficiency of the propeller, whether
it is estimated through any other means or experimentally acquired. That extra efficiency
comes out of the simplified model that we have used in the momentum theory.
Then in the momentum theory it shows maxima more or less at the same place where the
actual propeller would show maxima. After that the induced efficiency obtained from
momentum theory does not show any fall any more, it remains constant thereafter.
Now, this is a big difference and you need to understand why this difference actually
happens. This is due to the fact that we assumed that we have an actuator disk, which
does not have any mass, it is 100 percent porous but, probably the most important thing
is the actuator disk is not made up of blades and it has no surface area over which it can
offer any resistance. So, the actuator disk does not offer any resistance at all, it has no
drag and since it has no drag what so ever, it does not show any fall as an airfoil section
would show in performance. Once it reaches a maximum performance efficiency of the
performance it remains there; there is no reason by this theory for it to fall thereafter.
So, this is another; one can say a simplification of this momentum theory that it gives us
very quickly a handy method of estimating the thrust and the efficiency but, both are
likely to be slightly idealistic and somewhat on the higher side compared to what one
would probably get actually in actual estimation.
Now, we can look at the propeller characteristics. Now, propeller characteristics as we

have seen has to be shown in terms of thrust, in terms of power, in terms of efficiency
and all the three put together and their variation with advanced ratio what gives us a
propeller characteristics. The reason it is called characteristics is because this particular
characteristic plot actually characterizes this particular propeller.
Every propeller has its own characteristics almost like a human being. So, every
propeller is characterized by such a characteristic plot and shows its own efficiency
thrust and power variation. In our case, we shall see that they are shown in terms of
thrust coefficient and power coefficient, which we have defined in the last class.
The definition of thrust and power coefficient that has been put forward in the last class
is now brought into the fore and is used for characterizing the propellers. Every propeller
would have its own characteristic plot and one of the things that a propeller designer
need to do is quickly find out what the characteristics of this propeller is going to be,
before it is matched to an engine or before it is matched to an aircraft. The aircraft
designer as well as, the engine designer or the engine selector requires this characteristic
match to be available to select an engine or to put it on an aircraft.
Now, let us look at this characteristic what it tells us. You see, as I said they are shown in
terms of the advance ratio as the advance ratio increases. Typically, the advance ratio
will increase as the forward velocity of the propeller increases that means as the aircraft
starts moving and flying, its forward velocity increases and the advance ratio typically
would increase.
Depending on the aircraft the maximum advance ratio can be set, a very high speed
aircraft would have very high advance ratio range, over which this characteristic map
would have to be created. Comparatively, a low speed aircraft would have a lower
advance ratio range over which this characteristic map would have to be created, so it
also depends on the aircraft on which this propeller is getting mounted on. Because the
advance ratio range would have to be decided on the basis of the aircraft flight velocity
range starting with takeoff.
Now on the y-axis, you can see the power and thrust coefficients are shown here as C T
and C P. As u can see here, two things that are very important; one is the efficiency of
the propeller maximizes at a certain velocity or certain flight velocity or advanced ratio
whereas, the thrust coefficient and the power coefficient actually maximize during flight
at different values of advance ratios.
At lower advance ratios quite often the performance of the propeller is likely to be
somewhat uncertain and that is what is shown here in dotted lines. However, you would
probably likely to get maximum performance during at the takeoff point. During the
takeoff run of an aircraft, maximum thrust and maximum power would be created and
then of course, it would go through the climb procedure and then you have the flight
during which the propeller characteristics are more clearly available. During this phase
often the propeller characteristics may be slightly uncertain using this theory; the
momentum theory that we are talking about. You may need slightly more advanced
theories to calculate what is happening during the climbing operation of an aircraft.
Now, on a straighten level flight again, if we come back, you will see that the power
characteristic goes like this, the thrust or the thrust coefficient characteristic goes like
this, the maxima of the two are different and maxima of these two are different from the
maxima efficiency point. Now, the maximum efficiency occurs at a higher advance ratio,
a maximum thrust occurs over here and as a result of which the aircraft designer or the
aircraft operator would have to decide where the propeller would be mostly operative.
Quite often, the propeller operation is expected to be at a point where the propeller
efficiency is good and the thrust is also good and power is somewhat on the lower side
(Refer Slide Time: 46:11).
So, you do not use maximum power all the time, because if we use maximum power you
are likely to use more fuel; you do not want more fuel use all the time. So, you would
like to have lower fuel consumption with reasonable amount of thrust that is required for
straightened level flight. At a good efficiency which will ensure that you have a good
propulsive efficiency of the aircraft propeller combined and which will show up finally
in good fuel efficiency.
The choice of where the propeller should be operated during the cruise is to be decided
based on this propeller characteristics and that is the reason why this propeller
characteristics is so important that we need to have these characteristics, before the
propeller is mounted on the aircraft.
If we look at some of the issues that we have discussed that the induced efficiency which
we talked about reaches a maximum. It cannot be realized as the energy lost in the
rotational motion, which is possible through the actuator disk in passing through the
propeller or the actuator disk, because the certain amount of energy which is going in the
rotational motion of the air is not available for thrust creation. Thrust is created only with
the help of actual velocity change, so the actual velocity change is what gives thrust. The
rotational velocity change or rotational velocity which may appear does not contribute to
the thrust creation.
The second point is the losses due to the non-uniform thrust loading over the blade
length. What happens is quite often over the length of the blade which is approximated
here with actuator disk. The loading is not uniform, which we have assumed here as a
uniform loading over the entire actuator disk, in an actual blade that may not actually
happen.
The second or the third point is the blade interference losses due to the interaction of the
flows over the neighboring blades. In the actuator disk, we have assumed it is a porous
body; it is a continuous body with no mass with 100 percent porosity, in an actual
propeller you actually have 3 or 4 blades, rest of the area is open. These blades when
they are rotating at some speed they actually have certain amount of aerodynamic
interference between each other.
For example, wake of one of the blades could interfere with the wake of the other blade
or the flow from the one of the blades could flow into the other blade. This aerodynamic
interference is totally neglected or assumed to be not present in this particular
momentum theory, so that is an another reason why there is a difference between what
we calculate through momentum theory and what would actually happen in an actual
propeller operation.
The next point is the propeller profile drag losses, incurred over all the blade surfaces;
now, we do not have blades over here. There are no blade surfaces, so the airfoil is
absent and hence there is no surface what so ever and the airfoils which encounter drag
in the process of creating lift is completely absent. The propeller does not experience any
loss whatsoever as it is modeled in actuator disk theory. The changes in properties due to
compressibility, we have assumed that the flow is incompressible, so in this simplified
theory we are not taking into account compressibility at all.
These are the differences between the momentum theory that we have put together and
the actual operation of the propeller that actually happens during the operation of the
propeller. If we quickly look at the propeller thrust and power distribution in the disk
across the length of the disk, we shall see that this is what actually propeller does at the
thrust creation varies from root to tip, as I was just mentioning little while earlier that it
is maximum thrust is somewhere near the outer half of the propeller. The maximum
torque is also created by the outer half but, in our actuator disk theory we have assumed
that it is uniform over the entire actuator disk or entire emulous or entire area of the
actuator disk.
This difference between an actual propeller and actuator disk is what manifests itself in
the differential between the estimated values of thrust and efficiency and the actual
values; one we find by experimental or other more accurate methods.
This is what the propeller theory is; the first propeller theory is that we have put together
a very simple theory. A very simple theory that quickly tells us what the thrust is likely
to be, even tells us what the thrust is likely to be during the takeoff operation of an
aircraft. It gives us a very good estimation of the efficiency over the advanced ratio
variation with slight increase in the values of efficiency once we know what these
differences are, why these differences are based on this simple theory. We do have a very
quick estimation of how the propeller is going to function, because as we have seen, we
need to have a good reliable propeller characteristic for it to be matched with an aircraft,
for it to be matched with an engine.
So, this is the first cut estimation of the propeller performance. In the next theory, the
blade element theory, which we will do next we shall have a closely look at how the
propeller functions when the entire propeller blade shape made up of airfoils is brought
into the reckoning in the theory and that is what we will be doing in the next class.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 30
Propeller aerodynamic theories - II
We have been doing propeller theories, we did some propeller fundamentals and we try
to understand how the propeller actually creates thrust. In the process of creating thrust,
the propellers need to be supplied with power, for which you need an engine, which
could be a piston engine or a gas turbine engine or any other engine, any other device
that produces power. Propellers’ main job is to make use of that power and create thrust
for flying an aircraft.
Typically, the propellers are made up of three or more number of blades, number of
blades could be even two. These blades are made up of airfoil sections, which put
together, create the blade shape; these blades when in rotation, in a predetermined
manner, helps in producing thrust.
In the last class, we did a theory of propellers, in which we looked at propellers as an

actuator disk. That means physically and mathematically the propeller was replaced by
an actuator disk. This actuator disk essentially is modeled, to be a thrust creator or
energizer, which then produces the thrust; this is what we did in the last class. We have
been introduced to the fact that propellers are made up of airfoil sections; we had a look
at one or two of these airfoil sections.
Today, we shall look at a propeller theory, which again makes use of the propeller airfoil
sections, the proper propeller blade shapes, how this theory then uses the airfoil sections
to actually create thrust, how this thrusts is determined with a help of simple
mathematical formulations. As a result of which, the designer can make use of this
theory to design a propeller and then create a model for prediction of the propeller
performance. We shall see how the prediction of the propeller performance is actually
created, which are called propeller characteristics. These characteristics essentially, as
the name suggest, characterizes the propeller, this particular propeller which has been
designed.
Every propeller that is designed needs to be immediately accompanied with propeller

characteristics, which determine the entire propeller operation and its capability. Only
then the aircraft designer can make use of the propeller, because he has to match the
aircraft characteristics with the propeller characteristics. On the other hand, matching the
propeller with the engine requires that the propeller characteristics are matched with the
engine characteristics.
Propeller as we see, is interface again between the engine and the aircraft, its
characteristics must match with the aircraft characteristics, its characteristics must match
with the engine characteristics, only then we have a propeller that can fly an aircraft with
the help of the engine providing the power. Let us take a look at the propeller theory that
uses the propeller blade shape, as it is actually is and the airfoil sections which actually
provides the conversion of lift and drag, to thrust and matching of the torque that is
provided by the engine.
The theory that uses the propeller blade shape is simply known as blade element theory.
There are various versions of the blade element theory; we will be doing the elementary
version. There are more advanced versions of blade element theory, which are beyond
the scope of this course, we shall not be doing them. But, the fundamental blade element
theory that we will be doing provide sufficient backdrop, for understanding of how the
propeller blades are designed, how the propeller blades finally go on to create thrust,
how the airfoil shapes with characteristic values of C l and C d actually help in creation
of thrust. The blade elements, which create the propeller blade shape, are assumed to be
made up of airfoil shapes.
Now, these airfoil shapes can actually vary from root to the tip of the blade. So, along the
length of the blade, the airfoil shapes can vary quite a lot really. As a result of which,
their C l and C d characteristics would also vary substantially from the root of the blade
to the tip of the blade.
Now, this is something which you need to understand very quickly, because when the
propeller is in a rotation, as we have seen before, in the simple velocity triangle that you
can construct on a blade section, the incident velocity on a blade section would vary
from root to tip. One of the reasons is that near the root, your rotational speed is rather
low; near the tip, the rotational speed is quite high. As a result of which, the incident
velocity at the root is likely to be low, the incident velocity at the tip is likely to be quite
high, the difference is quite substantial.
Near the roots, you could have velocities, which we could say are low subsonic
velocities. The airfoil sections - therefore you should be using, they are essentially meant
for low subsonic applications. On the other hand, near the tips, the incident velocity,
which we called v r, would be quite high, they could be high subsonic. In the more
modern airfoils, they are in fact going almost transonic. Some of these would then
correspondingly require airfoils, which are either high subsonic airfoils or in the modern
propellers transonic airfoils.
You see from the root to the tip of the blade, the airfoil sections would vary quite a lot
from somewhat thicker airfoil sections, which are good for low subsonic applications, to
thin airfoils, which are good for high subsonic or transonic applications. So, in the
airfoils, you would be using all waves from the root to the tip of a single blade, vary
substantially in its shape, in its camber and it is basic characteristics, normally denoted in
terms of C l and C d.
The other difference is these airfoils would also have different kind of incident angle
range. The C l C d that they use, actually, automatically would have the airfoil
characteristics built into it, these airfoil characteristics would show the C l C d applicable
over a certain incidence range. Now, this incidence range also varies from low subsonic
airfoil to high subsonic or transonic airfoils. Typically, the low subsonic airfoils would
have a somewhat higher incidence range, of the order of 15, 16 degrees of incidence
range of operation. On the other hand, near the tip, where the incidence range is going to
be very low, because there are thin airfoils meant for high subsonic to transonic
applications, those incidence ranges are often of the order of 4, 5, 6, 7 degrees. So that is
the range that you have of variability of the incidence, which means your incident flow
velocity v r could change its direction by that much depending on the airfoil that is
deployed at that particular section.
So, this is the difference that happens from root to tip of a single blade. This is what the
designer has to be very careful about when choosing the airfoil sections, blending them
together into one blade shape, because their actual sectional properties vary substantially.
A large number of different airfoils are used to make up one propeller blade, could be
something like 10, 15, 20 different airfoil sections, with each having its own C l C d and
incidence range characteristics. All of them will have to be blended together into one
single blade shape. Each of these elements they have their c l c d characteristics, in
addition, they have their - as I just mentioned their incidence range, which is built into
the shape of the propeller that is being deployed over here.
Now, let us look at the various flow geometry and the flow parameters that every blade
section can be said to be dealing with. On the left side, we have a three bladed propeller,
which is in rotation with an angular velocity omega. If we take one blade section here,
which has a radial depth of dr, this is the blade section, which we say is representative of
the propeller.
Typically, a propeller is quite often represented by a blade section, which is somewhere

near about around 60 to 75 percent of the blade. Most of the subsonic propellers would
have their representative blade section at around 75 percent of the blade length; some of
the transonic propellers may be even higher than that. So, it is somewhere between 50 to
75 percent that is what can be called a representative blade section. This representative
blade section is the first section that is typically designed by the designer. The designer
creates its own characteristics, which is the average characteristics of that particular
propeller.
Every propeller is first designated with average sectional characteristics of sectional

property that is required to create thrust. This average sectional property is built into the
reference section of the blade, which is as I mentioned, normally someone near 75
percent of the blade length. This section is the first section that is often designed and then
the rest of the sections are designed from there onwards, from root to the tip of the blade.
Let us take a look at this representative section over here, in which, you have a blade,
which is expected to rotate with angular velocity omega, as a result of which, it acquires
a rotational speed of omega r, which can be written in terms of twice pi n r n being the
rpm. This propeller along with the aircraft, which it is flying, is moving with a forward
velocity, with of which is of the order of V infinity. So, we say that this is the velocity
with which the air is coming and meeting the propeller, so that this is the relative forward
velocity with which the air is meeting the propeller and this is the rotational velocity of
the propeller section.
The two of them together make up this resultant velocity V R, which is now said to be
actually incident on the propeller at this particular section. So, this particular section now
has to be aligned as close to this direction of the resultant velocity. Now, this resultant
flow is at an angle phi with respect to the peripheral direction or tangential direction of
the propeller. Then, you need to set the blade, this particular blade section, which here is
shown as a blade setting angle of beta. If you set it at an angle beta that means the chord
or the 0 lift line of the particular blade section, is set at this angle beta with respect to the
rotational direction. Then, what you have is beta minus phi is alpha, which is then the
angle of attack of this particular blade section. Now, this is the angle of attack or
sometimes called angle of incidence, which characterizes this particular airfoils C l C d
characteristics.
One needs to be very careful, what is the angle at which this blade section is being set
with reference to the angle at which the flow is expected to come into the propeller, so
the angle of V R, the angle at which the blade section is set need to be very close to each
other. So that you have an angle of attack alpha, which is within the operating range of
this particular airfoil as characterized by its C l C d characteristics. You have here the
propeller blade section, being typically harnessed on the one hand using the C l C d
characteristics. On the other hand, aligning it to the actual propeller operation in terms of
rotation and it is forward velocity.
Now, let us say that the blade has been aligned, the blade has been set and the flow is
coming into the propeller at an angle alpha to the blade section, with a velocity V r.
Then, it creates a small elemental lift of dL, born out of the lift characteristics C l, so this
is the elemental lift that is created born out of C l. Correspondingly, this section would
experience a small drag of dD, which is born out of its drag characteristics C d. These are
then the characteristic values of this particular blade element.
Now, these are as per the definitions of lift and drag, are parallel and perpendicular to the
flow direction, as a result of which, the lift is in this direction, which is perpendicular to
the flow direction; drag is in this direction, which is parallel to the flow direction.
Now, if you decompose the elemental lift dL, the elemental drag dD into two other
direction, which is the direction of motion of the propeller, the aircraft together and
perpendicular to that you get two forces, the one which is in the direction of motion of
the propeller and the aircraft together, gives you the thrust. So, the component of dL in
the forward direction or what can be called the direction which is parallel to the axis of
the propeller, would give you the thrust component, which we call dT, which is the
elemental thrust of this particular element. So, an as result of which, you get a thrust
now, born out of the lift component of the propeller.
Of course, here, you would get a very small negative thrust in the actual direction, so the
net thrust would be composed out of positive contribution from the lift and a small
negative contribution from the drag. On the other hand, if you take perpendicular to the
thrust in the peripheral direction, the two components of the lift and drag is actually
additive. They together create a force, now this force is what needs to be countered or
matched by the torque that is applied by the engine. So, a torque, which is elemental
torque, which is shown here as dQ divided by r, gives you the peripheral force that is
coming in from the engine on this particular section and that needs to be matched with
the peripheral component of dL and dD. If they are matched, if the torque supplied by
the engine matches with this torque requirement of the propeller, of this particular
section, then we have a situation where we get the thrust that we want. So, the lift and the
drag are the characteristic of the propeller, the torque is what is supplied by the engine. If
all these things are matched together properly, we get the elemental thrust dT, which is
what you would require to fly aircraft, when all the elements are put together of a
particular propeller.
The thrust that is created by an element, at let us say radial length dr, is created with the
contributions from the airfoil, which are characterized by dL and dD of this particular
element and the torque which is supplied by the engine. So, this is how the thrust is
elementally created by any particular element of a particular propeller. All the elements
put together and then create the total thrust of a blade, which is in rotation.

If you now look at this elemental lift and drag characteristics, which then create the
working capacity of the propeller. We have a blade element, which is in work, which is
in rotation - in rotation it is doing work, in the process of doing work, it is actually
creating thrust. So, the thrust that is produced by this particular element can be now
written down in terms of dT, which is shown in the diagram. They can be written down
in terms of the elemental lift dL, elemental drag dD. As I have stated, the drag
component actually gives you a slight negative component, as a result of which, you can
now write down the entire thrust equation. The first part that is half rho V R square c,
actually is the dynamic head which is created. C l is the characteristics of the propeller
blade section, C d also is a characteristic of the propeller blade section, which is under
consideration, phi is the angle at which the flow is coming into the blade, c is the chord
of the particular blade section. As we have seen in the earlier diagram, the propeller
blade section could vary from quite a lot - the actual value of the chord could vary quite
a lot from the root to the tip of the blade.
Chord of the blade would vary from one section to another, so in this thrust creating
equation, rho is the density of the air which is operation, which let us say is invariant
from root to the tip of the blade. On the other hand, as we have seen from this diagram,
V R would vary from root to the tip of the blade, c would vary from root to the tip of the
blade, dr the elemental length could be same for each and every element that you take.
The C l value would vary from root to the tip of the blade, depending on the airfoil
section you are using; same with C d, its value would vary from root to the tip of the
blade - of any particular blade. Then, the value of phi also would vary from root to the
tip of the blade, depending on the rotational speed, which depends on r omega, angular
velocity being constant, so phi would vary also from root to the tip of the blade.
In this thrust creating equation, as you can see, except for rho, all the other parameters
actually are varying from root to the tip of the blade. Now, supposing, if you want to
have the thrust created by each and every section of the same order, you would probably
have to manipulate these values in terms of lifting capacity, the drag penalty, the
resultant velocity that is coming in and the chord - dimension of the chord, to get the
value of dT constant from root to the tip of the blade. Now, quite often that may not
always be possible, so quite often the actual elemental thrust produced by each section
could indeed vary from root to the tip of the blade.
Now, let us look at the torque that is to be supplied. Now, this is to be matched by the
engine supply, so torque is required for the propeller to be operated, this is to be supplied
by the engine. So, again using the same diagram, we can write down the torque equation
here, in terms of the elemental lift and the elemental drag, in terms of the local flow
angle phi. Again, if we write down in terms of the fundamental propeller blade
characteristics, the airfoil characteristics, we can write down half rho V R square; c again
is a chord, dr is the elemental length of the elemental blade, C l is again characteristics,
phi is the flow angle and C d is a characteristic, implies the flow angle.
Here, we can see that the components from C l, or lift and drag are additive, they are on
the same side of the axis, as a result of which, they are additive. They add up together to
create a force and torque, which needs to be matched by the engine supply. This when
multiplied by r gives you the torque. Now, this torque has to be supplied by the engine,
without which the propeller would not operate at all. This is how you create thrust, this is
how the torque is needed to be supplied by the engine, is matched by the propeller
requirement. If this requirement is matched, if we have a proper airfoil deployed there
with proper C l C d characteristics, then you have a thrust production that is required for
flying an aircraft.

Now, if you proceed along those lines, if you say from the flow geometry that is we have
created, the resultant inflow velocity is a line to the blade element. If we right down V R
as V infinity, which is the forward velocity or the incoming axial velocity by psi sin phi,
which is the angle which it subtends, the incoming flow dynamic head is based on the
forward velocity of the particular element. If we make these two substitutions in the
equations that we are written down for thrust and torque, from the flow geometry that is
available over here, the elemental thrust can now be written down in terms of q, which is
now the dynamic head; c is the chord, dr is the elemental length, phi is the flow angle
again in terms of C l and C d.
The thrust - elemental thrust can now be written down in a slightly different form, but
using the same characteristic values of C l, C d and flow angle correspondingly, the
elemental torque can be written down again in terms of dynamic head q, the chord c, r is
the length of the element from the axis, dr is the elemental length of the particular
element, phi is the flow angle, C l, C d are the characteristics of the airfoil being
deployed at that particular section. The elemental thrust and the elemental torque can be
now written down in terms of the characteristics of the airfoil, the geometry of the airfoil
and the flow which is coming in at an angle phi. So, these are the things that are built
into the equations that create the elemental thrust and the elemental torque.
If we now try to put all together, as we have seen, the blade is a blended version of all
the airfoils put together. When all the airfoils are put together, you get a total propeller
thrust and the total propeller torque. So, the elemental thrust and torque we were talking
about are now to be integrated from the root to the tip of the blade. Let us say, we have a
number of blades, which is B, which as we have seen could be 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8 that is
typically the number of blades normally used these days. If you put them all together,
you get the total thrust of the propeller and the total torque of the propeller that needs to
be supplied by the engine.
These two are to be varied accurately, estimated only when the total torque is properly
supplied, we get the thrust that is required to fly the aircraft. This is the thrust you would
require to fly the aircraft in a predetermined manner, to do that you need to be supplied
with that kind of a torque from the engine. The propeller power needs to be matched with
the engine power, to be supplied by the engine. So these are the parameters that you
required finally for the propeller to create thrust, based on the aircraft, on which it is
mounted, based on the engine, to which it is attached.

Hence, we see that the net thrust and the torque are seen to be directly proportional to the
number of blades B, the chord c as given in the final thrust and torque relationship. Now
that gives an impression that if u keep on increasing the number of blades, let us look at
the equation quickly, you see here those thrust and torque are directly proportional to the
number of blades B, the chord c; both of them. Now that gives you an immediate
impression that if you simply increase the number of blades, you get more thrust, you
would require more torque or if you simply increase the size of the chord, let us say all
the way from root to the tip of the blade, you would actually get more thrust and you
would need to be supplied with more torque. So, if you are supplied with more torque,
you would simply get more thrust. Now that is the impression one would get from the
blade element theory, the torque and the thrust equation that we have put together, in
practice that is not quite true.
What happens is that if you increase the number of blades or the size of the blades by
increasing the chord, it shall result in more surface area of the blades. If you have more
blades around, it will create more flow blockage, as a result of which, very high
aerodynamic losses, so the efficiency of the propeller blades would start falling.
If we increase the number of blades and the size of the blades or the chord, the efficiency
of the propeller would be affected, the propellers would create more and more blockage
to the flow. The thrust created is directly proportional to the amount of mass flow that it
actually activates; so, by increasing the surface area, you are decreasing the efficiency of
the propeller, by increasing the number of blades, you are increasing the blockage of the
propeller. Two of them together actually reduce the aerodynamic efficiency of the
propeller.
So, just by increasing number of blades or the size of the blade shapes, you would
actually be reaching a situation where you would not get more thrust, there would be
what can be called a point of diminishing return, at which you have to stop your increase
of number of blades. That is how the number of blades is decided quite often that is how
you see today, even today the number of blades is of the order of 3, 4, 6 or 8 and very
really more than that. The reason is here if you just simply increase the number of
blades, you are not going to get more thrust.
The Optimum number of blades that need to be decided, would need to be found
separately, does not directly come from the blade element theory. So, blade element
theory is not a correct indicator of the number blades that need to be deployed for
reaching a certain value of thrust.
The next thing we need to talk about is the blade element efficiency. Every element is
creating thrust, as we have seen, they use the airfoil characteristics C l and C d. As a
result, fundamentally they are aerodynamic entities. Any aerodynamic entity would have
a certain aerodynamic efficiency, so these blade elements would have basic elemental
efficiency, which when blended together would give us the total propeller efficiency.
The elemental efficiency typically, as per known efficiency definition, is the thrust
power that is produce by the particular element and the torque power that is supplied by
the engine.
The elemental airfoil characteristics that we have seen before now can be made use of, if
you do that the elemental efficiency comes out in the form of C l and C d. The elemental
efficiency of any particular blade element of a propeller can be written down in terms of
C l, C d and phi, which is the flow angle into that particular element. These three
together finally give you the elemental efficiency of the propeller, which stands to a
reason really, because three of them together actually decide the aerodynamic working
capability of that particular element, which as you know is an airfoil section.
This airfoil section is operative in a particular situation, which is incident flow at an

angle of phi. This creates the local aerodynamic flow angle, which creates a lift and the
drag. They together then finally decide what is the efficiency with which this element is
going to perform? So, we can directly calculate the elemental efficiency from the airfoil
characteristics and the local flow condition.
Now, what can be done is, you can find the maximum efficiency of this element from the
earlier equation that we have written down. It can be shown by simple algebraic
derivation that the elemental maximum efficiency occurs at this value, phi by 4 minus C
d by twice C l. This is how you can quickly calculate what could possibly be the
maximum elemental efficiency.
Now, you know, the elemental airfoil is by characterized by the C l and C d, hence it
stands to reason that they together decide what the maximum efficiency is likely to be. It
is generally found that all the things that we have been finding, the thrust, the torque, the
efficiency and the maximum elemental efficiency, all this can be found with a reasonable
engineering approximation, which normally gives us of the order of 10 percent
approximation, which is a fair approximation to begin with, given the simplicity of the
theory.
It allows us to design the propeller; it allows us to predict the propeller performance with
reasonable approximate accuracy. If we if do that we can create a propeller, which then
can be deployed in an aircraft flight. So, these are the some of the simple things that can
be derived out of this elemental propeller efficiency, the thrust and the torque that we can
calculate.
If we can now put together, all of it into typical blade, every element is now created with
a lifting characteristic, let us say that we get a value of a variation of lift, variation of
thrust and torque in the direction from root to tip that is designated as x from root to the
tip of the blade. If we can show that there is a gradient of thrust coefficient and torque
coefficient, which can be found, if they are plotted again from root to tip, we would get a
characteristic curve like this for any particular propeller.
The elemental thrust variation would look like this; you would probably get a maximum
thrust somewhere over here. The elemental torque characteristics would look something
like this, you would get a maximum torque somewhere over here. What you can see here
is that the maximum thrust and the maximum torque may not occur at the same element.
The same element may not be giving you maximum thrust, just because maximum
torque is being supplied. The thrust there could be little less than maximum and you
could get maximum thrust not necessarily at the maximum torque, may be something
little less than maximum torque.
As you can see, the maximum thrust and torque typically occur on the outer half of the
propeller blade, the lower half actually is less contributory to the thrust and they also
consume less of torque. Towards the root of the propeller, you could see that it could
actually be creating negative thrust, because that is the portion which is often not
properly aerodynamically shaped. They may not have very good airfoil shapes over
there, in fact they may not have airfoil shapes there at all, because that portion is
structurally strengthened and hence they may be creating actually negative thrust around
the root area.
Most of the thrust need to be created on the outer half of the propeller, however near the
tip of the propeller, again as we can see, the torque and the thrust dips very fast. So, very
near that tip of the propeller, the tip flow actually highly influences the propeller
elemental behavior there. You are unlikely to get much thrust contribution from the tip
area, so one needs to be very careful in designing the propeller, in which, the thrust needs
to be distributed in a manner. So that together the blended propeller would give the
necessary thrust that is required for flying the aircraft. So, this is the variation that you
need to build into a propeller shape, to get a propeller that is useful for flying an aircraft.
A typical low speed aircraft propeller characteristic is being shown here, which is shown
in terms of C T, C P. The C T as we have seen, is the thrust coefficient, C P is the power
coefficient. As we can see here, the efficiency of the propeller it being shown over here,
which shows that the efficiency of the propeller maximizes somewhere here at one point.
This is plotted with reference to advance ratio V by n D, this shows that the efficiency of
the propeller could be maximum at one point, whereas the thrust and the power could be
maximum at some other point of advance ratio.
Now, advance ratio as you know, would vary with the forward speed of the propeller,
which is the flying speed of the aircraft and the rotational speed. The ratio of the two
gives the advance ratio. Typically, higher the aircraft flying speed, higher would be the
advance ratio. Now, this is a low speed aircraft, so advance ratio values we are looking at
is somewhat on the lower side. So, typically that is the variation one would probably get
from a low speed aircraft propeller. First thing we can see here is that the maximum
efficiency operation, at the cruise or the longest deployment of the propeller, which is
during cruise, is somewhere near the maximum efficiency. That is not the point where
you use maximum thrust or maximum power, you would probably using less than the
maximum power, you would probably using less than the maximum thrust coefficient
and still creating sufficient thrust to fly the aircraft.
On the other hand, when you are taking off, you would be somewhere near zero of
advance ratio. You would be using maximum - near about maximum power to create
near about maximum thrust. You would probably need to create a good thrust during the
climb operation of the aircraft, so you would need to create good thrust. Then, during
cruise, you come down to lower thrust and lower power requirements, where you have
very high efficiency of the propeller. So, good propeller efficiency is often obtained near
the cruise, whereas as you can see here, during the takeoff, the propeller efficiency is
indeed quite low actually, but you operate for a very short period to create high thrust
using high power.
We can have a quick look at the high speed aircraft, where again the cruise is somewhere
near the maximum propeller efficiency, to get the best fuel efficiency of the power plant.
It does not use the maximum power or maximum thrust coefficient, which are typically
high - the highest near the takeoff. That is where you need to create maximum thrust, for
the takeoff and the climb operation. This is where you can see the advance ratios are
little on the higher side, compared to the earlier one. The advance ratio here shown is of
the order of 3.5 maximum, you are probably operating at advance ratio somewhere near
2.6. This is a comparatively high speed aircraft, on which a propeller has been deployed
for providing thrust to the aircraft.
Now, this is what you would probably get of propeller characteristics, which is a variable
pitch propeller. Now, you see, we have discussed the fact that propellers can be fix pitch
or variable pitch; most of the modern propellers used in most of the aircraft today, are
variable pitch propellers.
Now, these variable pitch propellers then would need to have their thrust versus advance
ratio, efficiency versus advance ratio characterized with different pitch angles. This is the
blade angle that is beta that we have seen before. Each value of beta then would create
one characteristic graph like this. So, if you have a variable pitch propeller, one of the
job of the propeller designer is to create a variable pitch propeller characteristics, within
which then the aircraft would need to be flown, the engine would need to be operated, so
that all the time the propeller is matched on one hand with the engine, on the other hand
with the aircraft.
Now, what we see here is a probable a cruise point selection, which is where you are
likely to operate at a comparatively high advance ratio. You are working at a high pitch
angle. Now, during the cruise, your pitch angle is likely to be higher order. During the
takeoff, your pitch angle of the propeller would likely to be rather low or as it is often
called they are finally said, whereas during cruise, it is going to be a core setting of the
propeller. So, during the cruise, the efficiency of the propeller can be used for a high
pitch angle, you would get a good efficiency there, during the cruise operation of the
aircraft. So, this is the kind of variable pitch propeller characteristics that you would get
of thrust coefficient and efficiency.
We can get similar characteristics for the power coefficient, this is a thrust power
characteristic, so you have the thrust variation here on the y axis and you have the power
variation. What you would see here is a thrust power characteristics, the cruise point is
likely to be somewhere over here, where you would use modest amount of power and
create modest amount of thrust sufficient for the aircraft to fly. On the other hand, near
the takeoff, you would need to create more thrust; hence you would probably use more
power. As a result of which, you would be operating somewhere here, which is near 0
advance ratio, whereas over here, you are operating at high advance ratio during high
forward flight speed of the aircraft.
So, these are the typical characteristics that characterize the propeller. Every propeller
once designed and created would need to have a characteristic plots like these, for the
engine designer and the aircraft designer to match to. This is absolutely necessary for
matching the propeller with the aircraft and the engine.
There is a fourth characteristic which is often used. The first three being the thrust
coefficient, the power coefficient and the efficiency, a fourth characteristic which is
often used for propeller design or selection, is simply called speed power coefficient.
This is defined as C s, is defined as rho V to the power 5 divided by power P into n
square, n being the rotational speed, all of it together power of 1 by 5 that is 0.2. This is
often used for designer selection of propeller.
Now, this speed power coefficient can be related to the power coefficient, simply with
the advance ratio J, is related as C s equal to J by C p to the power 1 by 5. Now, why this
speed power coefficient has been created? This is used only by the designers and the
propeller selectors; this is because, in the process of creating this definition, the diameter
of the propeller has been eliminated. As a result of which, you have a parameter -
normalized parameter, in which the size of the propeller has been taken out of the
equation, as a result if which, you can create a propeller characteristics conceptually,
without to begin with a priori bothering about the size of the propeller, which can be then
factored little later in the design process.
So, this speed power coefficient allows you to create a conceptual propeller without
fixing the size right away. The fixing of the size can be slightly deferred to a later date,
so that you a have propeller conceptually, already created and its characteristics is
already created. This is the advantage of the speed power coefficient, which is defined in
many of the literature.
This is a typical speed power coefficient characteristic of a propeller, again a variable

pitch propeller. This shows that under various pitching angle operation, the speed power
characteristics would vary. This is the advance ratio, this is the speed power
characteristics on the x axis and it is plotted against advance ratio J, the efficiency eta.
These are the efficiency curves; these are the advance ratio versus C s curves. These are
plotted at various pitch angles, so we are characterizing typically again a variable pitch
propeller. So, this is the kind of characteristic plot, which helps a selection or design of a
propeller for a particular operation, in which thrust needs to be created and the power
needs to be supplied by the engine.
As a result of this, we get propellers, which can be matched to aircraft and engine. Some
of the modern propellers, we can take a quick at - have shapes, which have sweeps.
These swept propellers are being used in the modern propellers, which have gone
transonic. The airfoil shapes of these are of transonic airfoil shapes, some of the new
propellers that are coming up are counter rotating; that means, you have two propellers
one behind the other, the second one is rotating in the opposite direction to the front one;
so these are called counter rotating propeller.
The propellers is fundamentally of two types; one is known as a tractor type, in which,
the propeller is deployed somewhere at the front of the aircraft and it is pulling the
aircraft that is why it is called tractor type. Sometimes, they are deployed in the rear of
the aircraft, quite often they are referred to as pusher type, as if they are pushing the
aircraft from behind. The tractor type is what is a deployed somewhere in the front of the
aircraft, the pusher type is deployed somewhere near the rear of the aircraft. So, these are
the various kinds of propellers, which are typically used in aircraft.
In typical aircraft application, we can say that the propeller power will be equal to the
engine power multiplied by the shaft efficiency, multiplied by the propeller efficiency.
So, we have to keep an eye on the propeller efficiency, which is a composite of all the
elemental efficiencies.
The propeller torque will have to be matched exactly with the engine torque that is being
supplied with the engine. Till you do that you are not going to get the proper thrust that is
required. Typically, during takeoff, the torque requirement is low, the blade setting
angle, or the pitch angle is low, the power required is high and the rpm is high. Because,
during takeoff, you require very high thrust, normally you require very high thrust.
During cruise, on the other hand, the torque requirement is very high that is because the
blade pitch setting angle is very high, as a result of which, the torque requirement is very
high. But, on the other hand, the power requirement is rather low; the rpm is also rather
low compared to the takeoff rpm.
So, during the cruise, during the takeoff, the propellers operate at quite different
operating conditions to create thrust; one for takeoff, which is very high, one for cruise,
where the thrust requirement is indeed rather low, but the torque requirement is rather on
the higher side. So, these are at least two different operating conditions, which a
propeller has to cater, to ensure that the aircraft flies properly. So, these are some of the
fundamental issues that comes out of propeller theories, you need to ensure that you have
a propeller which supplies sufficient thrust during takeoff, meeting all these
requirements. You have a propeller, which supplies thrust during takeoff, again meeting
all the requirements that are shown over here. So, only then you have a propeller, which
is worthy of putting on an aircraft for flying the aircraft.
In the next class, we will be trying to make use of all these propeller theories that we
have done, the propeller fundamental definition that we have used, the C P and the C T.
When you use all these fundamental theories, it should be possible for us to solve some
very simple problems, so that you get a feel of the numbers. I will be bringing along a
problem, I will solve a problem for you, may be a variable pitch problem, so that you get
an idea of what happens when these theories are used to solve real life problems. So that
is what we will be doing in the next class, trying to solve problems, making use of the
theories that we have done over the last three lectures.
Transcriber’s name: Shakeel
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Lecture No. # 31
Tutorial : Propeller
Today we will conclude the lecture series on propellers. We have been looking at lot of
propeller, fundamentals, propeller theories. We have looked at propeller theories that
provide a basis of propeller estimation, performance estimation, propeller shape
estimation, size estimation. One of the theories actually was developed without even
considering the propeller shape, blade shape. However, after these coverage’s, what we
can do is - we can look at the propeller blade shape and we can look at some of the
typical propeller shapes, blade shapes, aerofoil shapes, that have been used in the modern
propellers, and then, of course, we will conclude the lecture series with tutorial, which
means I will bring in a solved problem for you, and then, I will leave you with a few
problems for you to solve for yourselves.
So, this series of problems should help you in understanding the theory that we have
covered, very simple theories really and it should also help you in creating propellers
that, if you would like to create a propeller for yourself, for your small craft that you may
be making. So, all this is possible with the simple theories that we have done in the
course of last three lectures, and today, we will conclude this series of lectures on
propellers.
Today’s lecture is mainly about creating the blade shapes to begin with before we take
up the propeller problems. The blade shapes that we know are made up of aerofoils as we
have seen. Now, some of these blades shapes are very peculiar or I would say original to
the propeller blade shapes. The aerofoils that used in propellers are not used in any other
applications; they are typically made or designed for propellers only, and hence, we have
aerofoil shapes and blade shapes that are typical to the propellers of various kinds.
Now, propellers can be of various kinds. As we have discussed, propellers can be
subsonic; they can be transonic. We have not got down to making propellers which can
work in supersonic flight conditions. So, even today, we do not have propellers that can
fly in aircraft through supersonic speeds; it cannot go through the shocks. The efficiency
of the propellers goes down very fast, and hence, they are not competitive to the jet
engines, but at subsonic speeds, it is pretty much known that the propellers are more
efficient device for thrust making than many of the jet engines.
And as a result of that, at low subsonic speeds, even today propellers are the most
preferred form of thrust a making device for aircraft flight, whereas at somewhat higher
subsonic speeds, the turbo fans and the turbo jets have their own place especially for
long distance flights, but there are many applications of propellers, especially the ones
we call turbo props, that is propellers powered by gas turbine engines are used
extensively in many medium subsonic to slightly high subsonic transport aircraft both for
cargo as well as for passenger. As theoretically propellers are indeed, the most efficient
thrust making device.
In fact, the propellers are being now redesigned to operate with transonic tip speeds and
we shall have a look at such a propeller today. So, let us start taking a look at what a
conventional propeller looks like, and then, we will take a look at the transonic aerofoils
and a typical transonic modern propeller what it looks like.
A typical propeller, as we have discussed many times, is made up of aerofoils. Now, if
you look at this one single blade of a propeller, you can see that along the length of the
blade, the aerofoil section or the aerofoil shape changes drastically. Near the root of the
propeller blade, the aerofoils are very thick; they could be symmetrical aerofoils. As the
requirement here is not so much as aerodynamics, but the requirement here is more of
structural integrity and the strength of the propeller. As this entire propeller is held at the
root of the propeller, and essentially, structurally speaking, this entire propeller is a
cantilever beam in rotation, and as a result of this cantilever arrangement of the propeller
holding, the entire propeller load, the aerodynamic load, the lift and the thrust that we
have talked about created by the propeller itself has to be born at the root of the propeller
and that is where all the stresses strains and the movements are actually finally felt.
So, this portion needs to be made very strong so that they can hold the propeller in
rotation. This is something which has to be taken care of right in the beginning of the
design, and as a result of which, in this portion of the blade, the aerodynamics is often
sacrificed and the structural strength of the propeller blade at the root is given
precedence. However, a little after that, especially from here onwards, let us say you
need to create propeller blade shapes that help in create a lift and which as we have seen
finally help in creating thrust.
Now, the aerofoil section that we choose in these sections are essentially confirming to
the local flow. As we have seen in the velocity triangles earlier, the local flow incident
on the blade there is typically low subsonic. A combination of forward velocity which
we call V infinity and the rotational speed twice pi n r r omega r. Now, at this station
near the root, somewhat near the root of the propeller, the local a velocity v r is rather
small most likely to be low subsonic, and hence, you use aerofoil section which is indeed
a low subsonic aerofoil.
So, the aerofoil section that you choose around here is typically meant for low subsonic
usage; they are low cambered but thick aerofoils which confirm to low subsonic
application and you need somewhat thicker aerofoil to create a substantial amount of lift,
which as we know would then create a significant amount of thrust. However, as you
move along, you will find that the aerofoils are becoming thinner and thinner and
thinner, and at the tip, it is a very thin aerofoil.
So, they become progressively thin aerofoils, and as we know from the aerofoil
understanding, that these are all different aerofoils. These are not the same aerofoils
made thinner; these are indeed different aerofoils all together, because at the tip, again if
we go back to the velocity fields that we were talking about, near the tip of the propeller,
the resultant velocity v r incident on this leading edge is going to be rather high and this
is likely to be high subsonic for most of the modern aircraft propellers.
So, you need a high subsonic aerofoil which is normally a thin aerofoil to keep the drag
low. Otherwise, the drag would mount very fast. A thick aerofoil which you use near the
roots, if you use near the tips would create an almost amount of drag at that high speed,
and as a result of which, the propeller efficiency would be extremely low. So, you need
to create aerofoil which has a very high lift by drag ratio.
Now, C l by C d as we know is essentially a figure of the merit for aerodynamic

efficiency of any aerofoil, and as a result of which, as you go towards the tip from the
root to the tip, you have thinner and thinner aerofoil so that you continue to have high
aerodynamic efficiency of each and every of this sections, and as a result of which, the
overall thrust creation is done with higher propulsive efficiency or propeller efficiency.
Now, this is the reason, because of which, you have so many different kinds of aerofoils
as you go along the length of the propeller from root to the tip of the propeller. The
another thing you would notice is near the root of the propeller, the angle at which the
aerofoils are set are at high angle, for example, near the absolute root which is actually in
inside the root, the angle is nearly 42 degrees, and then, near the next aerofoil which is a
proper aerofoil, lift creating aerofoil, the angle is 39.5 degree nearly 40 degrees, whereas
as you move towards a tip of the propeller, the angle falls, and near the tip of the
propeller, the angle is as low as 17.3 degrees. So, that is the change of the angular setting
of each and every propeller and the aerofoils now become what we call? Finer and finer
setting.
So, the root of the propeller is set at what can be called a coarse setting and the tip of the
propeller is typically set at a fine setting. So, within the blade itself, the propeller
aerofoils settings move from coarse setting to fine setting as we move from root to the tip
of the blade. Now, this is also confirming to the inlet flow angle 5 which we have seen in
the earlier lectures and conforming to the velocity field there; that means a combination
of forward velocity and the rotational speed omega r.
So, combination of the two, create this flow angle situation, and then, by design, you
attribute or accommodate a small amount of angle of attack which finally creates the
blade setting angle beta. So, this is how these aerofoils are selected. This is how these
aerofoils are set at these places, and together they are blended into one propeller blade
shape, which then creates thrust in a more efficient manner.
Now, as we have seen, choice of these aerofoils, setting of these aerofoils together and
blending them into one blade shape create efficient propeller blade, which should be
efficient during all times of its operation. Of course, as we know today that all propeller
blades today are under variable pitch operating control situation and as a result of which,
most of the propellers do have variable pitch controls normally associated with the
propeller operation.
If you look at it the propeller blade, this is the leading edge. If you turn the propeller, this
is also called the leading edge, which as we will see probably is a comparatively flatter
surface. So, if you look at this propeller blade, this is let us say the top surface; so, that is
the top surface which as you can see has a curvature, whereas the bottom surface which
is the surface, which is we call leading surface. That is the surface that moves forward in
rotation so that the surface that needs the air first, and as a result of which, you have a
comparatively flat surface, which from aerofoil parlance, that would actually be called
often a lower surface or under surface, and we have seen that many of the aerofoils used
are actually flat under surface.
So, you can see here that many of the aerofoil that used here actually do have flat under
surface aerofoil shape. So, when you put them in the propeller, that surface often
becomes the leading surface. So, probably instead of calling leading edge, more
appropriate would be to call it leading surface, whereas this is indeed leading edge of the
aerofoils. So, this is the leading edge of each of these aerofoils put together, whereas this
would more appropriately we should be called probably leading surface and that is the
surface that moves into the air first as the propeller rotates.
So, this is how a propeller blade shape is put together created with the help of a large
number of aerofoils. Bigger the propeller more is the number of aerofoils that you would
need to put together and blending them into one smooth blade shape. As we have seen
many of the propellers in the early era - 50 years back, the propellers used to be made up
of wood, because that was the easiest material to give complicated shape like this, but
over the years, they used aluminium alloys for cast aluminium for giving the shape, and
later on in modern propeller era, they are using composite material to give more
complicated propeller shapes in most accurate manner. More accurate the blade shaping
is in conformity with these aerofoils shapes, more the propeller efficiency is likely to be
achieved during actual operation.

So, this was a conventional propeller shape. I will quickly show you a propeller aerofoil
which is meant for transonic applications. Now, this is the kind of transonic propeller
aerofoil which is used these days. It can be used in a flight mach number which is close
to high subsonic flight mach number, and during such a high subsonic flight mach
number, the flow over the aerofoil as we see here can go supersonic.
So, on the surface of the aerofoil, the flow would go actually supersonic even though the
entry mach number here is high subsonic, and hence, these are called transonic aerofoils.
So, some are over the aerofoil shape, the flow would indeed go supersonic and it is most
likely as it shown in the diagram here is most likely to again come out with subsonic
profile. Some are on the blade surface, the flow transits from subsonic to supersonic, and
then, again transit back to subsonic and leaves the propeller blade subsonically.
So, that is why it is called a transonic propeller and the blade shape that you see here is
also created. These are typically computer generated aerofoil shapes and they are created
for propellers. These aerofoils are not used for any other purpose in any other kind of
aerofoil applications, they are typically created for propellers, and as I mentioned, they
are computer generated to confirm to transonic local flow that is expected to be present
during propeller operation.

Now, this kind of transonic aerofoil is typically used in the tip area where we were
earlier using very thin aerofoils to conform to a high subsonic flow. This is the area
where flow is now likely to go transonic in the modern propellers, and instead of these
thin aerofoils, thin subsonic aerofoils, the modern designers would like to use such
transonic aerofoils where the local flow there, the combination of forward velocity and
omega r that is the rotational speed makes the flow actually go supersonic over the
aerofoil shape.
So, this is the typical transonic aerofoil shapes, and as we have seen, you need more of
these aerofoil shapes to make up an aerofoil propeller or part of the propeller. So, most
of these aerofoil shapes are computer generated by the designers and then blended into
propeller blade shape. A modern propeller would have transonic blade shapes around
here, but it would still have subsonic blade shapes in the lower half of the propeller and
they would continue to look something like this; that means they will go even in the
modern propellers progressively thicker and thicker as they move towards the root and
the root will have to be designed to withstand high stress and strain and the large
movement that comes due to the cantilever fixing of the propeller blade. So, that would
continue to hold good. However, only the tip section would now be redesigned to
accommodate transonic aerofoil shapes, which are nowadays generated typically for
propeller applications.
We can look at a typical modern propeller as you can see here, it is made up of eight
propellers and each of these propeller is made up of a large number of aerofoil shapes
and some of the aerofoil shapes towards the tip of the propeller are very likely to be
transonic aerofoils.
Also one can see here this modern blade shape has used a sweep. This sweep is
something which is normally associated with aircraft wings. However, many of the
bladed machines typically the propellers and compressors and fans are using the sweep
for a number of aerodynamic advantages, and especially when the propellers go
transonic, the sweeps have certain clear advantages in terms of containing the drag that
comes about, and as a result of which, the propeller efficiency is held at a higher value.
So, this is a typical modern propeller with swept leading edge, and as you can see, it has
a certain amount of sweep at the trailing edge also and this also uses the transonic
aerofoils so that these propellers can be called transonic propellers. So, these are the
modern propellers that are used in very modern aircraft, and as you can see here, it uses
up to eight blades to create one propeller for thrust making, for aircraft, for modern
aircraft which fly at high subsonic flight speeds. Now, we can look at some of the
problems which we would like to use the theories that we have done in the earlier
lectures and these theories would help you in solving some of the problems.
Now, before I give you the problems, I will try to solve a problem for you and this
problem is of a variable pitch propeller and this propeller is a little more conventional
propeller. What it states here is - it is used in an aircraft which is cruising at 644
kilometers per hour at sea level to begin with and is powered by 3-bladed propeller.
Now, this propeller is connected to an engine which rotates at 2600 rpm, through a 1 is to
2 gear box. So, the rotational speed is actually brought down by 1 is to 2 ratio, which
means the propeller speed would actually be half of the engine speed and it is supplied
with a power of 1491.5 kilo Watts of power at that particular operating condition, flight
operating condition.
It is stated that the propeller is designed with blades of NACA blade aerofoil sections.
So, it used the NACA aerofoils which we had looked at before. The question is to
compute the propeller diameter and the efficiency of the propeller at this operating
condition, if the propeller is a variable pitch propeller, what would be it is efficiency at
161 kilometers per hour? So, our problem is that we have a propeller. That is a variable
pitch propeller. It is of course powered by an engine and it is flying or cruising straight
and level with an aircraft and it is a 3-bladed propeller.
So, we can use and it is stated that it uses the NACA blade section which allows us to
use some of the propeller characteristics of NACA aerofoil propellers, which are 3-
bladed propellers. As we have seen before, every kind or every propeller actually should
have its own characteristics or characteristics maps as we have seen and we need to use
those characteristics to solve these kinds of problems. So, this is a variable pitch problem
and I will try to solve this problem for you so that you get a feel of how to solve typically
a variable pitch problem, and later on, I will give you some problems which are probably
somewhat simpler problems for you to solve for yourself.
Let us see how the solution of this problem would proceed. The density of the air at this
operating condition that is a normal sea level and that is rho air as given as 1.22kg per
meter cube; that is the standard air density at sea level and the flight speed is given as
644 kilometers per hour which translates to 178.88 meters per second.
As we know, most of our solutions would proceed with velocities, etcetera, given in
terms of meters per second, whereas the normal method of designating flight speed is in
normally in terms of kilometers per hour. Now, it is given that it is using power of
1491.5 kilo Watt which translates to 1491500 joules per second; that is as per as the si
system, and the propeller it is given that the propeller rotates at half the engine speed
through gear box ratio of 2 is to 1. So, it is rotating at 1300 rpm which then translates to
21.666 rps, that is, revolutions per second. So, that is the rotational speed of the
propeller.
Now, these are the given parameters as given in the problem statement. What we can do
is we can look at the first thing, the speed power co-efficient of this propeller given the
parameters that are already supplied. Now, this speed power coefficient is something
which we had discussed in the last class and we can use it here for the propeller
designation. Now, speed power coefficient as from its definition comes out to be 3.175.
That is the numerical value of the speed power coefficient, which as we know does not
require the propeller size of the diameter.
So, this is one propeller parameter which does not require the propeller dimension for it
to be evaluated. So, we have the speed power coefficient as 3.175. So, what we should
do is we shall use this speed power coefficient and use the speed power coefficient plot
or graph to arrive at the blade setting from the maximum efficiency consideration. We
are assuming that we will solve the problem for maximum efficiency of the propeller for
this particular blade setting or for this particular operating condition and the blade setting
which we will be arriving at. The other thing is the problem is now going to be solved at
a propeller design reference radius or 0.75 R, which is often the normal propeller design
reference radius, which means the propeller blade shapes are often first created at the
0.75 R.
Let us quickly go back to the propeller diagram which we have looked at right in the
beginning. You see all these blade shapes need to be created by design. The aerofoils
need to be set at various designations, but quite often one starts off with one of the blade
shapes which could be somewhere around here, which is to begin with representative of
the entire propeller.
So, this particular aerofoil section which is at 0.75 of the radius of the entire propeller.
So, if this is, let us say the axis of rotation, the radius of the entire propeller is so much
and this is at 0.75 of the radius of the propeller. So, this section would be considered the
reference radius or reference section of the propeller and for the design purpose to begin
with that represents the entire propeller. So, the performance at that section would be
representative of the entire propeller.
So, if you calculate the values of elemental thrust there, that would be an average
elemental thrust representative of the entire propeller. So, that is how quite often the
propeller design is created, propeller design is preceded that you start off with a
representative blade section which is not at 50 percent, which is normally at around 0.75
R and that is where normally the propeller reference radius is often created.
If you have a transonic propeller which we had just look at, the reference radius could be
a little higher; it could be somewhere around 80 percent of the propeller blade.
Somewhere over here which is likely to be then a more representative of the propeller
blade loading.
So, propeller reference radius is often chosen during the design and we are going to solve
our problem at that reference radius, which is as I mentioned representative essentially of
the entire propeller actually. So, we will proceed along those lines.
Now, if you look at typical 3-bladed propeller NACA, using NACA aerofoils and the
blade is being considered at 0.75 R. If we look at this blade section, blade characteristics,
what we see here is the speed power co-efficient C s is shown here in the x axis. The y
axis on this side is advance ratio V by n D. On this side, you have the propeller
efficiency eta and we have the carpet plots available of these parameters C s versus
efficiency and then C s versus V by n D. The other thing that is shown here as variable is
the blade setting angle beta. Now, this angles which are shown here are the blade setting
angles beta.
Now, as a result of which, as you can see here, higher the blade setting angle, you can go
into the higher advance ratio; that means, the higher forward speeds of the aircraft and
the propeller which is flying, whereas if you are stuck to a fixed pitch propeller at a
lower blade setting angle, you cannot move at a very high speed. So, this is a typical
propeller characteristic which allows the propeller to move at comparatively higher
forward speeds.
The efficiencies also shown here with various blade setting angles. The lower blade
setting angles as we can see here, the range of operation is very small over a very small
range of C s and the C s range is extended at higher and higher angles of beta blade
setting angle. Of, each of these blade setting angles, you can reach fair good efficiency
slightly higher blade setting angles can start giving you efficiencies of the order of 85, 86
percent. At very low blade setting angles, the efficiencies are a little lower of the order of
80 percent. So, if you use typical NACA aerofoil sections and typical 3-bladed propeller,
this is the kind of characteristics that is normally available for that blade or that
propeller, and if you are now trying to find out how this propeller is going to behave
under a particular operating condition, that has been specified in this problem; you would
need to use this characteristic map.
Let us use the characteristic map and see where we get our solutions. You see, if you
calculate the values of the C s which we have found 3.17, so, this is where you start off
with and then you arrive at V by n D, which is the order of 2.25 and you arrive at a
solution point which is somewhere over here and you are likely to get a blade setting
solution of the order of 46 degrees slightly higher than 45 degree, which has been
provided here. So, if you proceed vertically upwards at 46 degree efficiency curve, you
could get at this C s an efficiency of the order of 86 percent.
So, in this graph, what we can see is if you use the parameters given and calculate the
fundamental parameter C s and the advance ratio V by n D, you can arrive at a suitable
blade setting angle for this particular blade section, the reference section. So, the
reference section of the blade at 0.75 R should now be at 46 degree blade setting angle.
As we know the blade setting angle would indeed vary from root to the tip of the blade.
So, this 46 degree is at the reference blade section at 0.75 R and not for the entire
propeller of all the blade sections. So, that needs to be kept in mind and this is a variable
pitch propeller. So, this particular blade setting is suitable for that particular operating
condition which is specified in the problem. At any other operating condition, you can
choose another blade section through variable pitch mechanism and operate at that
section to get good efficiency of operation. So, this particular operation now gives us an
efficiency of the order of 86 percent.

Let us proceed with this problem solving. We get the solutions which is let us say the
best match point, and as a result of which, the extrapolated blade angle you can see that,
it does not fall on one of the line; so, you need a slightly extrapolated line which is a 46
degree line. So, it is somewhere between 45 and 50 and close to 45. So, let us say the
solution is 46 degree and the best efficiency for that 46 degree again we did not have a
46 degree efficiency line. So, that needed to be created, and as a result of which, that
extrapolated solution gives us best blade angle for the reference section of the propeller
at 46 degree and corresponding based efficiency would be 86 percent representative of
the entire propeller and the advance ratio there is 2.25.
Let us proceed along this. From this, we can now compute that the diameter of this
propeller based on these parameters would be 3.667 meters, and as a result of which, we
get a value of J now. The velocity, forward velocity we had already calculated 27.77
meters per second as the alternative flying speed that was specified in the problem.
Now, we are solving the alternative flying speed, where it was specified as 161
kilometers per hour, a lower fly speed, and that, at that low fly speed, the forward
velocity is 27.777 meters per second and there the advance ratio now is 0.562 given the
value of D we have already found. Now, at this flying condition, the speed power
coefficient C s would now be 0.793.
Now, you can use this value of advance ratio and this value of speed power coefficient to
find a new solution and we use the graph again. What we see here that, we are now at a
rather low speed power coefficient, a low flying condition, and at which, the advance
ratio is also rather low and our solution point is somewhere over here.
So, this is what you get when you try to find a solution which is pretty close to the
maximum efficiency operating condition of the particular propeller for which the
characteristic is available to us, and as a result of this, we can conclude the solution by
looking at that part of the graph a little more closely. This is where the solution point is
and this is where we have arrived at as our solution and we get a blade angle is 29
degree, which is likely less than the 30 degree line which we have over here. That is the
thirty degree line, and as we come along this at the C s of the value of that we have
found. This is what the solution blade setting angle would be that is 29 degree.
Now, if you proceed along that and go to the 29 degree solution angle, you would get an
efficiency - propeller efficiency - of 50 percent. Now, this is what you get from this map
which is representative of this particular propeller, which is been designed and
characteristic map created out of that design.
So, this is the solution of the alternative flying operating condition. That was specified in
the problem where we get a blade setting angle now of 29 degree with an efficiency of
50 percent. So, when you are flying here, you should be at a blade setting angle of 29
degree with an efficiency of 50 percent. So, it can be seen that at this value of J which is
representative of a low flying condition, the blade setting angle is 29 degree, where the
efficiency is rather poor. It is only 50 percent efficiency which is a very low efficiency of
operation.
So, what can be done is - if you now set the blade setting at 15 degree, you could actually
get an efficiency of 80 percent. Now, this is possible with this propeller only, and the
blade setting angle could actually be used to get a higher efficiency and this would have
given a speed power coefficient of 1.1.
Now, what happens is at that value, the propeller would go on an over speeding to absorb
the power supplied. Now, you see, we had already specified the amount of power that is
available, the gear box ratio that is available, and if we use those values as your input
power and the result is that you would arrive at a situation where propeller is using
propeller need is less than the power that is being supplied and this would result in an
over speeding of the propeller; this over speeding of the propeller is not a good idea. The
propeller would get hugely stressed due to the over speeding, and as a result of which,
the propeller might break.
So, the problem statement, the alternative operating condition at low flying speed, then
would require actually a variable pitch mechanism and this is where the variable pitch
mechanism and its utility really comes in the variable pitch mechanism can now be used
and you can now go outside the constant speed operation so that you can get a higher
efficiency.
So, if you continue to use automatic variable pitch mechanism with constant speed, you
would result in a low speed operation. You need to realize that the constant speed
variable pitch mechanism which can go on automatic operation would result then in a
low efficiency operation. So, you need to choose your operating controls rather
judiciously. If you just leave it to automatic control as we see in this problem solution,
you would result in a low efficiency propeller operation of the order of 50 percent
efficiency.
On the other hand, what can be done in this particular operating condition is that you
could actually choose a different speed of operation at which the power of the engine
would actually be much lower. The propeller evidently does not need so much power
anymore. It can do with much less power and you can choose a lower power setting,
which means a lower speed of operation of the engine, and if you do that at that low
speed, the power matching between the propeller and the engine would be more
appropriate, and in that situation, you can now choose a blade setting angle of 15 degree
at which the C s would be 1.1 and you can operate at an efficiency of 80 percent. So, you
see, you can have variable pitch mechanism and you can keep the propeller operating at
variable pitch. Normally, you would like to do that during cruise.
During cruise, you keep the propeller on automatic variable pitch constant speed
operation and propeller would always have a what we call the floating pitch mechanism
and it will set its pitch, but that is very good during cruise, whereas during low flying
conditions, during very off design operating conditions, you would probably like to
choose an engine operation of a lower speed so that the matching between propeller and
the engine in terms of power matching also in terms of torque matching is more
appropriate and there is no chance of the propeller over speeding to a very high speeds,
which as I mentioned could result in the breakage of the propeller physical breakage of
the propeller.
So, you need to and not to speak out the fact that it operates at a very low efficiency. So,
the result is under certain operating condition as we see, it will be more judicious to go
for a speed control, - control the speed at a lower speed of operation - and then, choose a
propeller blade setting which now as we see can be a fine setting at which you get a good
efficiency 80 percent efficiency of operation of the propeller.
So, the solution of this problem gives us a glimpse of the variable pitch mechanism
which is used in most of the modern aircraft today and we see that the utility of the
variable pitch mechanism indeed gives us a lot of handle in terms of operating efficiency
of the propeller, but there is a certain amount of control logic that needs to be built in.
So, not all the time the engine or the propeller needs to operate or should operate at a
constant speed, and hence, the control algorithm or the control law that needs to govern
the operation of the propeller and the engine together needs to be built in judiciously so
that it continues to give very efficient operation during all modes of the aircraft flight.
What I will do now is I will present to you now a few tutorial problem for your yourself
to solve very simple problems so that you can make use of the theories that we have done
in the course of this lecture series and apply those theories to the problem solving. I
would say these are rather simple problems and should not have any difficulty in solving
the problems. Wherever we have the problems which are numerical problems, the
answers to the numericals are actually given. So, you can check you solutions and see
whether you are arriving at the correct solutions, and as I mentioned, you should not
have any difficulty solving these problems using the theories that we have done in the
course of these lectures. So, these are the tutorial problems that I present to you. I will
read out the problems to you 1 by 1. The first problem is propeller which has a diameter
of d that develops thrust T when operating with advanced ratio J and rpm N.
Now, this propeller is to be replaced by a pair of equal propellers of the same shape,
operating at the same velocity V and advance ratio J producing together the same amount
of thrust T. So, the idea is to use two propellers obviously smaller in size, which would
together would produce same amount of thrust operating at same advance ratio; that
means an aircraft which was being earlier propelled by a single propeller is now being to
be propelled by two smaller propellers, which have the same shape so that they produce
the same amount of thrust.
The problem is find out the diameter d prime and the rotational speed N prime of the two
new propellers which are obviously going to be smaller propellers and prove that the
total power required by the two propellers equals the original propeller power, and if that
is so, if that is so, you can use the same engine probably to use two propellers or you can
use two smaller engines which together produce the same power. So, it is a very simple
problem and you should not have any difficulty solving this problem.
The second problem is an aircraft flying at 592 kilometers per hour is powered by a
propeller rotating at 1800 rpm. That is fairly common rotational speeds of propeller,
somewhere between 1200 to 1800 are normal propeller rotating speeds. The propeller is
of diameter 3.05 meter and uses NACA 0015 aerofoil section, which are very standard
old NACA aerofoils. At the reference blade section at 0.9144 meters from the root, the
blade angle is 47.7 degree. Compute the local flow angle at that station, again a very
simple problem. So, if you use the simple fundamental things that we have done, you
should not have any difficulty finding the local flow angle. The answer is given here and
that will also tell you what the local incidence is of that particular blade setting. So, this
is again very simple problem.
The third problem is an aircraft is propelled by 4.572 meter diameter propeller, which
produces 35.6 kilo Newton’s of thrust. A thrust as we see now would be expressed in
terms of kilo Newton’s for most of the aircraft engines, including propellers and all jet
engines.
Now, this aircraft is flying at an altitude where the atmospheric conditions are such that
the density of air is 1.03 kilograms per meter cube. Using momentum theory, compute
the induced velocity through the disk. Induce velocity is the small v which we have done
during the momentum or the actuator disk theory, and the final velocity of the flow in the
far wake which is far downstream of the actuator disk of the propeller in the momentum
theory and the answers are given here.
The fourth problem is the compute the diameter of the flow field in the far wake of a
propeller of a diameter 3.05; that means the propeller has a diameter of 3.05 and it is
producing a thrust of 8.9 kilo Newton’s while flying at a speed of 322 kilometers per
hour. What would be the diameter of the flow field in the far wake of a propeller? So,
that is the problem statement which is given here should be able to find from the
propeller theories that we have done.

The last problem that I present to you is a 907.2 kg helicopter is powered by 9.144 meter
diameter rotor which is as we know is very similar to actually a propeller. So, propeller
theory applies there quite largely, and when this helicopter is landing, it descends at an
uniform rate under the sea level conditions and the induced velocity small v as we have
done in the momentum theory is one-third of the rate of descent of the helicopter.
Compute the velocity at which the helicopter is descending.
A hint is given here for your solution that the rotor upward thrust is equal to the
helicopter weight and the helicopter weight is given here. So, you should be able to use
the momentum theory now to compute the solution of this problem; the answer is given
here.
The sixth problem that we have is an aircraft while cruising at 724 kilometers per hour is
expected to encounter 5927 Newton’s of drag. The propeller flying this aircraft is of
diameter 3.657 meters and is designed with NACA 5868 dash 9 3-bladed propeller
blades of which we have done the characteristics before in the lecture. The engine
delivers 1491.4 kilo Watts while the propeller runs at 1300 rpm very similar to the
problem that we have solved, and check if the aircraft propeller is matched for the cruise
flight and compute any extra power or power shortfall that may be found. So, you got to
check whether the cruise flight is possible and whether there is any power shortfall the
answer is given here and you can check your solution with the answers that are given
here.
So, these are the few problems that you may like to solve by yourself and check out that
the theories that we have done actually lead to reasonable solution of very simple
problems that are available in many of the text books.
So, this concludes our lecture series on propellers. Next, we shall be moving towards
various jet engine ideal cycle analysis which will be done by professor Pradeep, and
from propellers, we will move on to various jet engines, and later on, I will come back
and I will present to you the engines which are used for rockets and missiles, and in
glimpse at some of the engines that use for space craft’s. So, rockets missiles space craft
is what I will come back to you for. In between professor Pradeep will present to you the
jet engines and the details of the jet engine cycle analysis.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A. M. Pradeep
Lecture No. # 32
Ideal cycles for Jet engines
Hello and welcome to lecture number 32 of this lecture series on introduction to

aerospace propulsion. So, in today’s lecture, what we are going to do is to understand
and analyze the ideal cycle, which is ideal cycle, thermodynamic cycle behind or ideal
thermodynamic cycle, based on which, all jet engines operate.
If you recall a few lectures earlier on, we had been discussing about some of the ideal
cycles and one such cycle which I had mentioned at that time which is used for gas
turbine engines is known as the Brayton cycle. So, we have already done some analysis
of Brayton cycle and some variants of Brayton cycle like Brayton cycle with
regeneration, reheating and so on.
So, today, we will take up Brayton cycle as applied for a gas turbine engine, which is
what is used in most of the modern day aircraft. You already had some exposure to
piston engines and the cycles behind piston engines in the last few lectures. In today’s
lecture, let us take a look at some of the thermodynamic principles in cycles behind the
gas turbine engine that primarily the Brayton cycle.
So, we will see how we can analyze the Brayton cycle and how we can carry out what is
known as an ideal cycle analysis of jet engines, and so, in today’s lecture as well as the
next lecture, we shall be carrying out ideal cycle analysis of jet engine cycles and their
variants. So, there are different types of jet engines as you are perhaps aware that there
are types of engines like turbojet and turbofan, turboprop, turbo shafts, ramjets and so
on.
So, each of them though operate on the basic thermodynamic cycle that is the Brayton
cycle, but they have some small differences in how the Brayton cycle is executed in each
of these different engines. So, that we shall analyze in this lecture as well as the next. So,
in today’s section, we will take up the simple turbojet engine cycle and with
afterburning, and so, let us take a look at what we shall be discussing in today’s lecture.
In today’s lecture, we are going to be discussing about ideal gas turbine cycles. We shall
derive equations for thrust and efficiency and other engine performance parameters like
fuel consumption and so on. Then, we will spend considerable time on analyzing the
ideal cycle for jet engines, the basic jet engine, that is the turbo jet engine. We shall then
extend the analysis for a turbojet engine with after burning.So, these are some of the
topics that we shall be discussing in today’s lecture.
That is primarily to do with understanding the basic thermodynamic cycles and

thermodynamic principles. So, I mentioned that gas turbine engines operate on the
Brayton cycle and we are already are familiar with the different processes in Brayton
cycle.
So, Brayton’s cycle begins with the first process which is an isentropic compression
process, and then, there is a heat addition which takes place at constant pressure. The
third process is an isentropic expansion process and the last process is constant pressure
heat rejection process.
So, ideally a Brayton cycle should be executed in this format which is a closed cycle
format, but as you know, most of the jet engines, in fact, all the jet engines operate in an
open cycle mode, that is, they do not have the same working fluid bridge continues to
operate within the cycle, but as we have seen with air standard assumptions, we can
assume that the exhaust which leaves the engine is equivalent or can be modeled as a
heat reduction process, and therefore, it resembles an ideal Brayton cycle in that sense.
Now, when we say an ideal cycle, we primarily mean that there are no irreversibility’s
that are taking place in the system, that is, where it is a compression process or the heat
addition processes, expansion process or heat rejection, all these processes are ideal, and
therefore, they do not have any irreversibility’s. Basically the first process that is the
compression process and the third process which is the expansion process, they are
isentropic in nature, that is, the entropy remains a constant during that process, and in the
second and the fourth process, that is heat addition and heat rejection which take place at
constant pressure. We are going to assume that there are no pressure losses which take
place in the systems.
So, that is why we term these cycles as ideal cycle and it makes analysis a lot simpler,
because we do not have to worry about efficiencies which are there in different
components and how much is the pressure loss which takes place in the heat addition
system and so on.
So, analysis of systems becomes simpler and the same time you get some idea of the
performance of a cycle if it were to operate in an ideal mode, and therefore, as a starting
point for designers, ideal cycle really helps in understanding of the thermodynamic
cycle.
So, when we talk about the Brayton cycle, the ideal Brayton cycle is a closed cycle, but
gas turbines operate in an open cycle mode, but they can be modeled using air standard
assumptions and the ideal cycle assumes that there are no irreversibility’s, and so, air
behaves like an ideal gas with constant specific heats, and obviously, there are no
frictional losses which is also part of the fact that there are no irreversibility’s in the
process.
So, these are some of the assumptions which we will be assuming in this analysis, and
so, what we will do? Today to begin with, is to define and derive some expressions
which basically tell us how efficient or how the performance of an engine is. One of the
most important parameters which define so call, define an engine is the thrust which the
engine develops. So, thrust developed by an engine is one of the basic parameters which
basic performance parameters, which this, which basically gives some quality to an
engine saying that this particular engine develops this thrust, because that is one of the
main objectives of the engine that is to provide thrust for the aircraft.
So, we will first derive some expressions for, generalized expression for thrust generated
by a get engine, and subsequently, we will also define some efficiency terms like now
that an engine we know is developing some thrust. How efficiently is it converting fuel
input into the thrust output?
So, there are different ways of defining efficiency of an engine. We will discuss these
different efficiency terms as well. Some of the efficiencies you would have already been
familiar with in the last few lectures, where you were exposed to propeller engines and
different types of propeller engines and efficiencies associated with propeller engines.
So, today, we will be discussing about efficiencies which concern jet engines, and so,
these are some of the efficiency definitions we will be discussing. We will also be
talking about fuel efficiency, that is, how efficiently can an engine convert a given
amount of fuel into thrust output. That is basically defined by the fuel efficiency or
specific fuel consumption as it is called. So, these are some of the terms that we are
going to discuss in the next few slides.
So, what we will do? First is that we will derive expressions for thrust and efficiency and
which basically come from the momentum and energy equations and what we shall be
doing is we will consider a generalized thrust producing device with a single inlet and
single exhaust and there are engines as we will see in the next lecture which have
multiple inlets and multiple exhausts, basically those which concern turbofan engines
and so on, or in fact, even turboprops. So, these are engines which have multiple inlets
and multiple outlets, and again, in this analysis, we will assume that the thrust and the
conditions at all points within the control volume do not change with time, that is, we are
going to assume that the thrust generated, thrust developed is not really a function of
time, it is a steady state thrust which is being generated. So, that is another assumption
which is going to be inherent in our analysis today.
So, how are we going to start our analysis? We will basically consider an engine, a
generalized engine which has a single entry and a single exit from the engine, and then,
we will basically use the momentum, mass momentum and energy equations, and
basically that will help us in identifying what is the force that is experienced by such an
engine. As it consumes a certain amount of mass and expels certain amount of mass
which also includes the fuel flow rate.
So, what is the thrust develop which is basically a force, which is acting on the control
volume. So, let us take a look at the control volume and the control surface. So, the
engine that I was talking about a generalized thrust producing device is shown here. This
is the thrust producer which resembles the engine of a passenger aircraft. You might
have noticed that in passenger aircraft, there are engines mounted beneath the wing, and
so, let us say this is the structure or strut which is connecting the engine to the wing, and
in almost all aircraft, the fuel is stored in the wings of the aircraft, and therefore, you can
see there is a fuel flow rate which is coming in, let us say from the wing through this
connecting device in to the engine.
So, let us take a closer look at what this control surface is all about. So, we have here a
control surface, which is extending quite far upstream of the engine and it is terminating
right at the exhaust point. You can see this is where the exhaust is and the control surface
terminates right here and there is reason why it has to terminate right there. I will explain
it a little later, and so, at the inlet, we have the velocity, ambient velocity which is u and
it is at a static pressure of P subscript a, and then, we have this area which is given by A i
which is the amount or a stream tube of air which goes in to the engine.
So, this stream tube area is basically referred to as the capture area, which is basically the
amount of air which has been captured by the engine to generate the thrust, and the mass
flow rate which is captured is denoted by m dot a. Then, at the exit, we have an exit
velocity of u e mass flow rate of m dot e and the cross sectional area could be different
from the entry, it is A e, and away from the engine, we have the ambient velocity which
is u, and then, the exhaust area is A e and the static pressure right at the exit is P e.
Fuel flow rate is given by m dot f which is basically the fuel that is going in to the
system and which means that m dot e is from mass continuity with m dot e should be
equal to m dot f plus m dot a, and if there is some amount of mass flow rate which is
escaping the control surface because of the presence of this obstacle, there could be some
mass flow rate which escape from the control surface that we denote by m dot s.
And what is shown here is denoted by a symbol, let us say tau, capital tau and this is
basically the reaction to the thrust which generated by the engine, and so, we also have a
coordinate system indicated here. x is in the direction of the velocities or in the direction
of thrust x, y is normal to that, and so, these are different salient components of the
control surface and the engine which we are considering further analysis and what we are
going to do is that in this particular engine which we shall now denote as a generalized
thrust producing device. It has only a single entry and a single exhaust, but the thrust
equation which we are going to derive can be extended for engines which have multiple
entries and multiple exhausts. That we will take up in our analysis during the next
lecture.
Now, in this particular engine, we have a certain amount of mass flow rate which is
coming in, then fuel is added in to the gas turbine and there is an exhaust mass flow
which is basically equal to the sum of the mass flow rate of air coming in plus the mass
flow rate of the fuel, because mass continuity has to be satisfied.
Similarly, we shall also use the energy conservation. At some point, we shall also use the
momentum conservation to derive an equation for thrust. So, what basically we have
here is that the reaction to the thrust which I had mentioned as tau capital T is basically
transmitted to the support that is the support which holds the engine. So, right here, we
have the support reaction is felt right there.
So, the engine thrust is basically a vector summation of all the forces which act internal
or external to the engine, to it all the forces which act on the internal and external forces.
Some of them would be in one direction. The other forces could be in another direction,
but if you have a vector summation of all these forces put together, then the net force that
is felt is basically the engine thrust. Therefore, if we were to add up all those vector
quantities, we have summation of vector force is equal to integral over the control
surface vector u into product of rho into u dot n d a.
So, basically, this is mass flow rate times the velocity which is the change in momentum,
which as per the Newton’s second law is the force acting on the system. So, u multiplied
by rho times u dot n which is the dot product of the vector velocity and the normal unit
vector n multiplied by dA that is the area on which these velocities are taken so that
basically gives us the mass flow rate multiplied by u gives us the momentum and change
in momentum is basically the force.
Now, as I mentioned, we are going to consider only components of force and the
momentum flux in the x direction. We are going to ignore the forces acting in any other
direction, because that does not contribute to the thrust. Thrust is basically the force in
the x direction. So, summation of F x, that is, forces in the x direction will be equal to
integral control surface u x, which is velocity in the x direction multiplied by rho u dot n
dA. So, this is basically considering the forces in the x direction.
So, thrust is something which is generated or which is required only in one direction and
this is one aspect which is also utilized in some of the advanced military engines, which
have what are known as thrust vectoring. That is the nozzle of the engine can be
deflected in different ways to achieve thrust in different directions. You must have seen
videos of aircraft which can take off without having to use a runway, which are known as
vertical takeoff, and similarly, there are same aircraft can land without having to use a
runway which are called as vertical landing.
So, there are aircraft which can do this or they can in flight do very extreme maneuvers
by deflecting the nozzle, and so, that is generated basically by deflecting the nozzle, and
therefore, the vector direction of the thrust is deflected in different ways to achieve thrust
in different directions, and under normal circumstances like a passenger aircraft which
you have seen perhaps flown is that the nozzle is stationary and fixed, and so, it always
generates a thrust in one direction, that is, in the x direction let us say, and so, that is
basically equal to the summation of all the forces which act in that particular direction,
and so, that is how we have going to neglect the forces in other directions. There are of
course be forces in other directions, but their magnitudes are going to be much small as
compared to the force in the x direction.
So, with this in mind, what we are going to do is also assume that the pressure and
velocity is a constant over the entire control surface except over the control exhaust area,
because we have seen at the exhaust, the velocity and the pressure can be different, and
therefore, else where we can assume that the pressure and velocities are constant.
So, if you were to assume that, then the net pressure force which is acting on the control
volume will basically be equal to the difference between the ambient pressure and exit
pressure multiplied by area. So, P a minus P e into A e is basically the net pressure force
which is acting on a control volume, because if there is a difference between the exit
pressure P e and the ambient pressure P a, it will itself exert a force over an area A e, and
therefore, that is equal to the net pressure force, and what is the other force that is acting
on the control volume? There is only one more force which is acting, which is basically
the reaction to the thrust which is indicated by t or tau.
So, if you add up these forces in the x direction, what we get is summation F x is equal to
P a minus P e into A e which is the pressure force or the pressure thrust as we shall call it
later on plus the reaction to the thrust which is tau. So, the net forces can be summed up
to be equal to two parameters or two components. Net force is coming from two
components - one is because of the difference in the pressure from, the inlet to the exit
multiplied by the exit area. So, we have a certain pressure thrust and the other term is the
thrust itself reaction to the thrust which is tau.
Now, our aim now should be to find out what is this sigma F x. In which case, if you can
find sigma F x, then you know that you can find the thrust, because on the right hand
side, you have the pressure thrust term and reaction to the thrust. So, if sigma F x is
known, then that minus the pressure thrust term would be basically give us the reaction
to the thrust.
So, how do we find out sigma F x? Now, to find out sigma F x, as I mentioned earlier,
we shall now carry out a mass balance and momentum balance across the control
surface, across the control surface and from the inlet to the outlet. So, if we do a mass
and momentum balance, we should be able to find out an expression for the summation
of forces in the x direction.
So, if we look at the different mass flow rates which are entering and exiting, the capture,
the control volume. We have the mass flow which is entering the capture area. I
mentioned capture area is the area of the stream tube which actually enters in to the
engine, and so, mass flow rate through that is equal to m dot a which is density times
velocity times the cross sectional area.
So, here, the density is rho; velocity is u and the area is A i. A i corresponds to the
capture area which is the area through which m dot a is inducted into the engine.
Similarly, mass flow rate crossing the exhaust area is m dot e which is equal to rho e u e
times A e - where rho e is the density of the air or the combustion products at the
exhaust; u e is velocity at the exhaust; A e is the area at the exhaust, but we also know
that m dot e that is exhaust mass flow should be equal to m dot i plus m dot f.

So, let me take a look at the thrust picture once again. So, here, we have m dot a which is
the mass flow rate, which enters the engine and it is doing. So, at through a cross
sectional area of A i, so, m dot a should be equal to rho times u times A i. Similarly, m
dot e is the mass flow rate exiting the control surface which is rho e times u e times A e.
And if you look at mass balance which is entering and leaving the engine, we have m dot
e which is equal to m dot a plus m dot f. So, we have m dot e that is exhaust mass flow is
equal to inlet mass flow plus m dot f m dot a plus m dot f or we can write m dot f is
equal to rho e u e A e which is equal to m dot e minus rho u A i, which is m dot a. So,
now, let us use the continuity equation for the control volume. That is what is the mass
flow entering the control volume. What is the mass flow leaving the control volume?
So, let us look at mass flow leaving the control volume in the first place. So, what are the
mass flows leaving the control volume? We have a mass flow here that is m dot e, that is,
rho e u e and A e and also you have the mass flow which is escaping the control surface
from these areas, which should be equal to rho into u into A minus A e - where A is this
cross sectional area, cross sectional area across the entire control surface. That is one of
the mass flows leaving the control surface. The other mass flow is this m dot s.
So, there are three mass flow terms which are leaving the control surface - one is m dot
e; the other is rho into u into A minus A e and the third term is m dot s, and what about
mass flows entering the control surface? m dot a is one of them or in fact, let us take up
the whole thing, that is, rho into u into A and m dot f.
So, if you look at the continuity equation, we have rho e u e A e which is m dot e plus
rho into u into A minus A e plus m dot s minus m dot f minus rho times u times A. So,
this should be equal to 0, because the positive term should be actually be equal to m dot
f, that is, mass coming in should be equal to mass leaving out. So, the difference between
the two should be equal to 0.
So, if you rearrange this, we have m dot s is equal to m dot f plus rho u A e minus rho e u
e A e, but we have already derived a term or expression for m dot f which is equal to
this, that is, rho e u e A e minus rho u A i. So, if you substitute for this m dot f in this
equation, we get m dot s is equal to rho into u into A e minus A i. So, that is this term is
that mass flow rate leaving the control surface is equal to this particular term, that is, rho
into u into A e minus A i.
So, we have now carried out a mass balance which is basically the continuity equation
across the control surface. What we shall do now is to use the momentum balance across
the control surface, and therefore, we should be able to get a term or an expression for
thrust which is developed by this particular thrust producing device. So, continuity
equation is something which gives us the mass balance and the second balance which
you are going to do is the momentum balance, which is going to give us the net force
which is acting on the control surface.
So, from the momentum balance across the controls volume or control surface, we have
the momentum, the first term. If you remember this was equal to sigma F x which is
equal to integral over the control surface u x into rho u dot n dA. So, what are the
different momentum terms? One is the exit mass flow m dot e multiplied by the
corresponding velocity u e plus m dot s into u plus rho into u into A minus A e
multiplied by u.
So, this is momentum at the exhaust or momentum leaving, and what is momentum
entering the control volume? We have m dot a into u minus rho times u times A minus A
i into u. So, this is the mass flow, which is these two terms corresponds to the
momentum entering the control volume.
So, what we have here is the net outward flux of x momentum. So, if you substitute for
m dot s and simplify, what we get is a very simple expression for the net momentum flux
and that is basically equal to sigma F x is equal to m dot e u e minus m dot a into u. So,
from the force balance equation, where we had sigma F x is equal to the P a minus P into
A e plus the reaction to the thrust which was tau. If we substitute for sigma F x there, we
have tau is equal to m dot e u e minus m dot a into u plus P minus P a into A e, which
again we shall simplify.
Let us now define a fuel to air ratio, where fuel to air ratio is ratio of mass flow of fuel to
mass flow of air. So, f is equal to m dot f by m dot a. If we substitute for that in the thrust
equation, we have thrust is equal to m dot a into 1 plus f u e minus u plus P e minus P a
into A e. So, this is the generalized thrust equation for air breathing engines.
So, you can see there are two components here for the thrust equation - the first term is
because of the momentum; second term is because of the pressure. So, thrust is equal to
m dot a into 1 plus f u e minus u which is the momentum or the ram thrust and the
second term is the pressure thrust, which is difference between the exit pressure and the
ambient pressure into A e and the second term is non 0 only if the exhaust jet is
supersonic and the nozzle does not expand the exhaust jet to ambient pressure.
So, which means that in many of the cases, in most of the cases, we will have the
contribution of the pressure thrust which is negligible or in fact even equal to 0, but if
their differences are substantial, if the difference between the exit pressure and ambient
pressure is very high, then there could be some contribution from the pressure thrust
term, but majority of the thrust is due to the first term, that is the momentum difference
generated because of the exit velocity being much different than the inlet velocity.
So, the thrust developed is a function of the mass flow rate of air as you have seen. Then
it is also a function of the fuel flow rate or the fuel to air ratio. It is also a function of the
exit velocity and the ambient velocity plus it is also a function of the net pressure thrust.
That is the net pressure difference between the inlet and the exit multiplied by the
corresponding area. So, thrust can compromise of these two terms, and in most of the
applications, we will find that the pressure thrust contribution is very small. There is
hardly any pressure thrust which is developed or generated by the jet engines. So, what
we have defined here or derived here is an equation which is the generalized thrust
equation applicable to all air breathing engines.
Now, air breathing engines is sometimes, something probably you have already been
exposed to in some of the earlier lectures. It is basically those engines which use air as
the oxidizer and fuel is added into the engine and combustion takes place in the
combustion chamber. Unlike rocket engines which carry their own oxidizer and fuel and
essentially rocket engines are not air breathing engines. So, all aircraft engines are
basically air breathing engines.
So, the generalized thrust expression that we have derived here. Let us take a closer look
at that and we have the generalized thrust equation and what are the other different terms
which define the performance of the engine. Besides the thrust, we also have efficiency
terms. Each engine can be defined or described by a set of efficiency definitions.
We will take a look at those efficiency terms. Then, thrust is the other parameter and also
the fuel consumption and we shall now discuss about efficiency definitions which are
primarily applicable to engines with a single exhaust stream like turbojets and ramjets
and for other types of jet engines like turbo fans and turboprops. Then the equation gets
slightly modified, but the basic equation still remains the same, definition still remains
the same.
So, the first definition of efficiency that we are going to talk about today is the
propulsion efficiency. So, what do we mean by propulsion efficiency? So, propulsion
efficiency by definition is the ratio of the thrust power to the rate of production of
propellant kinetic energy.
So, how do we define the thrust power and the rate of propellant kinetic energy? So,
thrust power is primarily the product of the thrust and the ambient velocity or the flight
speed that is u and the rate of production of propellant. Kinetic energy is the difference
between the kinetic energy of the exhaust and the kinetic energy at the inlet which would
be equal into m dot a into 1 plus f u e square minus u square u e square by 2 minus u
square by 2. So, on the denominator that is basically the rate of production of propellant
kinetic energy, we have mass flow rate of air m dot a into 1 plus f minus u e square by 2
minus u square by 2.
So, basically what we have is this term, that is, m dot a into u square by 2 is the inlet
kinetic energy and m dot a into f is m dot e that is exit mass flow into u e square by 2 is
the exit kinetic energy. So, difference between those two is the rate of production of
propellant kinetic energy. So, this ratio is basically known as the propulsion efficiency
thrust power to the rate of production of propellant kinetic energy.
Now, let us simplify this and see what happens. If we, let assume that the fuel flow rate f
is much less than 1, which is true for air breathing engines. Usually the fuel to air flow
ratio is very small, and so, if we assume that and also that the pressure thrust term can be
neglected. That is, in the thrust equation, we have the second term which is equal to 0.
Then, if we substitute for thrust equation on the numerator which is m dot a into u e
minus u, then simplify it. What we get is the propulsion efficiency can be simplified as u
e minus u by u square by 2 minus u square by 2 which is in turn equal to two times u by
u e divided by 1 plus u by u e. That is propulsion efficiency is in some sense, function of
the ratio of the velocities, the two velocities which are involved here - one is the flight
speed or the inlet velocity and the exit velocity that is u e.
Which means that if u is equal to u e, we will have the numerator and the denominator is
equal to 2 and then propulsion efficiency becomes 1, but in that case, if you look at the
thrust equation, if the exhaust velocity and the inlet velocity are same, there is no net
momentum and the thrust generated will become 0. So, it means that if you try to
maximize the propulsion efficiency which happens when u is equal to u e at the same
time means that you have a thrust which can become 0. So, it, the maximizing propulsion
efficiency is probably not something that one would try to do, because, in, in that sense,
you would also try to make the thrust more or less equal to 0, that is, with the assumption
that you can assume f is much less than 1 and pressure thrust can be neglected which is
probably true in many cases.
So, this was the first definition for efficiency that we have the propulsion efficiency. The
second efficiency term that we shall be discussing is the thermal efficiency, which
basically refers to or which is an indication of how much amount of energy that is input
into the engine can be converted to thrust output.
So, thermal efficiency is defined as the ratio of the rate of production of propellant
kinetic energy to the total energy consumption rate which is equal to numerator, which
we have already discussed, divided by the energy consumption rate which is mass per
rate of fuel multiplied by Q R, which is the heat of reaction of the fuel. So, the thermal
efficiency, this can again be simplified as 1 plus f into u e square by 2 minus u square by
2 divided by f into Q R - where Q R is a property of the fuel.
Now, in the case of this is primarily for turbojets and ramjets and if you look at engines
which have which generate a large fraction of shaft power, where in the output is
primarily shaft power like in turboprops or turbo shaft engines, then the thermal
efficiency can be modified as the ratio of the shaft power to the rate of energy
consumption. So, that is shaft power which is P s divided by m dot f into Q R.
So, now, the overall efficiency is basically the product of the thermal efficiency and the
propulsion efficiency. So, eta overall is equal to eta p which is propulsion efficiency and
eta thermal which is the thermal efficiency, and in the case of engines, jet, that generate
thrust using propellers like in thermal props for example or turbo shafts. Then the overall
efficiency is the product of the propeller efficiency and the thermal efficiency. So, now
that we have discussed about different types of efficiencies. Let us also look at the other
important performance parameter which is the fuel consumption rate.
So, in the case of air breathing engines, we normally refer to the fuel consumption in the
form of what is known as thrust specific fuel consumption denoted by TSFC. So, thrust
specific fuel consumption - TSFC - is equal to m dot f divided by the thrust, which is
equal to m dot f by m dot a into 1 plus into u e minus u.
Now, for engines, turbine engines which produce shaft power, we may want to define the
fuel efficiency in the form of what is known as break specific fuel consumption, that is,
BSFC, which is m dot f divided by the shaft power, and for engine like a turboprop
which usually generates both that is shaft power as well as the nozzle thrust. Then we
define equivalent brake specific fuel consumption which is equal to m dot f divided by
equivalent power P e s, which is equal to m dot f by shaft power plus the thrust power.
So, these are used for engines like in turboprops which have both shaft power as well as
it generates a thrust from the nozzle as well. So, these are different performance
parameters that are used to qualify an engine in the sense that what is the thrust
developed by the engine? What is the fuel consumption and what are the different
efficiencies?
Now, with this background in mind, we shall now carry out an ideal cycle analysis for
one of the basic forms of jet engines which is known as the turbo jet engine and we will
be discussing about two types of turbo jet engines - one is without afterburning which is
the basic turbojet, and then, we will also look at turbojet with after burning which is very
similar to the Brayton cycle we had seen earlier the basic Brayton cycle and the Brayton
cycle with reheating. So, afterburning which is used in turbojet engines is a reheating
process. So, all jet engines, all air breathing engines basically operate on the open cycle
mode of the Brayton cycle, and the basic form of the jet engine, we can consider is a
turbojet engines, and in a turbojet engine, some of the parameters which we shall come
across are so called design parameters and are often fixed a priori like the compressor
pressure ratio or the turbine inlet temperature ratio, etcetera, and in cycle analysis, we
shall be using some of these known parameters to determine some of the other
parameters which are not necessarily known, and hence, find out the engine performance
parameters like thrust, fuel consumption and the efficiencies.
So, let us take a look at basic turbojet engine in its schematic form and we also have
certain station numbering system which we shall be following in the next one or two
lectures, that is, each component is designated by a certain number for its inlet and
outlet. So, this is a turbojet engine and the components of the turbojet engine are
indicated here. So, the first component in a turbojet engine we have is a diffuser.
Diffuser is followed by a compressor, and so, the compression process begins from the
diffuser and continues all the way up to the compressor exit.
In an ideal cycle, we are going to assume that the process from the diffuser inlet all the
way up to compressor outlet is isentropic. So, compressed air from the compressor goes
into a combustion chamber where fuel is added and the necessary heating addition to the
cycle takes place here. From the combustion chamber, the hot gases are expanded in a
turbine and turbine is indicated here. So, expansion process begins right at the turbine
entry continues all the way up to the nozzle exit.
So, this process from turbine entry to nozzle exit is also assumed to be isentropic in an
ideal cycle, and in the second modification, we will see a little later is what is known as
afterburning which is shown here. Then afterburning system, it is very similar to that of a
combustion chamber in the sense that heat addition, additional heat addition takes place
in the afterburner to take the cycle temperature to a higher value, and therefore, generate
higher thrust, and what are indicated here below are the different numbers associated
with each of these components. The free stream or the ambient is indicated by a, and so,
air is compressed all the way from point a up to point 3 which is the compressor exit 1 to
2 indicates the diffuser; 2 is the compressor entry; 3 is compressor exit, and therefore, the
combustion chamber entry; 4 is combustion chamber exit and the turbine inlet; 5 is
turbine exit; 6 is nozzle entry and 7 is nozzle exit.
So, it is, so, we are going to follow this numbering scheme in the sense that if we write
temperature as t 3, it means static temperature at compressor exit, and if we write t 0 3, it
means stagnation temperature at compressor exit. Similarly, we are going to use these
numbering schemes for pressures and densities and so on.
So, the different processes as I mentioned, the first process is a to 1 which air from
upstream is brought to the diffuser or the entry with either some acceleration or
sometimes even deceleration and process 1 to 2 is the intake or the diffuser where air is
essentially decelerated as it passes through the diffuser. Process 2 3 is the compression
process in the compressor. Air is compressed in a compressor which is either could be an
axial compressor or a centrifugal compressor. Process 3 4 is the heat addition process air
is heated during this combustion process in the combustion chamber. 4 5 is air is
expanded in a turbine to obtain the power which is primarily used to drive the
compressor and 5 6 is air may or may not be heated in an afterburner by adding further
fuel.
So, if an afterburner is used, then there is heat addition during this process as well.
Process 6 7 is the nozzle where the air is accelerated and exhausted through the nozzle.
So, these are the different processes that are involved in a turbojet cycle starting from the
free stream far upstream that is point a. It is initially, the compression process actually
begins at a, and then, it continues in the diffuser and again in the compressor. Finally, it
reaches the state 3 which is compressor exit.
So, isentropic expression all the way from a to 3; 3 to 4 is heat addition process in the
combustion chamber; 4 to 5 is the turbine, that is, isentropic expansion in the turbine; 5
to 7 is expansion in the nozzle. So, 4 to 7 is an expansion process which is going to be
assumed as isentropic in this ideal cycle analysis. So, let us take a look at these processes
on Brayton cycle diagram or a T-s diagram.
So, an ideal turbojet cycle without afterburning would look like this very similar to the
Brayton cycle. Just that there are different processes which constitute the compression
and expansion processes. So, process a all the way up to 2 is the compression in the
intake. So, intake consists, compression consists of 2 compression 1 is external
compression that is some a to 1 and 1 to 2 is the internal compression. Process 2 3 is
compression in the compressor isentropic again; 3 4 is heat addition in the combustion
chamber; 4 is the turbine entry or turbine inlet; 4 to 5 is expansion in the turbine; 5 to 7 is
expansion in the nozzle, and so, you can see process 4 to 7 is isentropic, and so, is
process 8 to 3.
So, we have isentropic processes here, constant pressure, heat addition, that is taking
place between 3 and 4. So, this is an ideal cycle or ideal turbojet cycle without any
afterburning. So, later on, we shall also see an ideal cycle for a turbojet with an
afterburning. So, in the case of afterburning which is very similar to a Brayton cycle with
reheating, we shall have an additional process taking place where heat is again added at
the end of expansion process, and then, finally it is expanded in the nozzle. So, in the
cycle analysis that we are going to do, what we shall primarily be doing is as that as I
mentioned some of the parameters are fixed or design parameters like compression
pressure ratio or turbine inlet temperature, etcetera.
So, these numbers are usually known, and based on this, we shall also be determining the
other pressures and temperatures. Finally, arriving at an expression for the exhaust
velocity that is u e, and so, once exhaust velocity is known, the fuel flow rate is known.
We can calculate the thrust developed by the engine and also we can calculate the fuel
consumption and the efficiencies, and so, in the cycle analysis which we are going to
discuss today we shall be taking up each of these components 1 by 1, that is intake, then
the compressor, then the combustion chamber, turbine and so on.
So, as we analyze each of these components, we shall be finding out the exit pressure
and temperature of each component which will serve as the inlet pressure and
temperature for the subsequent component. For example, at the intake exit, we shall be
finding out what is the pressure and temperature, which will essentially be the
compressor entry pressure and temperature, and similarly, for all other components.
So, we shall first analyze the intake or the diffuser. So, in the case of intake or the
diffuser, the ambient pressure, the temperature and mach number are usually known, that
is, P a T a and mach number M are known a priori depending upon what altitude the
aircraft is flying and at what speed it is supposed to fly.
So, the exit conditions, that is, exit stagnation temperature and pressure can be calculated
from the isentropic relation, because we have assumed that this process is going to be
isentropic. So, the exit static pressure and temperature – so, T 0 2 which is the exit
stagnation temperature is equal to T A which is the inlet static temperature into 1 plus
gamma minus 1 by 2 M square.
Similarly, the pressure can be determined from the isentropic relation P 0 2 is equal to P
a into T 0 2 by T A raised to gamma by gamma minus 1. So, from these two isentropic
relations, we calculate the intake exit stagnation temperature and stagnation pressure
which will act as the compressor entry stagnation temperature and stagnation pressure.
So, the next component is the compressor, and in the compressor, we have discussed that
the compressor pressure ratio is a known parameter. We shall denote that by the symbol
pi c - where c denotes the compressor; pi is for stagnation pressure ratios. So, if pi c is
fixed, we have P 0 3 which is the compressor exit stagnation pressure equal to pi c times
P 0 2. P 0 2 is known from the intake analysis. Similarly, T 0 3 is equal to T 0 in to pi c
raised to gamma minus 1 by gamma which is again from the isentropic relation;
compression process is isentropic.
So, we have now calculated the properties, that is, stagnation temperature and pressures
all the way up to the compressor exit, and so, next component that we going to analyze is
the combustion chamber, and for in the combustion chamber, we need to find out what is
the fuel flow rate that is being added in the combustion chamber. So, we will basically
carry out an energy balance.
So, energy balance across the combustion chamber gives us at the exit of the combustion
chamber. We have h 0 4 stagnation enthalpy is equal to h 0 3, that is inlet stagnation
enthalpy plus the fuel added, that is, f times Q R. Therefore, from this, we can from the
ideal gas approximation of enthalpy which is equal to c p times the corresponding
temperature. We have f is equal to T 0 4 by T 0 3 minus 1 divided by Q R by c p T 0 3
minus T 0 4 by T 0 3. So, from this, we can calculate the fuel to air ratio.
Now, in the turbine, the turbine is basically meant to drive the compressor. So, if we
equate the work done by the turbine to that of the compressor, we have work done by
turbine is equal to work done by compressor, that is, m dot t which is mass flow rate of
turbine into c p multiplied by temperature difference T 0 4 minus t 0 5 is equal to m dot a
into c p T 0 3 minus T 0 2. So, this can be simplified, and so, we get an expression for T
0 5 which is turbine, exit turbine. Inlet temperature is fixed; T 0 4 is always known. So,
T 0 5 is T 0 4 minus T 0 3 minus T 0 2 divided by 1 plus f. Therefore, pressure P 0 5 is P
0 4 into the temperature ratio raised to gamma by gamma minus 1. So, in an ideal
process, there is no pressure loss in the combustion chamber P 0 4 will be equal to P 0 3.
So, after the turbine, we have the nozzle. If there is no afterburner, we have T 0 6 is
equal to T 0 5 P 0 6 is equal to P 0 5. So, the nozzle kinetic energy is equal to u e square
by 2 which is h 0 7 minus h 7, and since there is no energy added in the before the
nozzle, because there is no afterburning. We have h 0 7 is equal to h 0 6, and therefore,
we can simplify an expression for u e which is equal to square root of 2 c p T 0 6 into 1
minus the pressure ratio P a by P 0 6 raised to gamma minus 1 by gamma. So, which
means that we have u e the exhaust velocity, which is a function of its inlet temperature
and the pressure ratio. So, now that u e is known. The thrust, the fuel consumption
efficiencies, etcetera can be easily determined using what we have derived earlier the
thrust will be equal to m dot a into 1 plus f into u e minus u plus the pressure thrust term,
and if that is negligible, we have thrust is equal to m dot a into 1 plus f u e minus u.
TSFC is equal to m dot f by thrust, and similarly, the propulsion thermal and overall
efficiencies, because we now have all these parameters which are known from the cycle
analysis.
So, this is primarily the cycle analysis process for a turbojet engine without any
afterburning. So, let us take a look at what happens if you have an afterburning process
as well. That is there is reheating after the turbine stage 1. So, if there is an afterburning,
then the ideal cycle gets modified like this 4 to 5 was the turbine, and in the previous
case, we saw that 5 to 7 was again expanded in the nozzle. If there is afterburning, there
is further heat addition taking place, and so, 5 to 6 a is the afterburning process and 6 a to
7 a is the expansion in the nozzle after the afterburning.
So, what basically happens is that afterburning is primarily used if an aircraft needs to
have substantial increment in thrust like if it has to accelerate and cruise at supersonic
speeds, and since the turbine exhaust has sufficient amount of air that is available for
carrying out combustion, and the third point is that in an afterburner, there are no limits
to temperature like in turbine entry, because there are no rotating components present in
an afterburner. So, you can have higher temperatures than what is permitted for turbine
entry.

So, what is the difference between the afterburning cycle, and the other cycle, it is up to
the turbine exit it is still the same, and in the afterburner, we have fuel is added
additionally. So, you have to calculate the additional fuel that is added in the afterburner.
We do it the same way. We did it. For the compression chamber, we carry out an energy
balance and calculate f 2 which is the fuel added in the afterburner. So, f 2 we can
calculate as this ratio T 0 6 a by T 0 5 minus 1 divided by Q R by c p times T 0 5 minus
T 0 6 by T 0 5.
So, here, f the total fuel flow rate will now be equal to 2 components f 1 plus f 2 - where
f 1 is the fuel added in the main combustor and f 2 is the fuel added in the afterburner.
So, the basic cycle analysis remains the same as we did for the basic turbojet cycle. The
difference is that in this afterburner, we have an additional fuel added, and therefore, we
have the additional fuel that is added as well as the temperature. At the nozzle entry, the
stagnation temperature at nozzle entry is going to be different.
So, based on that, we can calculate the exhaust velocity u e which in turn from in, we can
calculate the thrust, the fuel flow rates and the efficiencies, and so, that is how we could
calculate or carry out the cycle analysis for a turbojet engine with afterburning. So, up to
the turbine entry, the cycle analysis is the same; it is only after the turbine exit that there
is slight difference between the afterburning turbojet and the pure turbojet.

So, let us take a recap at what we had discussed in this lecture. We have been discussing
about the ideal gas turbine cycles and we started our lecture with a discussion on the
thrust and efficiency terms. We derived an equation for thrust of an air breathing engine,
a generalized expression for thrust of an air breathing engine. We also defined different
efficiencies like propulsion efficiency, thermal efficiency and overall efficiency, and we
also defined what is meant by the fuel consumption, different forms of fuel consumption
to be defined for different types of engines, and then, we discussed about the ideal cycle
for a turbojet engine and how we can carry out a cycle analysis, an ideal cycle analysis
for a turbojet engine without afterburning as well as with afterburning.
So, these were some of the topics that we had discussed during today’s lecture. We shall
continue this discussion in the next lecture as well, where we shall be talking about cycle
analysis for different types of other types of engines like turbofan engine and different
configurations of turbofan engine like mixed and unmixed. Then we shall be discussing
about the turboprop engines and turbo shaft engines, and as well as the towards the end,
we will discuss in brief about the cycle analysis for ramjet engines. So, these are some of
the topics that we shall take up for our discussion during the next lecture.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A.M. Pradeep

Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 35
Fundamentals of Ramjets and Pulsejets
You have done a chapter on cycle analysis of jet engines. Today, we will extend that jet
engine coverage to working of ramjets and pulsejets, in which the basic cycle
understanding that you have acquired for jet engines would be useful. We will also look
at the cycles of ramjets and pulsejets which are similar to the cycles that you have done;
so, that would be quite easy for you to extend your understanding.
The ramjets and pulsejets actually historically precede those of the turbojet engines.
They had actually been used for flying aircraft during the World War 2 and as a result of
it understanding of how ramjets and pulsejets actually work, had been created quite some
time back. However, the advent of turbojets and various kinds of turbofans actually put
the ramjets and pulsejets in some kind of a backburner. Over the years, people realized
that they have their utilities, especially the ramjets and the modern version of ramjets
known as scramjets, which are used for high speed aircraft typically supersonic or even
hypersonic aircraft, where actually you cannot use the turbojets. The turbojets: they have
their utility value from subsonic to supersonic up to maybe, about Mach 3 and then
beyond that you need different kind of engines or thrusters to create thrust for aircraft or
flying vehicles flying at those kind of Mach numbers.
So, the ramjets and scramjets have been revived and various versions of them are now
under development in various countries all over the world and some of these
fundamental issues of these ramjets and a look at what is a scramjet and a look at what is
a pulsejet, we will be doing in today’s class.
Now, ramjets and pulsejets are very simple devices really. They actually involve jet
engine without compressor and turbines. However, if you have done the cycles of jet
engines, you would know that there is a process of compression, there is a process of
expansion, which is often done through turbine and in the turbo jet engines, the turbines
exist essentially for running the compressor.
So, if you do not have a compressor, you do not need a turbine. If you can get rid of the
turbine and the compressor, you have a very simple engine configuration, a very simple
jet engine and that is exactly what a ramjet actually is. So, ramjet is a jet engine without
compressor turbine, there are no shafts, no rotating parts. As a result, it is a very simple
jet engine device for making thrust and have been used as I said, for flying aircraft earlier
and now they are flying aircraft, missiles and other vehicles. Because of the simplicity of
the ramjet configuration, various versions of the ramjet have actually now been
conceived. Some of them are still being developed, some of them are still on design
board, some of them are being considered along with, you know, various other kinds of
engines including turbojet engines and as a result of which, ramjets and scramjets,
various versions of them are now under development and a few of them under usage in
various aircraft and other flying vehicles.
Let us take a look at what these ramjets are and how do they function.
If you look at the ramjet schematic, you would see that there is a flow coming from the
intake side, which is at Mach number normally greater than 1, quite often the modern
usage is Mach number would be pretty close to 5 or even higher. Some of the ramjets or
scramjets being used would be at flying Mach order of the order of 8, 9 or 10.
Now, if you have that kind of a Mach number at the entry or the flight Mach number, the
flow at the entry is of that Mach number, you require a kind of intake configuration that
has a capability to handle shocks because the moment you put a solid body in a high
flight Mach number, it is going to create shocks.
So, you need to create situation over here, whereby the shocks are generated and it is
necessary that they are designed shocks. So, these shocks are actually designed to
operate or be positioned in the intake system of the ramjets and the flow comes in
through these shocks and they get supersonically decelerated or diffused or compressed.
First, what we have is supersonic compression through the intake system through a series
of shocks. All of these are actually to begin with oblique shocks, ending finally, with a
normal shock, at the end of which the flow actually does become subsonic and then you
have subsonic diffusion through a normal diffusion process.
So, you have a supersonic compression followed by a subsonic diffusion or subsonic

compression and then a vastly decelerated flow and huge amount of kinetic energy with
which it is coming in, is now converted to pressure and this high static pressure air is
now fed into the combustion zone.
Now, there is no compressor. So, the entire compression is done by the supersonic and
subsonic compression. After this aerodynamic compression process, the flow is delivered
onto the combustion zone. What you see here are the flame holders and then you have a
normal combustion phenomenon at low subsonic speeds. You require low subsonic
speeds to have a good efficient combustion and once the combustion process is over, the
flow is allowed to mix up. So, we have a uniform flow profile of temperature, pressure
etcetera and energy level and then that is allowed to be delivered or fed in to the nozzle
which is quite often convergent divergent nozzle and then this convergent divergent
nozzle then exhausts the high temperature gas into the atmosphere back again, thereby
creating an exit jet.
So, our intention of this jet engine is to create an exit jet of a higher velocity than what it
came in with and as a result of which there is an overall momentum increase across the
jet engine for the amount of mass that has come in, with a little bit of fuel addition and
this change in momentum created by the jet engine creates the thrust. This thrust would
then enable the aircraft to fly. So, the whole engine essentially is there to create a
momentum change across the jet engine, thereby creating a forward thrust.
As you see, we have simple elements over here. We have an intake which has to be
properly designed to handle the shocks and keep the shock losses to the minimum and
then we have flame holders, where you have the combustion. We need a very good
efficient combustion and what you see here is the annular combustion chamber and then
normally, you would have a C-D nozzle. One of the reasons is the huge kinetic energy
which has been converted to pressure, as I mentioned the Mach number quite often here
is of the order of 4 or 5 and as a result of which the pressure generated here is of a very
high order and hence, it is quite suitable for use for C-D nozzle.
C-D nozzle is used normally when ideally pressure ratio available that is, total to static
pressure ratio available is of the order of at least 2. So, normally you would use it only
when the pressure ratio is of the order of 4 or 5 and that is the kind of pressure, which is
normally generated and as a result of which, this C-D nozzle now creates a supersonic
exhaust jet.
This exhaust jet then has a velocity which is higher. One of the reasons is, we have added
energy, we have burnt fuel and added energy to the air and this air, now has extra energy
with which it can go out with a high velocity and then this high velocity creates the
overall momentum enhancement or increase, that creates the thrust.
So, you see this is a very simple device which can create thrust without needing any
compressor or turbine. However, you do see that you have a compression process, you
have a combustion process and you have an expansion processes through the C-D
nozzle. The thermodynamic processes that you have done in the earlier lectures are still
there and hence, we see that it still follows the so called Joule Brayton cycle. So, this is
how a ramjet normally would be operative during its operation.
If we look at what are the key features of a typical ramjet engine, firstly, it produces
power by increasing the momentum of the working fluid, which in our case is the
atmospheric air that is available.
Now, in contrast to the air breathing engines that we have worked with before, the
working cycle is performing without any compressor or turbine and it also does not need
an enclosed combustion, which is often used in turbojet or turbofan engines where the
combustion is isolated for very high efficiency.
However, in ramjet engines such enclosed combustion is dispensed with and you have a
overall annular combustion chamber with flame holders distributed all over the
combustion zone and hence, as a result of this, the ramjet is mechanically one of the least
complicated jet engines for thrust production and this is very useful for flying vehicles.
Now, ramjet can apply compression to the air by ram compression and as we have seen,
the compression it does is aerodynamic compression or simply called ram compression;
part of it is supersonic, part of it is subsonic and this has one issue. Since the
compression is dependent on the ram compression or aerodynamic compression, it is
entirely dependent on the entry Mach number. Now, Mach number above 2 creates
reasonable amount of ram compression, but as the entry Mach number starts going down,
the amount of compression that would be available aerodynamically becomes less and
less and less. As a result of which, a ramjet is actually very useful in supersonic speeds,
but at very low speeds and especially during takeoff and landing, it actually cannot
deliver much of compression and if it cannot deliver compression, it cannot really
effectively work as a good jet engine.
So, ramjet’s utility is restricted to supersonic speeds. It cannot really be used for takeoff
and landing of an aircraft. Now, this is one of the problems of ramjet and we shall see
that because of this, the ramjet usage is somewhat restricted.
At very high Mach number, as we have seen, the shocks of the intake are present and
these shocks produce a large amount of losses. These are aerodynamic losses which
manifest themselves in the form of pressure losses. Now, these pressure losses finally,
tell on the ramjet performance.
Some of these are the features. The fuel that is injected into the stream is after the
diffusion of the flow through the intake system through supersonic and subsonic
compression and once the air has been sufficiently compressed and sufficiently diffused
to low velocity, the fuel is injected. As a result of which, we get a high temperature, high
pressure gas available from the combustion chamber and this gas is what is then released
through the nozzle.
Now, this nozzle is normally then a convergent divergent nozzle. You can have only a
convergent nozzle with the flow going sonic at the exit phase, which would be the throat;
that is possible, but that will have a very little utility value. The real utility value is of
nozzle which are indeed convergent, divergent and would normally be used for most of
the ramjet application that we know of today.
It is assumed to begin with, that the exit pressure P e is pretty close to, if not exactly the
same as the ambient pressure and as a result of which, the flow which goes choking at
the throat has to be higher than the ambient pressure. So, P c, the choking pressure at the
throat is always higher than the ambient pressure which is at the exit, pretty close to the
exit pressure P e.
So, let us take a look at how the ramjet is, compared with the other jet engines. As you
can see here, the graph has been plotted with reference to the Mach number and specific
impulse, which is actually thrust per unit weight of flow. Normally, in most of the
rockets and other flying vehicles at high altitudes and space, the specific thrust is often
designated as specific impulse; that is thrust per unit weight of flow of fuel and whatever
other oxidizer are there. Now, in case ramjets and turbojets, the other oxidizer is only air;
so, the I sp would be designated accordingly.
Now, what we see here is a comparison between turbojets, ramjets and scramjets. The
blue ones over here are ones using the normal hydrocarbon fuels - the air turbine fuels
that we know of. These create the I sp configuration; as we see, they are reasonably good
I sp configurations at very low Mach numbers.
Now, as the Mach number starts going up, typically the turbojets at Mach numbers about
2.5 or 3, turbojets become less and less competitive and ramjets become more and more
competitive and then, upto a Mach number about 7 or 8, ramjets are very good and then
from there onwards, you have the scramjets, which actually are the better fuel efficient
engines.
Typically, if you have a cruise which is going on say around Mach 8. At this range, you
have a choice between ramjets and scramjets and typically, turbojets are out of
contention. As a result of which, many of the vehicles that are being planned for various
applications today including space travel are built around ramjets and scramjets. Rockets
come in to use for even higher Mach number and they have a much lower I sp, but as
you can see at very high Mach numbers where the rockets fly to space, rockets actually
are the more useful vehicles. At very high Mach numbers above 10, the vehicles using
ramjets, scramjets are still being designed; we still do not have them flying as yet.
So, we have flying vehicles which are around Mach 8. Some of them are for military
applications and a few of them are being thought out for various kinds of space travels
and other kinds of applications.
The other thing which you see in the diagram is that it shows 2 kinds of fuel. One is the
hydrocarbon fuel which is in blue, the red one is actually hydrogen fuel, where hydrogen
is used as fuel and oxygen is either taken from air. In case of rockets, both hydrogen and
oxygen would be actually carried by the rocket body in terms of liquid hydrogen and
liquid oxygen.
However, in case of ramjets and futuristically in terms of other jet engines, if we use
hydrogen fuel you can see, for example, the value of I sp would be of a much higher
order than the hydrocarbon fuels. So, if you use hydrogen as fuel, you do get higher I sp
of all the jet engines turbojets, ramjets and scramjets going all the way to rockets at very
high Mach numbers.
The problem with hydrogen fuel is It is being used already in rockets as I said. However,
the problem is essentially is that it is a lighter fuel and as a result of which, you need
more space to carry it with you on any aircraft. So, the space required will be more than
a normal hydrocarbon fuel, even though hydrogen actually gives a higher I sp and it is
also a much cleaner fuel in terms of environmental and pollution effects. However, that
is in future and it is possible in future more and more jet engines would actually be flying
with hydrogen as fuel. At the moment, most of them are still flying with hydrocarbon
fuels or fossil fuels as we know them.
Now, we shall look at the ramjet cycle. Now, cycle you have done. You have done the
various kinds of jet engine cycles, you have done the Brayton cycle or the Joule-Brayton
cycle, as it is known and you know that it operates on constant pressure combustion
phenomenon. Now that cycle concept, that you have already gathered would be now
extended to analyzing the ramjet applications and we shall see that the cycle that you
have been familiar with now, work more or less the same way.
If we look at the ramjet cycle, you see that we again have an open cycle. So, the return
path from 4 to 1 is open and the ideal cycle is the dotted cycle, which you know operates
from 1 to 02 prime and then from 02 prime to 03 prime and then down to 4 prime. Now,
that gives you the ideal ramjet cycle, which is what I believe you have already done in
some detail and you know how to calculate a Brayton cycle performance. You could
actually use the same cycle knowledge to analyze the ramjet cycle also.
The real cycle of a ramjet is slightly different. The path from 1 to 2 is not isentropic; so,
it does not go up straight. It goes up with a slight increase in entropy. So, there is a
certain amount of efficiency that comes into the picture, which we shall normally be
calling isentropic efficiency of the compression process. Then in the combustion process,
there is likely to be certain amount of pressure loss most of which is a fluid mechanic
pressure loss. That pressure loss needs to be accounted between 02 and 03. So, the 02
and 03 are on two different pressure lines. Ideally, as we know, from 02 prime to 03
prime, it is supposed to be constant pressure combustion.
However, actual combustion is not exactly constant pressure, there is a small amount of
pressure loss which is mainly fluid mechanic pressure loss and the combustion efficiency
is typically of a very high order in constant pressure combustion. So, we will continue to
treat it as more or less constant pressure combustion.
Then you have the expansion process. There is no turbine. So, you have fully expansion
in the nozzle and this expansion process is again not isentropic, unlike from 03 to 4. It is
non-isentropic process or a polytrophic process and as a result, there is a slight increase
in the entropy. So, there is a total increase in entropy from one end to the other and as a
result of which, the whole cycle will have certain efficiency which again you are familiar
with.
Now, at the entry to the jet engine, you have certain amount of kinetic energy which is
shown over here. Now, this kinetic energy is what the flow is coming in with due to the
flight and this is the kinetic energy which gets converted to pressure. At the phase of the
combustion chamber, it has a much smaller kinetic energy.
So, the idea of diffusion is to create compression and bring down the kinetic energy from
very high values to somewhat low values, which are friendly or convenient for
combustion purpose. As you might be knowing, combustion at very high speeds is a big
problem. It is something which needs to be taken care of separately. So, normal
combustion is done. In constant pressure, flowing fluid combustion in jet engines is
normally done at somewhat low subsonic speeds. So, we got to bring the flow down to
that low subsonic speed and from there, the combustion takes place. (Refer Slide Time:
25:13) It takes the whole air fuel mixture to very high temperature from T 02 to T 03
along this constant pressure line.
So, now we have high pressure and high temperature and the gas is then released from
that 03 position through the nozzle and when it comes out, it comes out with a jet of the
velocity of the order of C 4 and this has to be higher than the velocity with which it came
in. So, typically C 4 needs to be higher than C 1 with which it came in; only then, you
get a positive thrust.
The idea of this jet engine is to create a value of C 4 exit kinetic energy, which is
definitely higher than the inlet kinetic energy and then you have a good chance; you are
assured of a positive thrust. This is how, the cycle of a ramjet engine of which you just
had the look at the schematic and the cycle, operates along this Joule Brayton cycle,
which you are familiar with.
Now, let us look at how this cycle can be converted to our understanding of how the
ramjet actually performs. One of the things is it operates on Joule Brayton cycle; the next
thing is that each of the legs of the thermodynamic cycle has certain irreversibilities.
Thermodynamically, you have learnt what the reversible and irreversible processes are
and in this actual cycle or a real cycle, the legs are actually irreversible and as a result of
which, there are certain pressure losses which are accompanied by each of these
processes - that is, compression, combustion and expansion and as a result of which,
large amount of pressure loss actually takes place.
As shown in the diagram, the diffusion process is adiabatic, but irreversible and as a
result, large amount of total pressure losses take place. The heat addition in the
combustion chamber is accompanied by again pressure loss. So, you have pressure loss
at every step of the jet engine operation.
All these pressure losses when they are put together, you have a situation that the
pressure that is available at the entry to the nozzle is somewhat less than the ideal
pressure, which one would expect in an ideal engine. Hence, the flow through the nozzle
would be somewhat less than the ideal engine flow and the velocity that you would get at
the exhaust would be less than the ideal velocity and this is what a real cycle analysis
would actually show that the exit velocity would be somewhat less than the ideal. If one
is not careful in the design, the exhaust velocity could be substantially lower than the
ideal engine, in which case you have to first ensure that you have a ramjet engine that is
providing you with positive thrust because it is entirely possible that during certain
operating point, the ramjet engine may not produce positive thrust; it may start producing
negative thrust because the losses inside the engine could be very high and the exhaust
nozzle is not able to produce sufficient momentum enhancement through the nozzle and
then the engine would fail to produce positive thrust.
So, this is something which needs to be very carefully estimated before the ramjet engine
design is finalized. Of course, certain amount of additional losses do occur inside the exit
nozzle which has supersonic flow and as a result of which, certain amount of losses
through supersonic fans and shocks can also take place in addition to the friction losses
through the surface of the nozzles.
Now, if we write down some of the understanding that we have gathered about how the
ramjet engine actually performs, we can write down the thrust of the engine which we
say as F, which is the thrust force in terms of rho V A into A 1 which is the mass flow
which is coming through the intake of the engine. So, that essentially is the mass flow
and then m bar which we are defining here and into V e minus V a and this is the
momentum thrust. So, this whole first term is the momentum thrust and then you have
the pressure thrust, which is A e into p a and that into p e by p a minus 1
So we have to ensure that p e by p a is either 1 or more than 1; if this is less than 1, this
second term is going to give you negative contribution and we certainly do not want that.
So, p e needs to be at least equal to 1 or more than 1. As we know, if p e is exactly equal
to p a, this component becomes 0, but V e is maximized; so, maximum V e is actually
when p e is equal to p a and hence you get maximum V e and then you get maximum
momentum thrust and indeed, that is the maximum thrust that this engine can generate
when actually p e is equal to p a. So, zero pressure thrust does actually mean maximum
momentum thrust and indeed maximum thrust of the engine.
Now, just to define m bar over here; it is nothing, but 1 plus f - small f and small f is
nothing, but fuel to air ratio. So, this gives you a slight correction that you need to do to
the mass flow for the fuel addition into the combustion chamber. The areas are
designated here: A 1 is the entry area; that is, mass flow is coming through the intake, A
e is the area at the exit phase of the nozzle and correspondingly, p a and p e are the
ambient and the exit pressures of the jet engine. So, that gives you the thrust that may be
created by the jet engine and one can easily calculate if these parameters are made
available for thrust estimation.
The specific thrust which is normally a figure of merit for many of the jet engines is
shown here in terms of C F which is nothing, but F by m dot, m dot is the mass flow that
we have shown here and this is now designated in terms of V a into m dot into V e by V
a that is, the velocity ratio across the jet engine. So, V e by V a is nothing, but the
velocity ratio or the velocity enhancement through the jet engine minus 1. (Refer Slide
Time: 32:51) This is the area ratio between the intake and the exhaust, this is p a by rho a
V a, entirely from the atmospheric conditions and the p e to p a, the exit pressure ratio
that may be available which in ideal phase, we know this could go to 1 and hence, the
second term could entirely go to 0. So, that is your specific thrust that you may like to
calculate from the data that could be available for simple analysis of ramjet engine.
What we see now from these equations which have been derived from fundamental
principles that the reasonable positive specific thrust to be achieved V e needs to be
somewhat higher than V a.
(Refer Slide Time: 33:42) Now, this is what you know the operative velocity ratio is.
This can go to 1 and this could go to zero and frankly, we probably would not bother
much about it, but this needs to be more than 1 and this needs to be as much more than 1
as possible so that you get substantial specific thrust and as you can see, if this is 1, the
thrust generated will be 0; if this is less than 1, thrust generated will be negative.
So, it is necessary that you have a substantial acceleration or velocity change through the
jet engine to give you a reasonable amount of thrust. The other possibility is, if p e is
more than p a, but as we know if p e is indeed more than p a, your momentum thrust is
going to come down. So, you have to keep an eye on both the values. The best bet of
course, is always that V e is substantially more than V a to give you more of momentum
thrust.
Now, we can look at the other normal figure of merit used for all jet engines and that is
the specific fuel consumption. Typically, most of the engines You have already learnt
how to calculate thermal efficiency of an engine. However, most of the engines are
designated or defined by their specific fuel consumption and the efficiency is often used
as a figure of merit for the goodness or the badness of the particular engine. So, sfc is
what we normally use as the engine efficiency figure of merit.
This is defined here as before, in terms of m dot f, which is your fuel consumption
divided by the thrust that is created and this comes out in terms of small f by C F which
is the specific thrust and this is the fuel air ratio. So, if the fuel air ratio of a particular
operating point is known and the specific thrust can be calculated, we can get the value
of sfc and that stands as a figure of merit for the efficiency of the engine at that particular
operating condition.
The efficiency of the engine also can be calculated as per basic definition of efficiency
which is normally the thrust work that is created by the jet engine, divided by the fuel
energy that has been put inside the combustion chamber in terms of basic fuel energy or
heat energy.
Q f is the heating value of the fuel in terms of kilojoules per kg and this is what gives
you finally, the thermal efficiency of the ramjet engine. So, you can calculate thermal
efficiency of a ramjet engine to designate thermodynamically, what its efficiency value
is.
Having looked at a basic ramjet engine, we can take a look at some of the modern
developments of ramjet engine. Many of these ramjet engines are now being developed
in terms of very high supersonic flight applications and in those situations, as you can
see, you are likely to have a very long intake. So, you have an intake section and then,
you have a long what is often known as an isolator - that means, here you can see it goes
through a huge number of shocks or what is often known as shock trains.
So, these shocks obviously diffuse the flow supersonically, hugely, but they are also loss
making propositions. By the time the flow comes out through these shock trains and gets
delivered into the combustion chamber quite often, and the combustion chamber, as we
see is indeed a subsonic combustor, the flow would have lost substantial amount of
pressure having come through all these shocks. As a result of that, as we have just seen
the definition of thrust and sfc and specific thrust, there will be some problem in terms of
getting a good positive thrust out of this jet engine.
So, some of the designs that people are now developing involve - one for example, using
some kind of a gas generated inside, which could be a rocket or which could indeed be
an embedded turbojet engine, which operates only when it is required; otherwise, it can
be switched off or it can be a rocket which is embedded inside which gives another jet
out from here and that mixes with the combustion chamber of the ramjet and two of them
together, create the high pressure, high energy gas, which then goes out through a nozzle.
So, the combination can then go out through the nozzle to create a supersonic jet.
The other option is to have a high pressure tank over here, which has its own nozzle, and
from this tank, you can eject high pressure gas and this high pressure gas coming out
through this nozzle mixes with the combustor gas of the ramjet and the combination then
goes out through the ramjet nozzle, again creating supersonic jet.
So, many of these possibilities are now being developed and are on the design board.
One of the reasons is because, we just discussed that coming through these various
shocks, the ramjet would be depleted of its energy and it may not be a very good jet
engine device all on its own. Hence, a certain amount of help may be embedded within
the jet engine configuration to provide additional energy, which then can be harnessed to
create more thrust during flying at very high supersonic speeds.
At Mach 5 and above, the normal ramjet cannot diffuse the flow any further to subsonic
values for combustion purpose. As we were just discussing that, if you have intake for
high supersonic flights, those intakes are full of shocks and as we have just seen, they are
full of shock trains. So, the flow is coming through a large number of shocks - maybe 8,
10, 15 shocks, which are inside the intake system which includes an isolator.
Let us go back just for a minute. This isolator actually is a part of the ramjet and it is
called isolator because it is a supersonic isolator, which allows a long train of shocks
before the flow is delivered into the combustion chamber. It also isolates the combustion
chamber from the intake ambient pressure or temperature changes, which happens with
the change of altitude. So, this is often called an isolator because it houses a long train of
shocks.

When you have those train of shocks and if you keep on diffusing, you keep on losing
energy, losing pressure. So, at above Mach 5 Mach number, it is not very profitable to
have that kind of shock train finally delivering subsonic flow. What is quite often done
now is the flow delivered is still supersonic. So, you do not make it subsonic; you keep it
supersonic and deliver supersonic flow into the combustion chamber and hence, the
combustion designers have now developed a supersonic combustion phenomenon.
This supersonic combustion is now embedded inside the ramjet engine and hence, it is
called a SCRAMJET - Supersonic Combustion Ramjet. This now delivers the jet to the
exhaust nozzle, which then creates a supersonic flow. So, the combustion is now done in
supersonic flow condition, but somewhat low supersonic flow. So, the flow is brought
down from very high supersonic flow above Mach 5 to low supersonic flow near about
Mach 1 and this isolator is needed to create the shock train so that a low supersonic flow
can be delivered into the scramjet combustor. This is physically, a rather long device, a
long duct in which the shock train is housed and the scramjet produces a useful thrust
only after you have been able to do all that successfully at very high Mach numbers
above 5 and one is using scramjet these days for flights up to about Mach 8.
We can look at a Scramjet engine and indeed, a Scramjet powered vehicle over here, as
you can see, the flow is coming through the intake system and then let us say this part is
a vehicle body and this is your jet engine and outside the jet engine itself, you have a
vehicle body, which is angled over here and it is often called the external ramp intake.
Now, this intake system then has only one surface. The other surface typically is not
existing as a solid body before it enters the ramjet. Once it enters the ramjet, you have
the shocks immediately inside the ramjet engine itself.
This is normally integrated design of the vehicle and the ramjet. So, the vehicle body and
the ramjet are almost designed in an integrated manner and they are housed in one single
body; typically, under the belly of the flying vehicle.
So, as the flow comes in, it is high supersonic; it is creating shocks over here and these
shocks finally, develop into the shock train and it goes through the isolator, which is
what we were talking about and this isolator through a large number of shocks diffuses
the flow to low supersonic flow and then this low supersonic flow is delivered into the
supersonic combustor. So, this is why it is called scramjet and then the combustion takes
place and high pressure gas is then released through the nozzle, which then creates the
high velocity jet.
So, this is coming out and again, part of the nozzle has one single surface which is often
called ramp nozzle because its ramp is actually part of the vehicle body. So, the flow
coming in through a ramp is part of the vehicle body; flow going out also is through the
ramp which is part of the vehicle body and the other side of the surface is an open
surface.
However, we have a nozzle over here which is indeed again, a convergent divergent
nozzle and as a result of which you have a supersonic jet that comes out, which is a hot
jet and this jet has a velocity, which is higher than the entry velocity. So, this is how a
scramjet engine typically operates and gives a thrust during high supersonic flights
Now, let us look at what is known as pulsejets. Pulsejets are very simple devices and
they have been flown long back, even during World War 2. Now, pulsejet actually
operates under very simple principle that the flow which comes in, comes in through
valves. Now, inside the combustion chamber when the combustion is initiated, the flow
goes to high temperature and pressure and the flow is evacuated through a nozzle, which
could be a convergent or a convergent divergent nozzle. As it is evacuated, these valves
are forced open and the flow comes in. So, let us quickly understand how it operates.

Initially, a spark plug initiates the combustion process inside the combustion chamber
and when the inlet valves are actually kept closed; so, the default valve position is
closed. Then the combustion takes place, which raises the temperature and pressure to
very high values because now the combustion is taking place in an enclosed volume and
it is close to what can be called constant volume combustion. So, you have very fast
combustion very close to that of an explosion and very fast rise in temperature and
pressure; so, it rises to very high pressure.
This high pressure and temperature gas is forced through the nozzle and it creates a very
high velocity jet. Now, this creates the pressure drop inside the combustion chamber and
as a result of this drop in pressure inside the combustion chamber, the spring loaded inlet
valves are opened and then the air comes in through the intakes, through these valves
which are often the reed valves and the spring loaded valves are then closed again as
soon as the combustion chamber is full. As I said, the default position is closed and it can
open only when a certain pressure differential actually exists across the valve. So, as
soon as the combustion chamber is full, the valves are closed and as a result of which,
you have operation.
Let us go back quickly to the pulsejet schematic. So, the flow comes in through the
intake only when the valves are open; otherwise, they cannot come in. Then the
combustion is initiated and takes place in the combustion chamber and the flow is then
forced out of the entire jet engine at high velocity through this jet pipe. As a result of
which, the thrust is created by Newton’s principle or third law of reaction and once it is
evacuated, the flow comes in. Now, this thrust creates a motion for the jet engine and the
jet engine attached to the flight vehicle, and the vehicle moves. As the vehicle moves,
certain amount of air can attempt to come in; it can come in only when the valve is open.
So, this valve opening and closing is a crucial issue in the pulsejet operation and
typically, pulsejets operate at around 45 to 50 pulses per second. As you can see, they are
very fast pulses and as a result, the thrust creation is indeed quite fast. So, you can create
very fast pulses and the jet engine can operate in a pulsating manner to create almost
continuous thrust generation.
Now, the combustion is not dependent on the intake ram compression. Pulsejet can be
used for takeoff and landing. So, this is a big advantage over ramjet. You can use a
pulsejet engine for actually taking off and landing of an aircraft. It has been used in the
World War 2 by the Germans for flying their vehicles powered by pulsejet because it
does not need ram compression for its combustion and nozzle operation.
Let us look at the fundamental thermodynamics that you have done, very quickly to the
ramjet operation. I have quickly written down here, all the steps that goes through. This
is your compression that takes place and then you have constant volume combustion and
then it takes it to very high temperature and from where, it is released through the nozzle
to create high velocity jet and then, this is your constant pressure return path, which is
through the atmosphere.
You have constant volume combustion and a constant pressure return path. So, this is
one of the heat engines where you have a dual process of constant volume combustion
and constant pressure return path.
So, the pressure is operational and you can find out from the isentropic laws, the value of
the pressure. This is the ideal pressure generation. The real pressure actually uses So, P
02 actually would have an efficiency of the intake process through the valves, embedded
into its equation. So, this is the efficiency with which the valve is allowing the flow to
come in and then, you have the pressure generation through the combustion process
because of the rise in temperature and as a result of which, you get very high pressure
and temperature.
So, this is not a constant pressure; this is constant volume combustion and this is from
your equation of state. Now, you can write down the work balance or the energy balance.
(Refer Slide Time: 52:39) This is the energy with which the air came in and this is the
fuel energy of the burning of the fuel multiplied by the combustion chamber efficiency
and this is the energy of the gas with which the gas is now going out.
So, from this energy balance, you can write down the fuel air ratio with the help of the
various values of the c p of gas, the temperature of the gas, the c p of air with which it
came in and the temperature of the air with which it came in, the heating value of the
fuel, the combustion chamber efficiency, the c p of the gas and the temperature of the
gas.
So, all that would give you the fuel air ratio and from which, you can write down the
total temperature ratio. The total static temperature ratio which would be equated to the
total to static pressure ratio from which you can now, get the velocity of the exhaust jet
and that from your isentropic relations, you can write down the velocity of the exhaust
jet.
In real cycle, p e is not equal to p a; in ideal cycle they would be equal to each other and
Now, again you can write down the thrust equation, more or less the same way that we
have written in other jet engines including the ramjet engine which we have done just a
few minutes back and the specific thrust exactly the same way. You can write down the
specific thrust equation and you can write down the thrust specific fuel consumption,
which is as I mentioned, the figure of merit for all jet engines. You can write down all
those parameters - the performance parameters, thrust specific, fuel consumption specific
thrust and all those things with the help of simple cycle analysis that you have done in
your earlier lectures.
So, this is a very simple device - the ramjets and the pulsejets with the help of which,
you can create a jet engine, you can create thrust and you can create a vehicle powered
by ramjets and scramjets and pulsejets which can actually fly. Now, this is obviously a
very simple option that we have. Ramjets and scramjets as we have seen, cannot take off
and land, but pulsejets can; they are not dependent on ram compression.
So, we have very simple versions of jet engines without compressors, without turbines.
One of them - the pulsejets can take off and land, but obviously they cannot operate at
very high supersonic Mach numbers. The ramjets can operate at high supersonic Mach
numbers and the scramjets can go to even higher supersonic Mach numbers. So, we have
just dealt with certain simple devices, simple jet engines which can operate under various
operating conditions creating jet thrust using the jet principle of creation of thrust
without the aid of compressors and turbines. These jet engines, all of them actually have
been made and flown and they have actually flown the various kinds of aircraft and
scramjets are still being developed to fly very high supersonic vehicles in the air, in the
atmosphere.
So, we have just gone through a large number of jet engines which give you thrust for
flying craft mainly aircraft or missiles or other kinds of crafts through the atmosphere
because they use air, as they are all air breathing engines and they are all jet engines.
Next, we shall be considering a jet engine, which is not an air breathing engine. We shall
be talking about rockets and we shall be talking about rocket propulsion and rocket
engines. This is what we will be doing in the next class, where we shall open up a
chapter on rockets.
Prof. Bhaskar Roy
Prof. A.M. Pradeep

Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 36
Fundamentals of Rocket Engines
We have been talking about various jet engines, over the course of many lectures. We
have also looked at various thermodynamic aspects, which were covered by Professor
Pradeep.
Now, all the jet engines so far we have been looking at and all the other IC engines that
we have looked at earlier were all of them, air breathing engines; they were using air
available in abundance in the atmosphere, as a primary working medium. The idea in all
those engines was to use air and somehow energize the air and get work out of air. So,
air was the working medium and as a result of which, all of them were generally clubbed
as air breathing engines.
We are going to talk about non-air breathing engines - the engines that do not use air as a
working medium, the engines that have to carry its own fuel and in the process, create
thrust for flying vehicles.
Now, these non-air breathing engines are rockets, missiles and the various spacecrafts
that are being used by various advanced nations for putting craft in space and sending
man to moon and even beyond.
These crafts are used for various purposes. Rockets is a generic name for all these kinds
of crafts, missiles are used normally for various military purposes and spacecrafts are
used for various missions which take man beyond the earth’s atmosphere and then on to
moon and to mars and various other missions, even beyond in the galaxy or in future
probably out of this galaxy.
So, obviously a large part of the travel of these crafts would have to be outside the
earth’s atmosphere. Even some of the missiles that we have, sometimes, travel a part of
their journey outside the earth’s atmosphere. As a result of which, it is required that they
havve engines which do not
n use air as workingg medium because
b obvviously, if tthey are
deppendent on air, they woould not be able to perfform beyondd the earth’s atmospherre.
Som
me of thesee fundamenttal reasons prompted
p p
people to develop enginnes, which could
c be
useed to take thhe craft beyoond the eartth’s atmosphere and these are the rockets
r andd various
kinnds of missiles, which we
w will lookk at and thenn finally, thhe spacecraffts.
Wee will look at some off the enginees that havee been developed over the years, some of
thee rockets an
nd various crafts
c that have been deeveloped ov
ver the yearrs and then we will
do the basic roocket sciencce that actu
ually makes these rockeets work. We
W would bee able to
finaally look att various kiinds of spacecrafts thaat are beingg used now-a-days for various
kinnds of missions.
me of the rockets that people are using now

So,, let us takee a look som w-a-days forr various
purrposes.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 04:20))
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 04:21))
Noow, the rock

ket started loong back. The ment of rocket is indeeed rather
T history of developm
quiite old actuually and acccording too the historry, rockets were used by the Chhinese in
tweelfth centurry AD for repelling
r thhe Mongol attacks froom the nortth. So, Chinnese are
norrmally crediited with thhe inventors of the rockkets, as we know
k today. In India, thhere is a
reccord that Tippu Sultan used
u rocketss against thee British arrmy in eightteenth centuury AD;
thaat is nearly more
m than 200
2 years baack.
Thee modern rocket

r sciennce have been
b develooped by a number off people in various
couuntries andd some of the peoplee who are known as the pioneeers are Koonstantin
Tsiiolkovsky of
o Russia, Hans
H Oberthh and Fritzz Opel of Germany,
G Robert
R Godddard and
Weerner Von Braun
B of USA;
U Wern
ner Von Braaun of courrse, is from
m Germanyy and he
swiitched to US
U after the World Waar and continnued to conntribute to the
t developpment of
roccket sciencee and enginneering in US;
U he is credited
c witth the deveelopment off Saturn
rocckets.
So,, many of these peoplle put togeether develooped, what we call roocket sciencce today
inccluding the multistage
m r
rockets. Now, multistaage rockets - the credit for developping that
waas actually being
b givenn to Konstanntin Tsiolkoovsky of Russia.
R He developed
d thhe basic
scieence based on which today’s
t spaccecrafts aree being launnched from all over thee world.
So,, he is creddited with tthe person who first conceived
c t idea of multistage rockets
the
whhich can be used to takke the rockeet vehicles beyond nott only earthh’s surface, beyond
earrth’s gravitaational field and to variious other places not on
nly moon, but
b to other planets.
p
So,, the wholee science off that was developed

d b Konstan
by ntin Tsiolkovsky and others
o of
couurse, have developed various otther versionns of rock
kets. Werneer Von Braaun, for
exaample, deveeloped the German
G V 2 rocket, which
w were used indeedd during thee World
Waar. Some off these devellopments arre credited to
t these peoople and layying down the
t basic
fouundation of rocket sciennce and enggineering.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 07:12))
Lett us take a look

l at som
me of the moodern rockeets. One of the
t first thinng that youu need to
knoow is the opperation off the rocket is not depeendent on atmosphere
a nor is it guuided by
peed, which is the case of an aircraaft.
thee forward sp
Noow, this is an
a advantagge as rockeet is the method
m of prropelling vehicles beyyond the
earrth’s atmosp
phere. So, the
t atmosph
here would have been an impedim
ment, it wouuld have
beeen a resistannce to the ccraft. So, roccket is designed in a manner
m that it has leastt amount
of rresistance and
a then it can
c fly out of the earthh’s atmosphhere. Indeedd, when youu are out
in the
t atmosphhere, outsidee the atmossphere, the shape
s of thee vehicle becomes less and less
impportant. So,, the shape that we aree familiar with
w for airccraft is no more
m necesssary for
rocckets.
The disadvantage is that there is no air available anymore. Air was the primary working
medium for air breathing engines, which means that you have to carry the fuel and the
oxidizer. As we know the fuel and oxidizer, both are required for combustion purpose
and hence for rockets we have to carry both of them within the body of the rocket, which
means you have to carry the weight of both the fuel and the oxidizer, till they are
completely used up.
The basic rocket engine is a thermal rocket motor, which is fundamentally a heat engine.
We are familiar with the various kind of heat engines; we have done the thermodynamics
of these heat engines; we have done the various cycle analysis; we shall see that rocket
engines do not quite conform to those cycles, but it still remains a heat engine which
means fundamentally chemical energy is converted to heat by burning of propellant and
oxidizer and that is fundamental of all heat engines that chemical energy is released by
burning into heat and then this heat is converted to useful work.
So, that is the fundamental of heat engine. So, in that sense, a rocket remains a heat
engine and then this high energy burnt gas is accelerated through various nozzles; these
nozzles have to be shaped properly and we shall be looking into the nozzle science later
on, also - how these nozzles are created and shaped. If you do that properly, if you create
enough energy and if you have a properly shaped nozzle, then the large momentum of
exhaust gas that is created when it comes out of the nozzle body by the reaction force as
per Newton’s laws of motion, creates thrust.
So, thrust is created through various physics: first is release of heat, second is expansion
of the gas or acceleration of the gas through a properly designed nozzle and if you do
that properly, the exhaust gas then gives a reaction and then the Newton’s laws of motion
apply and you have thrust that is created by this exhaust gas.
This thrust is what we use for propelling the rocket, first through the atmosphere as it has
to be launched from earth’s surface and then through various other rarified medium
outside the atmosphere and then out into the space, where there is no atmosphere at all.
So, this is the basic mechanism by which a rocket normally works.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 11:20))
Wee will take a look at som

me of the more
m famouss rockets thaat have been
n used in thhe recent
passt. Some of the rocketss that we can
n immediattely refer to are the verry successfuul Indian
sateellite prograam, which is
i launchedd by our ISR
RO - Indiann Space Ressearch Orgaanization
andd they have been buildding these roockets for quite
q some time.
t Somee of the rockkets that
aree shown herre are calledd Satellite Launch
L Vehhicles or SL
LVs; prior to
t these, theere were
sm
maller rocketts which weere used for various purrposes.
Theese are the successful launch vehicles that haave been laaunched in the
t last manny years
now
w. It startedd with a SLV
V. These pictures are rooughly in proportion to
o their size. So, you
cann see that the
t initial SLV
S that was
w used was indeed rather
r small and then we had
LV and thiis augmenteed SLV haad, as you can see more
auggmented SL m than 1 rocket.
Actually, heree there was only 1 roccket housedd within thee body of SLV
S and heere, you
havve more thaan 1 rocket, at least 2 ro
ockets surroounding the body of thee SLV.
Yoou could haave upto 4 rockets

r surrrounding thhe body of the SLV and
a then wee have a
Pollar SLV - Polar
P Satelllite Launch Vehicle, which
w takes the craft to
o the polar altitude
andd this is mucch bigger, as
a you can see.
s
It carries
c at thhe tip of thee rocket, whhat is known as payloaad which is all the insttruments
thaat are used for
f the crafft when it iss rotating arround the earth.
e So, alll those insttruments
he PSLV is also the
aree housed insside it varioous communication annd other insttruments th
kinnd of craft, we
w are probbably likely to use to beegin with foor our moonn mission.
It has,
h as you can see herre, a numbeer of rocketts not only the big rock
ket inside the
t main
boddy, but som
me of the sm
maller rocketts outside thhe main boddy which allso help in ccarrying
thiss big vehiclle up througgh the atmossphere into the earth’s orbit.
GS osynchronouus Satellite Launch Vehicle is eveen bigger an

SLV or Geo nd it goes innto what
is known
k as geeosynchronnous orbit an h carries again a lot
nd this is thhe kind of roocket which
of ppayload and
d a modern version of that
t is GSLV
V 8, which has gone thhrough 5, 6,, 7 and 8
andd is beingg continuoously deveeloped for various purposes.
p These alsoo carry
com
mmunicatioon satellitess, which go
o around thhe earth’s orbit
o and allow
a us to stay in
com
mmunicatioon with eachh other all thhe time.
So,, these are the kind off launch veh

hicles or what
w is know
wn as satelllite launch vehicles
thaat put satelllites on earth’s
e orbiit for varioous purposses; some of which are for
mmunicatioon purposess, some of which are for other social purpposes and ssome of
com
whhich sometim
mes may bee for militaary purposess. So, thesee are the Inndian rocketts which
havve been veryy successfuul rockets that have beenn used overr last many years.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 14:53))
Thiis is a PSLV
V, which iss being launnched from the Indian launch basee at Sriharikkota and
youu need a huuge structurre to initiallly hold thee rocket verrtically and once the rocket
r is
fireed, it slowly
y goes up. When it is going up, it is still held
h firm annd then at a certain
poiint of time, this fixturee is released
d and the roocket goes up
u in the atm
mosphere by
b virtue
of tthe huge gaas that is released and thhe thrust thhat is createdd which is directly
d verttical and
com
mpletely liffts the whoole rocket body
b up froom the laun
nch base, which
w is a big
b base
creeated over here.
h So, thee thrust thatt creates has to compleetely balancce the weighht of the
enttire rocket body
b and heence, it is quite
q often known as liftoff;
l it liffts the entirre rocket
from the launcch base up in the atmossphere.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 15:54))
Thiis is a Protton rocket, a modern rocket usedd by the Russians

R forr launching various
sateellites to the atmospheere. As you can see, it has
h a number of rockett bodies outtside the
maain rocket body and thoose are the ones that create
c additional thrustts especiallyy during
lifttoff. As youu can well imagine that the weigght of this could
c be qu
uite heavy and you
neeed maximum
m thrust durring the lifto
off.
m thrust creaation capabiility has to be built in and some of these inddeed are
So,, maximum
muultistage rocckets so thatt some of th
hese would actually
a falll off after thhe whole roocket has
gonne to a veryy high altittude. Then the so calleed, second stage will take over and
a then
afteer a certain while, the second stagge will also fall off andd then the thhird stage will
w take
oveer and afterr sometime even the third
t stage would fall off, leavingg only the payload
m satellitee to go on too its orbit or go on to itts mission.
whhich is the main
Noow, this is Apollo

A spaccecraft for the
t moon mission
m usedd by USA. It was pow
wered by
Satturn rocket. Now, Satuurn rocket iss somethingg very simillar to this Proton
P rocket; so, it
b (Refer Slide Timee: 17:20)
woould look soomething veery similar and of couurse, very big.
Thiis is the craaft that wouuld be houssed right onn top over here.
h So, what
w you seee on top
oveer here is siimply calledd technicallly payload. Now, this is
i the paylo
oad and thiss is what
woould be carriied by this big
b rocket from
f the earrth’s surfacee and once it goes to veery high
altiitude, rest of the stagges fall offf leaving onnly this, which
w is alsso often caalled the
com
mmand moddule, from which
w a smaaller craft would
w probaably land onn the moon.
So,, this is whaat goes arouund the earrth’s orbit or

o beyond, as
a you can see
s there iss a small
roccket actually fitted beehind it. Du
uring its vaarious motiions in thee space verry much
outtside the earth’s atmossphere, if it requires to create som
me small mo
otions, it caan create
thaat with the help
h of thesse small rocckets. So, thhis is what you
y have riight on top of a big
roccket.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 18:25))
Wee can see thhat in our Inndian rockeets also thatt it has num
mber of stagges. This is the first
stagge; this is thhe second stage;
s this iss the third sstage. Someetimes, you have 4 stagges. This
couuld actually
y be a fourthh stage and then you hhave the pay
yload on top
p of it, whicch is the
sateellite. This is called saatellite launcch vehicle. So, the whoole of it is a launch veehicle on
topp of it is the satellite, which is usedd for various purposes.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 18:50))
f various purposes. USA used it to send man to

So,, people haave been ussing these for
mooon. Russianns have alsoo done that and they also
a send vaarious satelllites to the orbit
o for
varrious purposses, just likee our Indiann program.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 19:07))
Thiis is the Spaace Shuttle Columbia launch

l and here, you can
c see thatt there is a huge
h big
roccket which is the Satuurn rocket and
a strappeed on that, is the Colu
umbia whicch is the
reuusable launcch vehicle. So,
S rest of the
t launch vvehicle actuually is not reusable.
r Tyypically,
a roocket once it
i is launcheed and it go o and is noot reusable; they are
oes up most of it falls off
com
mpletely buurnt off andd dispensed with. Now
w, this spacee shuttle whhich is strappped on
thiss big Saturnn rocket actually goes to space and
a it comes back and it comes back
b and
lannds like an aircraft.
a So, that is why
y this is shaaped like ann aircraft, bu
ut it cannot take off
d go to spacce so it is strapped on to a big Saaturn rocket and then once
on its own and o it is
higgh up in thhe altitude actually soomewhat ouutside the earth’s
e atm
mosphere, thhe space
shuuttle gets reeleased from
m the main
n rocket boddy and then
n it can go around thee earth’s
orbbit on its ow
wn. As I meentioned, thee shape in that
t kind off orbit does not matter. It could
be shaped likee an aircraftt or it could be shaped like anythinng and it woould still goo around
thee earth’s orb
bit as there iis no air resiistance invoolved.
Hoowever, wheen this spacee shuttle tries to come back to the earth, it haas to again nnegotiate
thee atmospherre. So, it hass to come baack throughh the atmospphere into thhe earth’s orbit
o and
theere the shapee of this spaace shuttle shaped like an aircraft again is useeful because then it
cann behave likke an aircraaft, it can bee controlledd like an airrcraft and th
hen it can laand on a
airsstrip like an
n aircraft.
So,, it actually does so. It actually lan

nds on a runnway just liike an aircraaft does, aftter it has
gonne around the
t earth inn space. So, that is whhy it is called a spacee shuttle beecause it
com
mes back annd it is reusaable; it can be launchedd again withh the help of
o another roocket.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 21:30))
Lett us look att various kinnds of misssiles. Missilles are typiccally used for
f various military
purrposes and hence,
h som
me of their various
v conffigurations may
m be guaarded secrett, but we
can take a look at all kinds of missiles that are normally used and each of them is
designed for the particular purpose.
Now, missiles are used for certain targets. So, you have certain target to which the
missile is launched and it has to hit that target. It could be an air-to-air missile, which
means it is launched from air maybe, from an aircraft and it is to hit another target which
is also in air - could be another aircraft.
It could be an air-to-surface missile, which means it is launched from an aircraft and it is

to hit something on the surface of the earth. It could be antiballistic missile which means
we will see the ballistic missiles and this missile is supposed to go and hit that ballistic
missile. So, to counter a ballistic missile and hence it is called antiballistic missile. So, it
has to intercept a missile, while that missile is moving on the atmosphere, intercept the
missile and hit that missile. So, it has a purpose of hitting something on the motion in the
earth’s atmosphere.
Then we have anti-satellite weapon, where you can send a missile to hit a satellite which
may be going around the earth’s surface. So, that is anti-satellite missile and then you
have anti-ship missile, which could be launched from air or from surface and it is
supposed to hit a ship, which is moving on the sea. So, a ship which is mobile and
moving on the sea can be hit with this kind of missile.
Then we have land-attack missile, which is ground to ground missile. We have anti-tank
guided missile which is used for hitting or targeting tanks on the surface of the earth.
Tanks as you know are armoured bodies and so you need strong missiles to hit them.
Then you have surface-to-air missile, which are often used to be called simply anti-
aircraft missiles, where you can send the missile from earth to aircraft that are moving
around which could be considered dangerous and hence, you can send missiles from
surface to counter those aircrafts.
Then there is surface-to-surface missile, which is the original missile. So, send a missile
from one point of earth to another point of earth for some target and we could have wire-
guided missile, where the guidance system is wired and these are missiles which are used
for various kinds of purposes; the purpose is normally some military purpose.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 24:36))
Cruuise missilees normally have a long

g cruise fligght very muuch like an aircraft.
a Thaat means
it ssort of fliess at a consttant altitudee, for a largge part of itts flight. Most
M of the missiles
acttually have parabolic or
o some curvved trajectoory, which actually
a meeans that it ddoes not
cruuise, but this cruise miissile is onee of a kind which cruises for a loong time in its path
whhich could be hundreds of kilometeers and thenn lands at a particular predetermin
p ed place
at a target. Thhat is why, they
t are callled cruise missiles.
m Thhey are designed to cruuise at a
connstant altitude, over a loong period of its actuall flight.
Noow, the balliistic missilees are the aiim and shoot kind of missiles,
m wh
hich are useed again
forr various military
m purpposes. The purpose is built into the nomencclature or nname of
theese missiless and they are called tactical baallistic misssiles, the shhort-range ballistic
misssiles, theattre ballistic missiles ussed in specific kind of war situatioon, could be on the
topp of a mouuntain or inn a very diffficult terraain. So, thoose are callled theatre ballistic
misssiles.
Theen you hav

ve the meddium-range ballistic missiles whicch can prob
bably go over
o 100
kiloometers or so and thenn you have intermediatte-range ballistic missiile which go on for
maay be few 10 ve the interccontinental ballistic
00 kilometeers and hit a target. Thhen you hav
misssiles, whicch are expeected to traavel over thhousands of
o kilometerrs to hit frrom one
conntinent to another.
a So,, it goes froom one conntinent to annother; hennce, they arre called
inteercontinentaal ballistic missiles
m andd these obviiously go foor a very lonng distance.
Theen you havve the subm
marine launnch. Submarrines, as yo
ou know, are
a under thhe water
ships and they
y can be lauunched from
m under thee water so thhat you can
nnot even seee when
theey are beinng launchedd and thesse submarinne-launched
d ballistic missiles arre again
esppecially dessigned to be d from undder the wateer and thenn we have the air-
b launched
lauunched balliistic missilees which aree launched from aircraaft and havee the characcteristics
of bballistic misssile for hittting a targett as soon ass they are lauunched.
So,, these are the

t various kinds of missiles
m and as you can
n see, they are
a named after
a the
parrticular misssion for which, they arre designed and these are
a all variouus kinds of rockets.
So,, they are all covered bby the rock
ket science that
t we willl be talkingg about, but each of
theese rockets is
i designed for a particcular missioon. So, the way
w you deesign them, the way
youu design thee nozzle, itss guidance system everrything finaally makes a particularr kind of
misssile and as a result of which,
w theyy have been given varioous kinds off nomenclatture.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 27:46))
Thiis is a old German

G V-2 missile. The
T reason I am showiing this old
d missile is because
moost of the other
o missilees are guarrded secretss. They are secret techhnology, whhich are
norrmally not available
a too the generaal public annd hence, we
w can look at somewhhat older
misssile, which
h were actuaally used du
uring the Woorld War 2.
As you can seee here, the missile hou

uses numbeer of compo
onents. Righht on top, you
y have
thee unit that iss often called payload or in simple rocket teerms we calll it payloadd, but in
casse of a military applicattion, it wou
uld be calledd a warheadd.
Then you have the various control systems, which controls the craft and finally, the
warhead on to the target. So, this is the control or gyro control, as it used to be known
earlier, which guides the warhead or the payload onto the target and then you have
various other systems, the radio system and so on, which are housed over here, for it to
be communicated with the ground system so that the ground control can be operated to
guide this system onto its target.
The various other systems are there - the rocket body as you can see here, houses all the
other system; you have the liquid oxygen that is stored over here and you have the
hydrogen peroxide tank which is stored over here and then you have the nozzle, which is
at the end through which the high velocity jet finally, comes out and creates a thrust.
So, these are the various kinds of systems that are normally housed inside a typical
rocket body - in this case, a particular missile, which have the control system, the
navigation system, the fuels and the oxidizers which are stored in tanks, as I mentioned
they have to be carried within the body and most of the body of a rocket is typically
occupied by the fuels and that is the various kinds of oxidizers and the propellants; they
have to be carried in the tanks and they actually occupy most of the space. Then you
have the pumps, which pumps these fuel into the rocket chamber or the combustion
chamber of the rocket engine and then it goes out through the nozzle. So, the rocket
chamber is of this size which is much smaller than the body of the main rocket and a
nozzle is at the lower edge of the rocket from which, the high velocity gas comes out.
So this is typically, the body of a rocket, which could be of a missile or any other kind of
a craft. They all have certain common features and these are the common features of any
kind of rocket that you may like to look at.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 31:03))
Lett us try to take

t mental sciennce that is contributorry to the
a lookk at the variious fundam
opeeration of ro
ocket.
Noow, if we look at the fundamenttal physics of what iss happeningg, you havee rocket
chaamber, whiich is oftenn called a combustionn chamber, in which the combuustion is
w shall see what all kinnds of combbustion is done
inittiated and we d in a few
w minutes.
Whhat it createes is, it creaates a very strong

s presssure field in
nside the co
ombustion chamber
c
andd then this high pressuure gas is reeleased andd it continuees to createe this pressuure field
beffore it goes out througgh the nozzlle. When it goes out, it
i creates thhe thrust. Now,
N this
preessure field, as it is seenn is inside the
t whole roocket chamb
mber. If you consider thee nozzle
on chambeer together, they may be called the rocket chamber and
andd combustio a this
preessure field inside the rocket
r cham
mber is actinng on the innner surface of the entirre rocket
chaamber.
Onn the outer surface, you

y have a external pressure
p fieeld which may be att earth’s
atm
mosphere or it may be
b a no prressure fieldd - that means,
m theree may not be any
atm
mosphere att all and thee differentiaal of the tw
wo when integrated actuually gives you the
nett thrust. So,, this pressuure field diifferentiatedd over the entire
e area would
w finallly, give
youu the net thrrust in this direction; thhat is, in the direction which is th
he axis of thhe rocket
chaamber.
If you
y consideer this cham
mber to be an
n axis symm
metric bodyy, the radial componentts of this
preessure field would actuually, nullify
fy all aroundd that mean
ns they counnter each otther and
theere is no nett componennt acting in any
a directioon as we aree looking att an axis sym
mmetric
boddy. Hence, the
t only com
mponent thaat would bee active is thhe horizontaal componennt or the
com
mponent paarallel to thee axis of thiss craft or this rocket ch
hamber and that net com
mponent
is tthe thrust. So,
S this is how,
h one cann say that the
t thrust iss created. So
o, this is onne of the
meethods by wh
hich, you caan use the basic
b physiccs to understtand how th
he thrust is created.
c
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 33:38))
Lett us look at how the basic heat enggine is conceived.
Noow, we havee looked att various kiinds of jet engines. Thhe jet engin
ne cycles you
y have
donne and the jet
j engine cycle
c works in a cycle;; it comes from
fr atmospphere, goes through
com
mpression, goes througgh the proccess of com
mbustion annd expansioon and finallly, gets
releeased into th
he atmosphhere. So, it acts
a in a cyccle.
In a rocket, wee do not havve earth’s attmosphere. We do not have air, which
w meanss that the
woorking mediuum has to start
s on its own,
o come out through
h a process of combustion and
theen come ouut through a process off expansionn and there is no returrn path; theere is no
cyccle. So, at best
b one cann say it woorks in a haalf cycle, buut we are not
n using a medium
whhich goes baack to its oorigin. So, it
i works thrrough a proocess of com
mbustion, which
w is
appproximately
y a constannt pressure process annd then com
mes out thrrough a proocess of
exppansion.
So,, even thoug
gh a jet enggine or a roccket, which is also a jeet engine wo
ork as heat engines,
theere is some difference in the wayy they are fundamental
fu lly conceiveed as working heat
enggines and thhis is the fundamenta
f l differencee that the other
o air breathing jet engines
woork in a cyclle; the rockeets do not work
w in a cyccle.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 35:10))
Noow, a rockett actually, fundamenta

f lly, right frrom the begginning has two basic kinds
k of
fueel and oxidiizer system.. One in wh
hich the fueel and oxidiizer, both arre liquid annd hence
theey need to be
b separatelyy pumped into
i the rockket motor or
o rocket coombustion chamber.
c
So,, you needd a pumpinng unit for each of them
t separaately to bee pumped into the
com
mbustion ch
hamber and both of theem are liquidds.
Thee other variety is, wheere both off them are solid
s and booth of them
m could be separate
boddies of soliids or quite often theey are mixttures; so, solids
s are mixtures
m annd these
mixxtures havee been usedd for many centuries now,
n by thee Chinese and
a our Inddians for
creeating rockeets. So, the early rockeets that we know
k of, where
w all sollid rockets what
w we
call today - so
olid propellaant rockets and those w
were the ro
ockets which
h were usedd by the
Chhinese and th
he Indians and
a many otther people around the earth in thee ancient eraa.
In the modernn era, thesee solid bodiies are desiigned; theree are variou
us designer shapes,
whhich we shaall look at laater on in one
o of the next
n lecturees and we shall
s see hoow those
shaapes actuallly contributte to the peerformance of these soolid rockets.. In both thhe cases,
oncce the proppellant and the oxidizeer are burntt, the mixtuure of gasees that is crreated is
releeased through nozzles for thrust crreation.
Thee burning process,

p as you
y are awaare, the com
mbustion proocess wouldd have to bee done in
a chemically
c c
correct mannner, which
h means the solids or th
he liquids, that is the ffuel and
thee oxidizer would
w t burn in a proper propportion. If th
have to he solids arre in a mixtuure, they
aree to be in a proper prroportion; thhis proportiion is extreemely impoortant and they
t are
dettermined by
y various chemical
c annalysis. Soo, the proceess of creaating this fuel
f and
oxiidizer fundaamentally coomes from various
v cheemical analyyses and thaat chemical analysis
givves you the kind
k of fuell and oxidizzer that you should be using.
u
Wee shall see that

t there arre various kinds
k of fuels and oxidiizers for rocckets; the choice of
fueel and oxidiizer for rockkets is very
y wide. Theere are varioous kinds unlike
u in ann aircraft
whhere you noormally havve only onee kind of fuel.
f The number
n of fuels
f and oxidizers
o
avaailable for rockets
r are many. We shall look at some off the more popular
p onees in the
nexxt lectures. So, this is thhe way, the rocket actuually functio
ons.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 38:04))
Lett us look at schematic of

o two fund
damental kinnds of rockeets; one is thhe liquid, annother is
thee solid proppellant rocket. In the liiquid, you hhave the fuuels in one tank, you have
h the
oxiidizer or oxxidant in thee other tank and they arre pumped separately
s into
i the com
mbustion
chaamber.
Now, this is the combustion zone, in which the combustion is to be carried out, which
means, the fuel is to be pumped, they are to be released into the combustion chamber
through injectors and these injectors do a number of jobs; that is, it atomizes the fuel,
then the fuel is released, the fuel is vaporized, fuel mixes with the oxidant and then the
mixture is burnt, that means, a flame is created and then this flame releases the energy or
the heat energy into this combustion zone and then the mixture of gases proceeds from
the combustion zone where the heating or the combustion process is to be completed - at
least 98 percent completion. Then the mixture moves in the combustion chamber forward
towards the nozzle; even as it is moving forward, the combustion process may be
completed. So, by the time it comes at the beginning of the nozzle, the combustion
process is said to be completed and now, it has very high pressure and very high
temperature.
This very high pressure, temperature gas is now released through the nozzle which is
normally convergent divergent nozzle. So, initially you have a convergent nozzle which
makes the flow go sonic. So, at the throat of the nozzle, the flow has invariably reached
sonic velocity which is Mach 1 and then it continues to expand through this nozzle to
very high velocity - normally high supersonic Mach number with which the gas comes
out and helps create thrust. So, this is the mechanism by which the rockets normally
create thrust.
In case of solid propellants, you can have a mixture of oxidizer and fuel and a body of
that is created. We shall see the various shapes that are created; those shapes are
extremely important and they are housed inside the combustion zone. Once they are
housed inside the combustion zone, a process of combustion may be initiated.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 40:433) Let us saay at this ennd - at the further end
d of the boddies and
oncce the combbustion is created
c in thhis isolated combustionn zone, thee gas is creaated, the
proocess of gassification haappens; thee solids once they burnn, they form
m into gas and
a then
thiss gas travells through this openinng between the 2 sides. So there may be a circular
opeening throuugh this andd the combbustion is continued an
nd then finnally, it reacches the
begginning of the
t convergent part of the
t nozzle. It also goess through a process of choking
or ggoing sonicc and then itt becomes suupersonic and
a is releassed at high velocity.
v
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 38:04))
So,, normally as you caan see the solid proppellant carrries the proopellant insside the
com
mbustion ch
hamber itseelf whereas, for liquid propellants, the liquidds have to be
b stored
sepparately in other
o part of
o the rockett body from b pumped into the
m which, theey have to be
roccket chambeer, which means
m that a rocket boddy will havve to be now
w designed to store
thee fuel and thhe oxidizerr separately. They cannnot mix beffore they arre pumped into the
com
mbustion zo
one.
Theen they aree to be pum

mped separaately. You may
m requiree separate pumping
p caapability
deppending on the pressuree at which they
t are storred, which means
m a liquuid rocket typically
t
woould requiree a lot of sppace for carrrying the fuel,
fu for carrrying the oxidant, for housing
thee pumps andd which meeans that a liiquid rockeet typically has
h to be quuite big, forr it to be
justified that you
y carry alll these withh you for creeation of thrrust.
So,, typically liquid proppellant or liquid propuulsion is useed only wh
hen you neeed a big
roccket, typicaally for sateellite launcch vehicles.. Most of the
t missilees tend to be
b solid
proopellant roccket, where the solids are housedd within the combustion chambeer of the
roccket.
Som
me of the bigger
b missiles like inttercontinenttal missiless could have a combinnation of
liquuid and soliid which coould be multtistage. So, the first staage could bee liquid to carry
c the
a then lateer on, once the first
totaal weight off the entire rocket bodyy or the vehhicle body and
stagge is releassed, the nexxt stages co
ould be solidd rockets, which
w are liittle smallerr in size
andd hence theey can carryy the vehiccle much faarther into the
t atmosph
here or beyyond the
atm
mosphere. So,
S a combinnation of liqquid and solid rockets has been allso used forr various
kinnds of launch vehicles.
(Reefer Slide Time:

T 43:40))
Noow, let us take

t a lookk at variouss kinds of basic rockeet science. How the thrust
t is
gennerated? Yo
ou see the rocket
r sciennce is based on very simple prinnciple actuaally, you
knoow the New
wton’s laws of motion; you know tthat if you create
c a largge gas energgy that is
com
ming out off a body, it will
w immediately give you
y a forwaard motion. It can be done
d in a
verry small scaale in your laboratory. If you opeen the end of
o a balloon
n and releasse it, the
ballloon will move
m much like
l the rockket movemeent.
So,, basically, release of the

t gas will always tennd to give you a certainn amount off motion
andd then in a typical moddern rockett, the motioon needs to be controllled. So, youu have a
guided system, you have a navigation system. All those systems are housed in the body
of the rocket. However, the main problem of the rocket is creation of the thrust.
So, much of the body of the rocket is actually used in storing the fuels, for managing the
fuels and then managing the combustion process and then releasing it through the
nozzles.
The basic rocket engine is more about its heat engine and less about the craft which is
basically, a cylindrically shaped body at the tip of which you have a payload, which goes
out for various motions. So, various purpose of the rocket is served by basic fundamental
science. Let us take a look at this fundamental science, which governs all kinds of
rockets missiles and various kinds of satellite launch vehicles.
Now, if you take a rocket thrust that is to be created, if for example, you have to use a
certain amount of mass of the rocket to be used. Now, this mass of the rocket to be used
is indeed, the fuel. So, the fuel and the oxidant are to be used let us say, over a period of
time and this expended mass of dm is expended in time dt and when it is expended, it
creates a velocity change dV of the rocket body itself, then the conservation of
momentum gives you the momentum balance.
That means, the mass with which it started, the original mass and the original velocity
finally, devolves into the final mass, the final velocity and the mass that is expended that
is, the fuel that is expelled through the nozzle and the change of velocity that has
occurred to the rocket vehicle.
So, V e-max is the velocity of the exhaust gas, which is relative to the rocket body and as
a result of which, you have the motion of the rocket. It is assumed that the nozzle is fully
expanded to the atmosphere. So, this is the basic equation of motion of the rocket body
itself.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 46:53))
Noow, if you sllightly workk on that eqquation, we can write thhat this equuation devollves into
am
much simpller form, which
w can bee differentiated to giv
ve you a veery simple equation
e
whhich is m dV
V dt which is equal to V e-max intoo dm dt.
Noow m dV dt is the propuulsive forcee or thrust, which

w is m into accelerration - dV dt is the
accceleration. So,
S that givees you the propulsive
p f
force or the thrust that you requiree for this
boddy to be mooved and thaat is the thru
ust you needd to create.
Noow dm dt is the mass flux

fl of the fuel
f and oxiidizer togethher. You reemember thhe rocket
carrries the fueel and oxidiizer and theere is no airr available. So, this is what
w is com
ming out
of tthe rocket body
b and thiis is the thruust you need to create to
t move thee entire rockket body
throough the attmosphere or
o anywheree else. So, this
t comes out of the basic
b motioon of the
roccket body.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 48:00))
So,, the jet thru

ust that youu need to creeate can alsoo be writtenn down in teerms of the value V
e-m
max with which
w the fuuel and oxiddant togetheer are coming out - the jet is com
ming out
andd this is thee mass flux of the fuel and oxidizzer together and that giives you the thrust.
So,, this thrustt must be eqqual to the thrust whicch is requirred for the motion
m of the
t body
andd as a resultt of which, you
y have prroperly matcched enginee and the rocket body.
max, at the moment

Noow, this exhhaust velocitty which is created and which wee call V e-m
we are assum
ming that maximum
m veelocity has been createed; it has worked
w in an ideal
conndition, thee nozzle is working ass an ideal nozzle
n and then it is expanding into the
atm
mosphere inn a completee expansionn process annd that creattes V e-max
x. We shall see later
on,, that rockett does not create V e-m
max all the time.
t It creaates a velociity V e whicch is not
neccessarily maaximum, at all time of its operationn.
Noow, this V e-max

e n the local ambient
depeends on dessign of the exhaust nozzzle and on
conndition of thhe flight. So, in a well-designed convergent divergent nozzle,
n the exhaust
vellocity can be
b calculated and is knnown for fliights withinn the atmospphere. Theyy can be
calculated quiite easily, reasonably
r a
approximat
tely for enggineering ap
pproximatioons. The
vallue of gamm
ma is deterrmined for the mass oof the gas with the help
h of the internal
tem
mperature an
nd chemicaal compositiion of the exhaust.
e It is normally much less than the
vallue that is used
u for ordinary air; normally, quite
q less really
r at higgh temperatture and
preessure.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 49:56))
Noow, these arre the equattions for whhich you cann calculate the V e; ass I said, V e can be
eassily calculaated. This is
i the energ
gy with whhich the gaas is flowinng out, thiis is the
tem
mperature of
o the com
mbustion ch
hamber withh which itt started annd this is the exit
tem
mperature. So,
S this is a simple gov
verning equaation of veloocity; you can
c write froom your
funndamental thhermodynam
mics that yo
ou have donne; the isenttropic flow that you haave done
andd if you deriive this, youu can coverrt the temperrature ratio to pressuree ratio.
Assuming an isentropic process

p for the time being, an ideeal process and if youu do that
throough the noozzle and finnally, you get
g the cycle efficiencyy, which is equal
e to this as you
havve done in your
y thermoodynamics and for thee time being
g, if you asssume that thhe cycle
effi
ficiency is 100 percent,, that is 1, you
y get the V e-max; so,
s this is V e-max. Wee started
by trying to caalculate V e and we cann get V e-m
max by assum
ming the cyycle efficienncy to be
1 oor 100 perceent and if you
y do that, you get thee V e-max, which is fo
or the limitiing case
thaat is, in vacuuum.
So,, this is whaat you get when

w the roccket actuallly flies in vaacuum, thatt is well outtside the
outtside the eaarth’s atmossphere. Othherwise in atmosphere
a , you can calculate
c byy earlier
stepps that are shown
s over here.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T 51:25))
Hence, you caan see that we w the helpp of simple physics, the Thrust
w can now calculate with
Speecific Fuel Consumpttion or wh
hich is alsoo called TS
SFC, whichh is the prropellant
connsumption really,
r a hoouse inside the body and
a this is simply giveen by g byy V exit.
Noow, this is what
w we caalculated inn the last sllide and g is
i gravity. So, you caan easily
calculate yourr TSFC, oncce you havee calculatedd the value of V ex an
nd the recipprocal of
thiss is called specific im
mpulse, wh
hich is ofteen a figuree of merit or measuree of the
proopulsive effi
ficiency of thhe rocket en
ngine
Yoou remembeer, this is a propulsive

p u and it is
unit i an enginee and its effficiency neeeds to be
meeasured. Specific impuulse is the figure of merit or thhe measure of the proopulsive
ficiency andd it is simplyy the reversse or reciproocal of this TSFC and is expressed in this
effi
maanner and it is often in most
m literatuure, it is sim
mply called I sp - Speciific impulsee
Thiis specific impulse vaalues at seaa level and at various altitude aree not same. As we
knoow, the thru
ust is goingg to be diffeerent and we shall see very soon and
a you know very
well, the valuue of g woould vary from
f earth’s surface to
t various high altitudde. It is
som
mething at earth’s
e surfaace which we o physics, but once you go to
w use all thhe time in our
higgh altitude, the t use diffeerent values. Hence,
t value off g changess and hence,, you have to
thee value of specific
s m earth’s surface at sea level to various
imppulse would vary from
altiitudes, whicch the rockeets normally
y would flyy. Hence, th
hese are the various parrameters
that typically specify a rocket and a rocket’s operation - the TSFC, the specific impulse
and the exit velocity.
We shall continue with this in the next class and we shall introduce a number of other
parameters that typify a rocket and its operation. It also quantifies how good the rocket is
and what this rocket or what this engine could be used for, whether it could be used for a
missile, whether it could be used for a satellite or whether it could be used for any other
purpose can be actually found out from these parameters, which we are talking about.
We shall be introduced to number of other parameters pertaining to the basic rocket
science in the next lecture.

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Introduction to Aerospace Propulsion

Prof. Bhaskar Roy

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Hello and welcome to lecture 17 of this lecture series on introduction to aerospace

In today’s lecture, what we shall be discussing is basically on we shall get introduce to

Well, power cycles form a very important component in engineering analysis as

As I have mentioned, study of power cycle obviously is of immense importance and

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Therefore, Carnot efficiency helps us in identifying or benchmarking the efficiency level

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Basically reciprocating engines constitutes the following components; so reciprocating

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So the fictitious pressure, which when multiplied by this displacement volume is

In SI engine as we have seen basically, the air fuel mixture is compressed to a

It is basically compression is taken to a temperature which is beyond the Otto ignition

(Refer Slide Time: 40:20)

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(Refer Slide Time: 42:47)

So thermal efficiency of an ideal diesel cycle is basically w net by q in which is 1 minus

(Refer Slide Time: 46:56)

Prof. Bhaskar Roy

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Indian Institute of technology, Bombay

Rankine cycle, Brayton cycle, Stirling and Ericsson cycles

Hello and welcome to lecture 18 of this lecture series on introduction to Aerospace

(Refer Slide Time: 00:54)

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For a cycle to become externally reversible, it is important that the temperature

(Refer Slide Time: 04:02)

Let us understand what is meant by regeneration. Regeneration is a process, which is

Regeneration is something, which we have just understood that it basically involves

(Refer Slide Time: 06:35)

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We can define what is known as effectiveness of a regeneration process or regenerator.

(Refer Slide Time: 32:44)

Similarly, the work output of a cycle of a turbine can be increased by multi-stage

As we apply cooling of the gas, it reaches state B at constant pressure. From B to D, we

Now, if we look at the benefits of intercooling or reheating, it has a standalone

(Refer Slide Time: 40:04)

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(Refer Slide Time: 46:52)

Prof. Bhaskar Roy

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Piston-prop engines: Otto cycles;

Ideal and Real cycles