WORKING OF AN AIRCRAFT ENGINE

(2) COMPRESS A compressor stall

occurs when there is
10% of the air pulled in by the fan goes into the
an imbalance
compressor. Here, it is squeezed to about 50 times between the air flow
smaller and its temperature increases to over 600°C. supply and the airflow
demand. A sustained
By pressurising the air, more power is generated when compressor stall can
fuel is burnt in it. result in engine
Titanium alloys and nickel superalloys are used in this damage and can lead
to engine failure.
part of the engine.

Aircraft engines obviously

require a lot more power (4) Blow
compared to a car or a
In the turbine, the hot expanding gas
truck. While car and truck
engines usually range pushes past a series of blades, making
between 100 to 300 them turn, which supplies power to the
horsepower, average
commercial aircraft engines compressor and the fan.
stand at 30,000 horsepower. The temperature of the gas hitting the
blades can be upto 1800°C, higher than
the melting point of the nickel superalloys
that they are made from. Cooler air is
Only
10% air
blown over the blades to stop them
goes from getting too hot.
into the
compressor. (3) COMBUSTION
The combuster is where jet fuel is burnt in
the air from the compressor. Temperatures
can reach upto 2100°C and the pressure
gets even higher. The temperature and
(1) INTAKE Rolls-Royce has been in the
fuel/air ratio is carefully controlled to boost aircraft engine
The fan blades at the front of the engine
efficiency and reduce emissions. Combustors manufacturing industry
suck in 1.3 tonnes of air every second since 1914.
are principally made of nickel superalloy.
during take-off. 90% of the air sucked They originally
in bypasses the engine’s core and manufactured engines for
military aircrafts only.
provides most of the thrust. Titanium
Today Rolls-Royce is one of
alloys are mostly used for the production Commercial jets are more fuel efficient
90% of the the leading engine
of the fan blades. than cars. For example a Boeing 747
air is blown manufacturers for Boeing
away at the does 0.09 kilometers per litre whereas and Airbus.
rear of the an average car does 11 km/l. But if we
turbine.
take in consideration that a 747 carries
400-450 passengers on an average,
then we get 42.5 km/l per person travelling
DONE BY ABDULLAH ASHRAF
on the airplane. BSC YEAR-I