Swan neck duct

Last updated

A swan neck duct is a jet engine component, usually situated within the compression or turbine expansion system. [1]

Many jet engines have a short annular passageway, linking two components, where there is a large change in mean radius, from front to rear. The shape of the resulting passageway is often similar to that of a swan or goose neck. Consequently, such a passageway is called a swan (or goose) neck duct. The duct provides a continuous matching of the flows between the high pressure and low pressure turbines and a diffusion of the flow upstream of the low pressure turbine. For the latter purpose a swan neck duct is an example of an inter-turbine diffuser. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Jet engine Aircraft engine that produces thrust by emitting a jet of gas

A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term jet engine typically refers to an airbreathing jet engine such as a turbojet, turbofan, ramjet, or pulse jet. In general, jet engines are internal combustion engines.

Gas turbine Type of internal combustion engine

A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous and internal combustion engine. The main elements common to all gas turbine engines are:

Turbofan Airbreathing jet engine designed to provide thrust by driving a fan

The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the turbo portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanical energy from combustion, and the fan, a ducted fan that uses the mechanical energy from the gas turbine to accelerate air rearwards. Thus, whereas all the air taken in by a turbojet passes through the turbine, in a turbofan some of that air bypasses the turbine. A turbofan thus can be thought of as a turbojet being used to drive a ducted fan, with both of these contributing to the thrust.

Turbojet Airbreathing jet engine, typically used in aircraft

The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine, typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine. The compressed air from the compressor is heated by burning fuel in the combustion chamber and then allowed to expand through the turbine. The turbine exhaust is then expanded in the propelling nozzle where it is accelerated to high speed to provide thrust. Two engineers, Frank Whittle in the United Kingdom and Hans von Ohain in Germany, developed the concept independently into practical engines during the late 1930s.

Nozzle

A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow as it exits an enclosed chamber or pipe.

Centrifugal compressor

Centrifugal compressors, sometimes called radial compressors, are a sub-class of dynamic axisymmetric work-absorbing turbomachinery.

Afterburner Adds additional thrust to an engine at the cost of increased fuel consumption

An afterburner is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and combat. Afterburning injects additional fuel into a combustor in the jet pipe behind the turbine, "reheating" the exhaust gas. Afterburning significantly increases thrust as an alternative to using a bigger engine with its attendant weight penalty, but at the cost of very high fuel consumption which limits its use to short periods. This aircraft application of reheat contrasts with the meaning and implementation of reheat applicable to gas turbines driving electrical generators and which reduces fuel consumption.

Bypass ratio

The bypass ratio (BPR) of a turbofan engine is the ratio between the mass flow rate of the bypass stream to the mass flow rate entering the core. A 10:1 bypass ratio, for example, means that 10 kg of air passes through the bypass duct for every 1 kg of air passing through the core.

Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 Turboprop aircraft engine family by Pratt & Whitney Canada

The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Its design was started in 1958, it first ran in February 1960, first flew on 30 May 1961, entered service in 1964 and has been continuously updated since. It consists of two basic sections: a gas generator with accessory gearbox and a free power turbine with reduction gearbox, and is often seemingly mounted backwards in an aircraft in so far as the intake is at the rear and the exhaust at the front. Many variants of the PT6 have been produced, not only as turboprops but also for helicopters, land vehicles, hovercraft, boats, as auxiliary power units and for industrial uses. By November 2015, 51,000 had been produced, had logged 400 million flight hours from 1963 to 2016. It is known for its reliability with an in-flight shutdown rate of 1 per 651,126 hours in 2016. The PT6A covers the power range between 580 and 1,940 shp while the PT6B/C are turboshaft variants for helicopters.

A combustor is a component or area of a gas turbine, ramjet, or scramjet engine where combustion takes place. It is also known as a burner, combustion chamber or flame holder. In a gas turbine engine, the combustor or combustion chamber is fed high pressure air by the compression system. The combustor then heats this air at constant pressure. After heating, air passes from the combustor through the nozzle guide vanes to the turbine. In the case of a ramjet or scramjet engines, the air is directly fed to the nozzle.

Axial compressor

An axial compressor is a gas compressor that can continuously pressurize gases. It is a rotating, airfoil-based compressor in which the gas or working fluid principally flows parallel to the axis of rotation, or axially. This differs from other rotating compressors such as centrifugal compressor, axi-centrifugal compressors and mixed-flow compressors where the fluid flow will include a "radial component" through the compressor. The energy level of the fluid increases as it flows through the compressor due to the action of the rotor blades which exert a torque on the fluid. The stationary blades slow the fluid, converting the circumferential component of flow into pressure. Compressors are typically driven by an electric motor or a steam or a gas turbine.

Intake An opening or structure through which a fluid is admitted to a space or machine

An intake is an opening, structure or system through which a fluid is admitted to a space or machine as a consequence of a pressure differential between the outside and the inside. The pressure difference may be generated on the inside by a mechanism, or on the outside by ram pressure or hydrostatic pressure. Flow rate through the intake depends on pressure difference, fluid properties, and intake geometry.

Turbomachinery

Turbomachinery, in mechanical engineering, describes machines that transfer energy between a rotor and a fluid, including both turbines and compressors. While a turbine transfers energy from a fluid to a rotor, a compressor transfers energy from a rotor to a fluid.

A diffuser is "a device for reducing the velocity and increasing the static pressure of a fluid passing through a system”. The fluid's static pressure rise as it passes through a duct is commonly referred to as pressure recovery. In contrast, a nozzle is used to increase the discharge velocity and lower the pressure of a fluid passing through it.

Air turborocket

The air turborocket is a form of combined-cycle jet engine. The basic layout includes a gas generator, which produces high pressure gas, that drives a turbine/compressor assembly which compresses atmospheric air into a combustion chamber. This mixture is then combusted before leaving the device through a nozzle and creating thrust.

Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593

The Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 was an Anglo-French afterburning (reheated) turbojet which powered the supersonic airliner Concorde. It was initially a joint project between Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited (BSEL) and Snecma. It was based on the Bristol Siddeley Olympus 22R engine. Rolls-Royce Limited acquired BSEL in 1966 during development of the engine making BSEL the Bristol Engine Division of Rolls-Royce.

Components of jet engines

This article briefly describes the components and systems found in jet engines.

An airbreathing jet engine is a jet engine that emits a jet of hot exhaust gases formed from air that is forced into the engine by several stages of centrifugal, axial or ram compression, which is then heated and expanded through a nozzle. They are typically gas turbine engines. The majority of the mass flow through an airbreathing jet engine is provided by air taken from outside of the engine and heated internally, using energy stored in the form of fuel.

The Daimler-Benz DB 007,, was an early German jet engine design stemming from design work carried out by Karl Leist from 1939. This was a complex design featuring contra-rotating stages and a bypass fan, making it one of the earliest turbofan designs to be produced. The end result of the design work was built as the DB 007 and began testing on a test-bed on 27 May 1943. Due to the expected low performance, complexity and the good results achieved by much simpler designs, work was halted on the DB 007 in May 1944 by order of the RLM.

The Power Jets WU was a series of three very different experimental jet engines produced and tested by Frank Whittle and his small team in the late 1930s.

References

  1. Soares, Claire (23 October 2014). Gas Turbines: A Handbook of Air, Land and Sea Applications. Elsevier. p. 179. ISBN   9780124104853 . Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  2. Dominy, Robert G.; Kirkham, David A. (13 June 1994). "The Influence of Blade Wakes on the Performance of Inter-Turbine Diffusers". ASME 1994 International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition. 1: V001T01A072. doi: 10.1115/94-GT-207 . ISBN   978-0-7918-7883-5 . Retrieved 28 August 2016.