Flight Dynamics

Propulsion
By
Dr. Abdullah Al-Faruk
Chapter introduction
o Flight propulsion devices for aerospace vehicles can be categorized as:
 Air breathing engines: Designed to use atmospheric oxygen for an oxidizer
(Combination of propeller and reciprocating engine, and Jet engines)
 Rocket engines: Carry fuel and oxidizer and thus independent of atmosphere
 Advanced space propulsion: Based on electric propulsion
o Both jet and rocket engines are based on the principle jet propulsion

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Propeller
o A propellers blade has an airfoil shape which generates lift as the blade slices
through the air. Because the propeller is pointed forward the force generated is in
a forward direction - that is, it thrusts the airplane forward

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Propeller
o Unlike wing, where chord lines are all
in same direction, a propeller is twisted
such that the chord line changes from
being almost parallel to 𝑉∞ at the root,
to almost perpendicular at the tip
o Angle between the chord line and
propeller’s plane of rotation is defined
as pitch angle, 𝛽

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Propeller
o Airflow seen by a propeller section is a combination of airplane’s forward motion
and the rotation of propeller itself
o Relative wind V, seen by the propeller section is the vector sum of airplane’s
relative wind 𝑉∞ and the speed of blade section due to rotation of the propeller 𝑟𝜔

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Propeller
o Lift and drag forces are generated with respect to the local relative
wind V when the airfoil section is at an angle of attack 𝛼
o Components of L and D in the direction of 𝑉∞ produce net thrust T:
𝑇 = 𝐿 cos 𝜙 − 𝐷 sin 𝜙 where 𝜙 = 𝛽 − 𝛼
o Sum of the thrusts over the entire length of the propeller blades yields
the net available thrust TA

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Propeller
o This is simply how a propeller works. However, the actual behavior is more
complex. Aerodynamics of propellers are influenced by the induced flow due to
tip vortices like the finite wing. Moreover, due to propeller twist and rotational
motion, aerodynamic theory is even more complicated
o Some of the typical high speed airfoil sections for propellers

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Reciprocating engine
o Theory and working of reciprocating engines are the same as we studied in IC
engines theory
o Piston engines drive a spinning shaft. The propeller is attached to that shaft. At
least two (but usually three or four) blades make up the propeller. The more
blades, the more air that can be moved by the propeller
o Within a piston engine, the pistons can be arranged in four ways: radial, in-line,
oppositional and ‘V’
o Radial engine has pistons arranged in a circle with the spinning shaft in the
middle. These engines were once the most widely used aircraft engine. They never
found much favor outside of aviation and are not used in modern aviation
o Pistons on an in-line engine are lined up one behind the other along the length of
the shaft that turns the propeller. These have been used in many applications
including cars. They are not used a great deal in aircraft, as they tend to be long
and heavy. Aircraft engines must be as lightweight and compact as possible

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Reciprocating engine
o Oppositional piston engine is much like the in-line, except that the pistons are
mounted in pairs on opposite sides of the shaft. This makes for a much shorter and
lighter engine. In-line engines have become very popular in the small airplane
market
o ‘V’ engine is much like the oppositional engine, except that the pistons are not
parallel to each other. Instead they are slanted in a ‘V’ arrangement. The V8 engine
is perhaps the most well known engine as it has been used to power millions of
automobiles. The V8 is rarely used in airplanes as they tend to be heavier than the
oppositional engines

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Jet propulsion and jet engines
o Jet propulsion is similar to the release of an inflated balloon. The pressure inside
the balloon is pushing in all directions. It is also ‘jetting’ out from the mouth of the
balloon. The end of the balloon opposite to the mouth is not open. This creates an
imbalance and causes the balloon to move in the direction away from the open
mouth. Jet engines work in a similar fashion

The air rushes out the

The inflated open hole at the bottom.
balloon has The action is that the air
compressed air is pushed out in one
pressing equally direction. The reaction is
against all the sides that the balloon flies in
the other direction

o There are several types of jet engine: ramjet, pulsejet, turbojet, turbofan. The last
two are the most widely used
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Jet propulsion-The thrust equations
o Fundamental mechanism of generating aerodynamic force by a solid surface:
 Net result of pressure and shear stress distributions over the surface yields an
aerodynamic force
 An effect of this force is equal and opposite reaction that yields a force on the air
itself; that is a change in momentum is imparted to the air by the solid body. The
aerodynamic force is equal to the time rate of change of momentum of the airflow

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Jet propulsion-The thrust equations
o Jet engine takes in air at essentially the free-stream velocity 𝑉∞ , heats it by
combustion of fuel inside the duct, and then blasts the hot mixture of air and
combustion products out the back end at a much higher velocity 𝑉e
o A change in momentum of the gas by taking a small mass of air and giving it a
large increase in velocity. By Newton’s third law, the equal and opposite reaction
produces thrust

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Jet propulsion-The thrust equations
o Fundamental source of thrust of jet engine is the net force produced by the
pressure and shear stress distributions exerted over the surface of the engine

Shear stress is generally secondary in comparison to the magnitude of pressure,

is ignored. x denote flight direction
o Thrust of the engine in flight direction

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Jet propulsion-The thrust equations
o Since 𝑝∞ is atmospheric constant pressure, the last term becomes

o The net thrust becomes

o To obtain the integral term, consider a control volume of gas bounded by the
internal surfaces of the engine. ps is the pressure on the gas exerted by the surface

pe
pe is the gas static
pressure at the exit

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Jet propulsion-The thrust equations
o The x component of force on the gas inside the control volume

o From Newton’s second law, which give the force. The force is equal to the time
rate of change of momentum which can be obtain from the following figure:

o Combining these two equations and solving for the integral term

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Jet propulsion-The thrust equations
o Substituting the integral term into the thrust equation and rearranging gives

This is the fundamental thrust equation for jet propulsion

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Turbojet engine
o The turbojet was the first really useful jet
engine to be built. Today, it is the only
practical propulsive mechanism for high-
speed subsonic and supersonic flight.
o Air flows into the engine through the inlet.
The design of the inlet makes the air slow
down and also raises the pressure
o Air then goes through the compressor
where sets of blades compress the air even
more, greatly raising the pressure
o Air then enters the combustion chamber
where the fuel is added and ignited. The
very hot, high-pressure air rushes past the
turbine blades making them spin very fast

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Turbojet engine
o Turbine blades are connected back to the compressor blades by a shaft. Turbine
blades take some of the energy from the air and returns it to the compressor
o Hot, high pressure air that gets past the turbine, ‘jets’ out the exhaust nozzle
thrusting the engine forward
o Thermodynamic process in an ideal turbojet engine can be shown as below
ignoring the effect of friction and heat losses

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Turbojet engine
o Thrust of the engine can be obtain from the thrust equation. Using the notation of
mass flow and velocity as in figure. Noting the mass of fuel added is small
compared to the mass of air:
Neglecting mass of fuel, the thrust of jet engine

which explicitly shows that T can be increased by increasing

“Thrust do not vary with free-stream velocity air”-

Justify the claim.

Using thrust equation, explain how thrust of a jet

engine is proportional to free-stream density of air?

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Turbojet engine with afterburner
o To increase the thrust available, a device called an afterburner is sometimes
built into the engine
o Fuel is dumped into the hot exhaust gas exiting the nozzle causing another
controlled explosion. This makes the air even hotter which adds more energy to
it, thereby increasing the thrust
o This is not an efficient thing to do however, and is only done for brief periods
when extra thrust is needed, for example, on takeoff or when a burst of speed is
needed during a dog fight, or when an extra push is needed to reach supersonic
speed.

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Turbofan engine
o Although the thrust of a jet engine is large, the
efficiency of the process is adversely affected by the
high exhaust velocities. Kinetic energy left in the jet
exhaust is also loss
o Concept of pure turbojet and propeller are combined
in turbofan engine which is a refinement to the
turbojet that results in a more efficient engine
o Thrust specific fuel consumption TSFC of a typical
turbofan engine (0.6) is much less than that of a
typical turbojet engine (1.0 lb of fuel per pound of
thrust per hour)
o All modern commercial jet transports are equipped
with turbofan engine

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Turbofan engine
o A large set of fan blades is set right in the front of the inlet. The fan works much
like a propeller, thrusting the engine forward, pushing a large amount of air
backwards
o As the air is pushed back by the fan some of it goes into the engine and some
bypasses the engine
o The engine that sits behind the fan is basically a turbojet. The air that goes into this
engine receives the same treatment as air that goes through the turbojet
o The turbine in a turbofan drives the fan as well as the compressor. The air that
‘jets’ out the back of this engine has less thrust than
air that exits a turbojet, but that decrease in thrust is
made up for by the thrust generated by the fan
o A turbofan engine actually is more efficient than a
turbojet and is quieter as well. Afterburners can be
fitted to a turbofan if required

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Turboprop engine
o The turboprop engine is essentially a turbofan engine where the concept is further
extended by replacing the fan by a propeller
o Propeller is placed outside of the inlet. A gearbox is introduced which controls the
spinning of the shaft, enabling speed control for the propeller
o Turboprop is the most efficient means of propulsion, however it is limited in
forward speed. Because the propeller is out in the free stream air mounted outside
of inlet, it has to rotate at faster speeds. The speed of the
propeller approaches the speed of sound well before the
airplane itself. As the airplane approaches the speed of
sound, drag greatly increases. So the speed of the airplane
must be kept well below the speed of sound to prevent the
tips of the propeller from going too fast.
o Approx. 85% of thrust comes from the propeller and the
remaining15% from the jet exhaust

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Ramjet engine
o Ramjet is as simple a jet engine as can be found which get rid of all rotating
machinery
o Air enters the inlet at , decelerate in the diffuser and compressed. This raises
the pressure of the air. As the air arrives at the combustion chamber, fuel is added
and an electric spark is generated. This causes a controlled explosion that raises
the temperature and the pressure of the air tremendously. The hot, high-pressure
air ‘jets’ out the nozzle of the engine providing the forward thrust

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Ramjet engine
o This seems so simple, why would anyone want a more complex engine? The
weakness of this engine is that the air coming in the inlet must be traveling at a
very high speed (supersonic) for good efficiency.
o To start and operate, it must be already in motion. Otherwise, there would be no
compression in the diffuser. Therefore, all ramjet powered vehicles must be
launched by some independent mechanism (a catapult, rocket), or must have
second engine of another type.
o Those are simply not practical for most flying situations and
have not yet been used as a prime propulsive mechanism on
a manned aircraft
o A ramjet does not work well at low speeds either. Although
ramjet produce high thrust, subsonic efficiency is very low,
typically TSFC ~ 3 to 4 at subsonic speed. However, at
supersonic Mach number, TSFCs are somewhat comparable

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Ramjet engine
o To operate at high M, turbojet must increase its combustion temperature which
limits the material of turbine blades (can be melt). As ramjet has no turbines, its
combustion temperature can be much higher, and virtually the only choice when M
> 3 or 4
o Ramjet are used on numerous guided missiles, and appear to be the best choice for
future hypersonic airplanes
SCRAMjet Engine
o For M > 6, combustion temperature in ramjet goes around 2370 K which will tend
to fail the walls of the engine like the turbojet. Moreover, the high temperature may
decompose the fuel injected rather than burning it. This means fuel will be
absorbed instead of releasing energy which will drag the machine rather than thrust
o This problem can be solved by the concept of supersonic combustion ramjet
(SCRAMjet) where the diffuser decelerates the airflow only enough to obtain
reasonable pressure ratio for M > 6, so that still the flow supersonic entering the
combustor where supersonic combustion takes place
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Pulse jet engine
o Pulse jet solves the problem of requiring supersonic speeds. It works well at a
lower speed and with a little help, can get started when it is standing still.
o It is much like the ramjet, except that it has doors that close the inlet. When the
doors are open, the air flows in and is compressed. The doors then close, forming
a chamber in which the fuel is ignited. The hot, high-pressure gas then ‘jets’ out
the exhaust nozzle. The cycle of air in, doors closed, air out, then repeat, is where
this engine gets its name.
o Pulse jets are not widely used for two reasons. They are very noisy and inefficient.
They are the gas guzzlers of the aviation world

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Jet engines
o If you want to fly at moderate speeds efficiently, then turboprops are a good
choice. If you want to fly fast, but subsonically, then turbofans are a good choice.
If you want to fly supersonically then a turbofan with afterburner is a good idea. If
you want to fly slowly and only have a small budget or a small airplane, then a
piston engine is a good choice.

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Rocket Engine
o Unlike piston or jet engines, rocket engine carries both its fuel and oxidizer and is
completely independent of the atmosphere for its combustion, thus can operate in
the vacuum of space
o Fuel and oxidizer are sprayed into the combustion chamber, where they burn,
creating a high-pressure, high-
temperature mixture of combustion
products, whose velocity is low,
essentially zero
oTherefore, the combustion chamber is
directly analogous to the reservoir of a
supersonic wind tunnel, the products of
combustion expand to supersonic
speeds through the convergent-
divergent nozzle with velocity
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Rocket Engine
o Exit velocity is considerably higher than that for jet engines; hence by comparison,
rocket thrust are higher, but efficiencies are lower
o For rocket engine, thrust is obtained from the fundamental thrust equation

where, is the total mass flow of combustion product and

o Exit velocity can be obtain from the energy equation between the combustion
chamber and the nozzle exit:

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Rocket Engine
o Expansion through the nozzle is isentropic:

Thus,

o A comparative measure of efficiency of rocket engine can be obtained from

specific impulse defined as the thrust per unit weight flow at sea level

o Assume the nozzle exit pressure is the same as the ambient pressure

o Substitute nozzle exit velocity and note

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Rocket Engine
o Combustion chamber temperature is a function of the heat of reaction of the propellant,
whereas pressure is basically the mass flow of propellant being pumped into the chamber
and the throat area
o

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Rocket Engine
o

o When sonic condition is present at the throat, mass flow is directly proportional to
combustion chamber pressure and throat area and inversely proportional to the
square root of stagnation temperature
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Rocket Propellants
Self study topics
o Liquid propellants
o Solid propellants
o Solid propellants burning configurations
o Advantages and disadvantages of solid propellants

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Rocket Equation
o Rocket equation relates rocket engine performance (Specific impulse) to the
velocity achieved by the complete rocket vehicle

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Rocket Equation

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Rocket Equation

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Rocket Equation

o Rocket Staging (self study)

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Jet engines
o When mounted on a high speed aircraft, large amounts of surrounding air are
continuously brought into the engine inlet because of the forward motion of the aircraft.
The air is slowed going through the inlet, and the dynamic pressure due to velocity is
converted into higher static pressure. At the exit of the inlet, the air is at a much higher
pressure than free stream. While the free stream velocity may be either subsonic or
supersonic, the flow exiting the inlet of a ramjet is always subsonic. The flow exiting a
scramjet inlet is supersonic and has fewer shock losses than a ramjet inlet at the same
vehicle velocity. In the burner, a small amount of fuel is combined with the air and
ignited. In a typical engine, 100 pounds of air/sec. is combined with only 2 pounds of
fuel/sec. Most of the hot exhaust has come from the surrounding air. Flame holders in the
burner localize the combustion process. Burning occurs subsonically in the ramjet and
supersonically in the scramjet. Leaving the burner, the hot exhaust passes through a
nozzle, which is shaped to accelerate the flow. Because the exit velocity is greater than the
free stream velocity, thrust is created as described by the general thrust equation. For
ramjet and scramjet engines, the exit mass flow is nearly equal to the free stream mass
flow, since very little fuel is added to the stream.

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o A ramjet engine provides a simple, light propulsion system for high speed flight.
Likewise, the supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet, provides high thrust and
low weight for hypersonic flight speeds. Unlike a turbojet engine, ramjets and
scramjets have no moving parts, only an inlet, a combustor that consists of a fuel
injector and a flame holder, and a nozzle. How do ramjets and scramjets work?

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Jet engines
• The thrust equation for ramjets and scramjets contain three terms: gross thrust,
ram drag, and a pressure correction. If the free stream conditions are denoted by a
"0" subscript and the exit conditions by an "e" subscript, the thrust F is equal to
the mass flow rate m dot times the velocity V at the exit minus the free stream
mass flow rate times the velocity plus the pressure p difference times the nozzle
exit area:
• F = [m dot * V]e - [m dot * V]0 + (pe - p0) * Ae
• Aerodynamicists often refer to the first term (exit mass flow rate times exit
velocity) as the gross thrust, since this term is largely associated with conditions
in the nozzle.
o The second term (free stream mass flow rate times free stream velocity) is called
the ram drag. This term can be quite large for scramjet engines.

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Jet engines
o For ramjets and scramjets, the nozzle exit velocity is supersonic, and the exit
pressure depends on the area ratio between the throat of the nozzle and the exit of
the nozzle. Only for a unique design condition is the exit pressure equal the free
stream static pressure. For all other conditions, we must include the third term of
the thrust equation (exit pressure minus free stream pressure times the exit area).
This pressure correction is usually small compared to the first term of the thrust
equation. But for completeness, this term is usually included in the gross thrust.
o For high supersonic or hypersonic flight, the ideal propulsion system is a ramjet. A
ramjet uses the forward speed of the aircraft to compress the incoming air and,
therefore, has fewer moving parts than a turbine engine.

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Jet engines
o On this slide we show a computer drawing of a typical ramjet engine. In the
computer drawing, we have cut out a portion of the engine to have a look inside.
At the front of the engine, to the left, is the inlet, which brings outside air into the
engine. At the exit of the inlet, the air is at a much higher pressure than free stream
conditions. Fuel is injected and mixed for combustion just downstream of the
inlet. The resulting flame is stabilized in the engine by the red flame holder ring.
This part is very similar to an afterburner in a fighter jet engine. The hot exhaust
then passes through the nozzle, which is shaped to accelerate the flow and produce
thrust. The thrust equation for a ramjet is shown on a separate slide.
o To analyze ramjet operation, engineers have adopted a numbering scheme for the
various parts. The numbering scheme for the ramjet is identical to the turbine
engine. But the ramjet has no compressor or turbine. Therefore, some of the
numbered stages are omitted in a ramjet analysis.
o You can study ramjet design and operation by using the EngineSim Applet. You
can vary the performance of any of the engine parts and investigate the effects on
thrust and fuel flow. On the applet, choose "Ramjet," and any engine part from the
image in the upper left of the program.

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