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A gas turbine is only part of the installation forming the aircraft power plant.
When installed in the aircraft it normally requires a number of accessories
fitted to it and connections made to various aircraft systems, i.e. fuel,
hydraulics, air conditioning etc.
The engine, jet pipe, accessories, and thrust reversers must be suitably
cowled, and an air intake must be provided for the compressor.
The location of the power plant and aircraft configuration are combined
and depend on the role of the aircraft. Turbo jet engine power units may
be in the form of pod installations that are attached to the wings by pylons
or attached to the sides of the rear fuselage by short stub wings.
Sometimes they are buried in the fuselage or wings. There are several
combinations such as rear fuselage and tail mounted power plants, wing
mounted pods with a third engine buried in the tail structure.
Engines may be attached to the wing with a pylon (underneath -A310, B747)
Engines buried in the fuselage -such as the Tri-Star where the engine is fitted
inside the rear of the fuselage aft of the rear toilets with the intake on top of the
fuselage just forward of the fin
Fig. Engines may be attached to the wing with a pylon on top -Antonov AN-72.
Fig. Internal engines may be buried in the wing -such as the Comet (Nimrod)
When we consider the ideal velocity of air passing through a compressor is in the
region of 0.4M-0.5M. It can be seen that the velocity of the air passing through the
intake needs to be reduced. This means that the shape of the intake for aircraft
flying slower than the speed of sound is normally a divergent duct .
For aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound the intake is designed to produce
shock waves to reduce the airspeed to O.4M-0.5M.
Ram Recovery
It is the change of ram air velocity into higher static pressure at the face of the
engine through diffusion process. If all of the available ram pressure is converted to
static pressure, it is known as Total Pressure Recovery.
Subsonic Intakes
Subsonic intakes are designed to maintain optimum airflow conditions
up to high subsonic speeds.
For a typical gas turbine engine, the velocity of the airflow at the compressor inlet is
normally not in excess of Mach 0.5; this ensures high compressor efficiency.
Under flight 'cruising' conditions, the airflow velocity must, in most circumstances,
be reduced before it reaches the compressor inlet. This is achieved by designing
the intake to function as a SUBSONIC diffuser; such intakes have ducts that
increase in cross-sectional area from front to rear, i.e. divergent ducts (see Fig. 1).
Probably the simplest and most effective type of intake is the single entrance
pitot type, illustrated in Fig. 4.
This type of intake makes the maximum use of the ram effect on the air, and
suffers the minimum loss of ram pressure with changes of aircraft attitude.
The efficiency of the pitot type intake diminishes as the aircraft speed
approaches sonic speed. This is due formation of a shock- wave at the
intake lip. The pitot type intake can be used for pod or wing mounted engines.
Blow-in Doors
Installed on some high by-pass ratio engines e.g. JT3D (B707) to deliver more air
to the face of engine during high thrust operation such as take-off.
Perimeter of the inlet duct has a number of ports, equipped with hinged, spring
loaded covers or doors.
The doors open automatically at low air speed to permit more air to enter inside
of the duct. As air speed increases, ram air pressure closes the doors, returning
the duct to its normal, flight operating configuration.
Supersonic Intakes
• The dump valve is open in the supersonic mode, reducing the throat area to
form a supersonic diffuser.
Some types of intake are specifically designed to produce a mild shock wave, or a
series of mild shock waves, without reducing the intake efficiency to any great
extent; such a design is the external/internal compression intake, illustrated in Fig. 6.
The thinking behind this design is that the velocity of airflow downstream of the
shock wave is subsonic. This subsonic airflow is further slowed down in the
conventional divergent section of the duct.
Devices of this type are usually rigged to operate without attention from the pilot as
the Mach number varies.
The main purpose of an inlet cone is to slow down the flow of air from supersonic
flight speed to a subsonic speed, before it enters the engine. Most jet engines need
subsonic airflow to operate properly, and require a diffuser to prevent supersonic
airflow inside the engine. At supersonic flight speeds a conical shock wave, sloping
rearwards, forms at the apex of the cone. Air passing through the conical shock
wave (and subsequent reflections) slows down to a low supersonic speed. The air
then passes through a strong normal shock wave, within the diffuser passage, and
exits at a subsonic velocity. The resulting intake system is more efficient (in terms
of pressure recovery) than the much simpler pitot intake. The inlet cone is shaped
so that the shock wave that forms on its apex is directed to the lip of the intake; this
allows the engine to operate properly in supersonic flight.
With a turbojet or turbofan, the problem arises when the engine is throttled back,
causing a mismatch between intake airflow and engine mass flow. A trapdoor is
needed to dump excess flow overboard.
Inlet BUZZ
Materials
Engine intake casings may be made of cast aluminum alloy and also of fabricated
light alloy construction. They are normally of light weight construction.
Types of Designs:
• Ducted Spinner Inlet
- considered best for airflow and aerodynamics
- more difficult to maintain and anti-ice
• Streamline or Conical Spinner Inlet
- better design than ducted spinner
• Under-scoop Inlet
- Nose section is offset from the main
axis of the engine
• Engine air inlets of early military aircraft were frequently provided with protective
screens to prevent ingestion of foreign objects and subsequent damage to
the aluminum impellers and blades.
• Small turbo-prop & turbo-shaft engines which power aircraft that operate from
unprepared landing sites have a special need to be protected from ingestion
of sand and dust, e.g. PT6 & ST6 engines have SS corrugated screens.
• The screens were, however, susceptible to icing + loss of inlet pressure
• Retractable screens were not successful due to their weight and mechanical failure.
• Inlet screens are never used on aircraft powered by large turbo-jet or turbo-fan
engines
• Used to separate sand, dirt and dust from the incoming air by centrifugal action.
• Useful in preventing compressor blade erosion thus increasing TBO.