Even though the Airbus A380, one of the largest passenger aircraft in the world, has a take-off weight of more than 500 tons, when we look at it from afar, we see that it takes off effortlessly and glides through the air like a bird. Even though these airplanes, weighing tons, seem to defy the rules of nature, the answer to the question of how aircraft engines work, which we wonder every time we see it, is hidden in the rules of nature, which they seem to challenge.
More than a hundred years have passed since humanity invented aircraft engines. Of course, the first engines were not like that, but they still gave us the ability to fly, a trait not naturally given to man. When we come to today, flying has become child’s play for us, after all, we can even go to space. If you are not an engineer, what we will tell you may be a little confusing, but without getting too bogged down in technical details, let’s take a closer look at how aircraft engines work.
In its simplest form, how do aircraft engines work?
Each aircraft has engines in varying numbers and features depending on its weight and desired performance. Aircraft engines first draw in plenty of air with the help of a large fan and compress this air. This compressed air mixes with the fuel and the fuel burns. The energy created by the effect of combustion is transferred out, and thus an airplane weighing tons begins to move. This is how aircraft engines work in their simplest form.
Let’s go step by step, the aircraft engine first takes air into it:
Airplanes fly not because they challenge the air, but because they work with the air. Aircraft engines have a huge fan in the front and this fan collects air. In the next stage of the engine, this big fan gets narrower and the incoming air starts to get compressed. The trapped air will then be converted into energy.
Compressed air is heated by fuel:
Even when you open the soda can, you realize how strong the pressure is. Here, the air taken from the fan of the aircraft engine is compressed in such a way that it has a pressure that we cannot even imagine. In the post-compression stage of the engine, the fuel comes into play because the compressed gas needs to be heated. As soon as the air mixed with this gas warms up, it is expected.
Finally all the energy is released:
The aircraft engine took air, compressed it, mixed it with fuel and burned it. Do not underestimate the word warming up, the temperature we are talking about can rise above a thousand degrees from time to time. The gases that emerge at such a temperature are released from the last part of the engine so strongly that the aircraft weighing tons begins to move.
Let’s get to know the parts of the aircraft engine:
- Fan
- Compressor
- Burner
- Turbine
- nozzle
Fan:
The fan is the first part of the aircraft engine and provides the air intake. This piece, which we can see from the outside, resembles a propeller made up of gigantic blades. The thrust force is provided by some of the air taken with the fan. The other part of the air is transmitted to the next part of the aircraft engine.
Compressor:
The fan, which can reach enormous dimensions depending on the air ratio required for the operation of the aircraft engine, begins to narrow as it comes to the compressor part. Because the task of the compressor part is to compress the air taken by the fan. The incoming air is gradually compressed into a small volume by the compressor and it is provided to have a large pressure.
Burner:
We got plenty of air with the fan and compressed it in the compressor part and made it ready to explode. This explosion occurs in the combustor part. There are fuel nozzles and an igniter from the burner part. Fuel is mixed into the compressed air filled with pressure and the igniter sparks.
Turbine:
Of course, the energy generated by burning the compressed air is not directly ejected, this energy must be used. The resulting energy is used in the turbine part. The turbine has a fan-like propeller structure. It rotates with the energy it receives and moves other parts. It transmits the remaining energy to the last part of the aircraft engine.
Nozzle:
The final point of all this confusion, that is, the last piece of the aircraft engine is the nozzle. The nozzle is the narrowest part of the aircraft engine. Because it accelerates the released energy in this way. The compressed and then burned air coming out of the nozzle releases the necessary thrust for the aircraft.
Measures taken to protect aircraft engines:
This working system of aircraft engines may have increased the anxiety of some of our readers who are afraid of airplanes, but rest assured, these are not such simple machines. In fact, they have far less of the danger of a car engine. Accident rates confirm this.
The engineers’ greatest concern was the introduction of foreign objects into the fans, which were made huge for air. It could be a piece of ice, runway debris, or even a bird. Moreover, there is an extreme force and heat. As a precaution against such dangers, the fan blades are improved with a technique called laser forging. In addition, when a titanium material is used, cracking and breakage is largely prevented.
Foreign matter protection is okay, but what about engine self-damage? The resulting temperature is more than a thousand degrees, and the resulting energy can fly an entire plane. Even a micron crack in an aircraft engine can grow rapidly. That’s why laser forging is done not only on the fan part, but also on the compressor and turbine part. The parts that have undergone this process perform the necessary stretching by anticipating possible stresses. Thus, unexpected malfunctions are prevented.
The evolution of aircraft engines from past to present:
You will be surprised, but the first gas-fired engine, the ancestor of aircraft engines, was invented in 250 BC by Heron of Alexandria. The first primitive rockets with a similar system were used by the Chinese in 1232. Fireworks, which are the ancestors of these rockets, have been used since 3 thousand BC.
The amount of motion theorem, put forward by the English physicist Isaac Newton in 1687, opened the doors of a new era. The first gas turbine was designed by John Baber in 1791. In 1911 Alfred Buchi developed turbochargers, and this system began to be used in airplanes in 1916.
In 1930, Frank Whittle combined the gas turbine and diffuser, and in 1936 he patented the turbojet for this system. The first real jet engine, developed by Hans von Ohain in 1937, operated successfully in 1941. Today, there are many types of aircraft engines such as turbojet, turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and ramjet.
We answered the question of how aircraft engines that manage to ventilate airplanes weighing tons like a bird work, and tried to get to know this system a little better without getting bogged down in technical details. You can share your thoughts on the subject in the comments.
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