Introduction

A gas turbine is a combustion engine that converts liquid or gaseous fuels into mechanical
power. It's also known as an internal combustion turbine. This propulsion system generates
thrust to move an airplane through the air. However the thrust generated by the gas turbine
engine can be affected by many varying factors

This essay is compiled piece of work that seeks to explain some of the critical factors that affect
engine performance of the gas turbine engine and some of the key factors that affect engine
thrust.
 1. Factors that affect engine thrust

Gas turbine engine operates under varying condition that affect the amount of thrust the engine
produces. These conditions affect either the momentum of air fuel flows through the jet nozzle.

Gas turbine engine basic components.

 Jet nozzle velocity

In most normal high speed operations, the exhaust nozzle operates in a chocked condition. This
means that the gases flowing out of the engine have been accelerated to the speed of sound
and they cannot be accelerated any further. The value of C j in the thrust formula remains
relatively constant, changing only the temp of the exhaust gas changes the speed of sound.
Wherever the nozzle is not chocked, varied atmospheric conditions will cause some changes in
jet nozzle velocity. (Robert Jakubowski)

 Airspeed

During level flight the relative airflow that’s enters the engine as the aircraft moves forward
increases, but at high power Value the exhaust speed does not increase proportionally. This
inverse relation simply means that an increase in airspeed results in a decrease in the net thrust
produced by the turbo engine.

https://www.pngkit.com _jet-engine-processing-gas-turbine-engine-stages/"

 Mass Airflow
The most significant variable in the thrust equation is mass air flow. Many factors affect the
mass airflow, the most important being air temperature, pressure, because these factors
determine the density of the air entering the engine & ram effect.
Air density has a profound effect on the thrust produced. The volume of the air flowing through
the engine is relatively fixed for any particular rpm by the size and geometry of the inlet duct
system. But since the thrust is determined by mass, not the volume of air, any increases in its
density increases the mass and thus the thrust. As the temperature of the air increases its
density decreases. Therefore the thrust produced by the engine decreases.

 Altitude effect

Altitude has a double effect on thrust. As the altitude increases, the air becomes colder and
denser, up to the beginning of stratosphere. This causes the thrust to increase. But at the same
time, the increase in altitude causes decrease in pressure, thus a decrease in density and
corresponding decrease in thrust. Since the loss of thrust caused by decreasing pressure is
greater than the increase caused by decreasing temperature. Thus the thrust decreases as the
aircraft ascends.

https://aeronotes.weebly.com/factors-affecting-thrust.html

 Ram Effect
Since any ram effect causes an increase in compressor entrance pressure over atmospheric,
the resulting pressure rise causes an increase in the mass airflow and gas velocity, both of
which tend to increase thrust. Although ram effect increases engine thrust, the thrust being
produced by the engine decreases for a given throttle setting as the aircraft gains airspeed.
Therefore, two opposing trends occur when an aircraft’s speed is increased. What actually takes
place is the net result of these two different effects. An engine’s thrust output temporarily
decreases as aircraft speed increases from static, but soon ceases to decrease. Moving toward
higher speeds, thrust output begins to increase again due to the increased pressure of ram
recovery. (Aeronautics guide).

Aircraft Gas Turbine Engine Performance (aircraftsystemstech.com)

 Air pressure

As air pressure increases its density increases causing the thrust produced by the engine to
increase.

b. Gas turbine engine configuration

They’re four major types of gas turbine engines. Do pay attention that such variety of gas
turbine design is only present in aircraft gas turbines. For gas turbines used in power plants,
the configuration is rather similar to turbojet engines to be discussed below

Turbojet Engines
The first gas turbine type was turbojet engines. Although they look entirely different from
reciprocal engines, they operate on the same principle: intake, compression, combustion
and exhaust. In this type of engine, air is moved at a high speed to the fuel inlet and ignitor
of the combustion chamber. The turbine induces accelerated exhaust gases by expanding
air. The turbojet get its propulsive power from a reaction to the flow of hot air gases.

Turboprop Engines

The second gas turbine type is a turboprop engine. It is a turbojet engine that is connected
via a gear system to a propeller. The working process of such a gas turbine type is as
follows; the turbojet spins a shaft linked to a transmission gearbox
A transmission box slows down the spinning process and the slowest moving gear is
attached to the transmission mechanism.
The air propeller rotates and generates thrust

Turbofan Engines

The world’s best turbojets and turboprops is paired with turbofan engines. Turbofan engines
can be connected to the front of a turbojet engine with a duct fan. The fan then creates an
extra push, helps the engine to cool and reduces the engine noise output. The turbofan in
effect is a ducted multi-blade propeller driven by a gas turbine engine. Generally turbofans
contain 20 to 40 fixed pitch blades. They were developed to provide a compromise between
the best features of the turbojet and the turboprop. The turbofan has a turbojet type cruise
speed capability and yet retains some of the short field takeoff capability of the turboprop

Turboshaft Engines

The fourth gas turbine type is turboshaft engines that are used mainly on helicopters. The
biggest difference is that turboshaft engines use the bulk of their power to spin turbines
instead of driving them out from the rear of the vehicle. Turboshaft engines are a turbojet
motor with a large shaft connected to the back of it. (GTE II Module 15 Check)

c. The Brayton Cycle

The Brayton cycle is a thermodynamic cycle used in some heat engines. Notably, it is used
for gas turbine engines and some jet engines. The cycle consists of compressing ambient
air, mixing the air with fuel, then igniting the mixture, which expands, doing work. In many
Brayton cycle engines, the hot air can then be recycled, heating the fresh air coming
through. This increases efficiency, because less fuel is needed to heat the fresh air. In
physics terms, the cycle consists of adiabatic compression and expansion paired with
isobaric heating and cooling, and allows for increased efficiency over some other cycles.

2. Engine air Inlet

The inlet is the part of the aircraft that brings air into the propulsion system. The inlet design
affects the performance of the propulsion system. In turn, the varying airflow demands of the
engine affect the performance of the inlet and the flight envelope of the aircraft. A “good”
inlet design allows the engine to produce high thrust and low fuel usage over a wide range
of flight conditions and throttle conditions.

 Ram effect Recovery

As aircraft speed increases, thrust tends to decrease however as the speed reaches a
certain point, ram recovery compensates the losses caused by the increase in speed. The
inlet of the engine must be able to recover as much of the total pressure of the free
airstream as possible. As air molecules are trapped and begin to be compressed in the inlet,
much of the pressure is recovered. This added pressure at the inlet of the engine increases
the pressure and airflow to the engine, this is results into what is Known as the ram recovery
effect.

B. Bernoulli’s Theorem
 Bernoulli’s theorem is principle of energy conservation for perfect fluids in steady, or
streamline flow and is the basis for many engineering applications. This principle was
derived in the early 1700’s by Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli. The principle is a key
concept in fluid dynamics that relates pressure, speed and height. Is states that the increase
in speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in static pressure or the fluids
potential energy?

 Divergent and convergent ducts difference

Divergent and convergent ducts merely serve the purpose, they are fluid flow directors.
Nonetheless the main difference lies in their cross sectional area. The convergent duct has a
decreasing cross section in the direction of fluid flow while the divergent duct has an increasing
cross sectional area.

C.