CHAPTER 1 PROPULSION SYSTEM THERMODYNAMICS 1.

1 INTRODUCTION
The gure below shows a cross-section of a Pratt and Whitney JT9D-7 high bypass ratio turbofan engine. The engine is depicted without any inlet nacelle or nozzle.

ma ma

fan

ma

fan

core

station 3 940F 335 psia

station 4 2325F 315 psia

station 5 1035F 22 psia

ma

core

+ mf

station 2 59F 14.7 psia

station 2.5 220F 32 psia

Fuel injection

mf

station 4.5 1525F 82 psia

station 13 140F 23 psia

Figure 1.1 Cross-section of the Pratt and Whitney JT9D-7 turbofan engine Two gas streams are indicated in the gure. The air mass ow rate of the bypass stream is m a and that of the engine core stream is m a . The bypass ratio of the engine is dened as core m fan ! = ------------m core (1.1)

fan

bjc

1.1

1/4/10

Introduction

The fuel is injected as a liquid, atomized, mixed and burned with the core air. The exhaust mass ow rate of the core is equal to the sum of core air mass ow rate and fuel mass ow rate ma + mf .
core

This engine was among the rst generation of high thrust jet engines designed in the 1960s to power a new generation of wide body aircraft. It was the engine that powered the Boeing 747 when it was introduced into service in 1968. This engine is capable of generating 46,500 pounds of thrust at sea level static conditions typical of the initiation of aircraft takeoff roll. Derivatives of this engine as well as competitors offered by General Electric and Rolls Royce continue to power the 747 today as well as the 767, A300, A310 and DC10. At cruise the engine generates about 10,000 pounds of thrust. This gure is particularly useful to us in that it shows the pressures and temperatures at various stations in the engine and it gives us a powerful reminder that to understand modern propulsion systems we will need to employ the full range of thermodynamic and gasdynamic tools available to us. The total air weight ow at take-off is 1508 pounds per second (685.5 kg/sec) and the bypass ratio is 4.8 with 260 pounds of air per second (118.2 kg/sec) passing through the core of the engine. The thrust to weight ratio of the engine at takeoff thrust is 5.15. You will notice that I used English units to describe the mass ow. It is an unfortunate fact that in spite of the now generally accepted use of the metric system by the vast majority of the scientic and engineering community, US propulsion companies are still stuck on English units to a large extent. That does not mean that we have to slavishly accept this use and in fact we will generally use metric units throughout this text although quite often the English equivalent will be quoted as well. The ability of this sort of engine to generate power is remarkable. In metric units the heat capacity of air at room temperature is C p = 1005 ( m ( sec K ) ) . The stagnation temperature change of the gas that passes through the core is T t5 T t2 = ( 5 9 ) ( 1035 59 ) = 542K and that across the fan is T t13 T t2 = ( 5 9 ) ( 140 59 ) = 45K . The total power generated is the enthalpy change of the gas times the mass ow. W = m a C p ( T t5 T t2 ) + m a C p ( T t13 T t2 ) = core fan 118.2 1005 542 + 567.3 1005 45 = 9 10 J sec In English units this is equivalent to approximately 120,000 horsepower (1 horsepower=746 Watts, 1 Watt = 1 Joule/sec). Note that the engine is designed so that the static pressure of the core exhaust ow is nearly equal to the static pressure of the fan exhaust to avoid large changes in ow direction where the two streams meet. The overall engine stagnation pressure ratio is approximately 1.5. Now lets examine the work done per second across some of the components. The work done by the gas on the high pressure turbine is
7 2 2

(1.2)

1/4/10

1.2

bjc

Introduction

W hpt = 118.2 1005 ( 5 9 ) ( 2325 1525 ) = 5.28 10 J sec .

(1.3)

where the added fuel mass ow is neglected. The high pressure turbine drives the high pressure compressor through a shaft that connects the two components. The work per second done by the high pressure compressor on the core air is W hpc = 118.2 1005 ( 5 9 ) ( 940 220 ) = 4.75 10 J sec
7

(1.4)

Note that the work per second done by the gas on the turbine is very close to but slightly larger than that done by the compressor on the gas. If the shaft connecting the compressor and turbine has no frictional losses and if the mass ow through both components is indeed the same and if both components are adiabatic then the work terms would be identical. The system is not quite adiabatic due to heat loss to the surroundings. The mass ow is not precisely the same because of the added fuel and because some of the relatively cooler compressor ow is bled off to be used for power generation and to internally cool the high temperature components of the turbine. Since the work output of the turbine and compressor is practically the same across both components why does the compressor have so many more stages than the turbine? The reason comes from the viscous nature of uid ow. In the compressor, the ow is in the direction of increasing pressure and so the boundary layers on the compressor blades and in the compressor passage encounter an adverse pressure gradient that increases the tendency for ow separation and blade stall. The pressure rise achievable in a single compressor stage is limited by this effect. In the turbine the opposite is the case, the ow is in the direction of decreasing pressure which tends to stabilize the boundary layers on the turbine airfoils reducing the tendency for blade stall. As a result the work output of a single turbine stage is several times larger than that possible in a single compressor stage. If there was no such thing as ow separation all compressors and turbines would have the same number of stages. At the level of an individual blade, turbine blades are much more highly loaded (have much higher lift) than compressor blades. The difference in lift and the requirement that the turbine blades be cooled is reected in signicant differences in the blade proles as illustrated in Figure 1.2. Cooling of the turbine blades is required because of the very high temperature of the gas entering the turbine from the combustor. In modern engines the turbine inlet temperature may be several hundred degrees higher than the melting temperature of the turbine blade material.

bjc

1.3

1/4/10

Introduction

Direction of!blade! motion

Fan

Compressor

Turbine

Figure 1.2 Generic Fan, compressor and turbine blade proles In general turbine blades are thicker and have much more camber than compressor blades. The extra thickness allows the turbine blades to be fabricated with internal cooling air passages and the combination of thickness and camber is responsible for the high lift generated by a turbine blade. In a modern turbofan engine the fan operates at blade Mach numbers approaching one. As a result the prole of a typical fan blade tends to be quite slender with a relatively sharp leading edge as illustrated in Figure 1.2. Lets take a look at the entropy change per unit mass of the gas as it passes from one engine component to another. The Gibbs equation for an ideal gas is

" 1 dP dT ds - ------ = ------ % ----------- & ------ . T # " $ P Cp

(1.5)

For air " = 1.4 . Throughout our study of air breathing propulsion systems we will assume the gas to be calorically perfect (heat capacities are assumed constant). From a pedagogical standpoint this is the most appropriate approach for learning how air breathing engines work and for a preliminary analysis of engine performance. A designer would use aerothermodynamic software that would incorporate the temperature dependence of the heat capacities as well as detailed semi-empirical ow models of the various engine components. Occasionally it may be useful to use different values of the heat capacities in the cold and hot sections of the engine. Between any two points a and b the Gibbs equation integrates to sb sa % T b& % P b& "1 ---------------- = Log ' ----- ( % ----------- & Log ' ----- ( Cp # T a$ # " $ # P a$ . (1.6)

1/4/10

1.4

bjc

Introduction

Integrating between the various stations of the engine shown in Figure 1.1 leads to the following. Note that station 0 is in the free stream and station 1 is at the entrance to the inlet. Neither station is shown in Figure 1.1. Station 2 - Sea level static conditions from Figure 1.1 are P t2 = 14.7 T t2 = 519 (1.7)

where the pressure is in psia, the temperature is in degrees Rankine and the inlet (not shown) is assumed to be adiabatic and isentropic. Station 3 - At the outlet of the high pressure compressor P t3 = 335 T t3 = 1400 (1.8)

The nondimensional entropy change per unit mass across the inlet compression system is s3 s2 0.4 335 1400 ---------------- = Log % -----------& % ------ & Log % --------- & = 0.992 0.893 = 0.099 # 14.7$ # 519 $ # 1.4$ Cp (1.9)

Station 4 - The heat put into the cycle is equal to the stagnation enthalpy change across the burner. m f h f = ( ma + m f )h t4 m a h t3 core core (1.10)

The thermodynamic heat of combustion of a fuel is calculated as the heat that must be removed to bring all the products of combustion back to the original pre-combustion temperature. The enthalpy of combustion for fuels is usually expressed as a higher or lower heating value. The higher heating value is realized if the original temperature is below the condensation temperature of water and any water vapor is condensed giving up its vaporization energy as heat. The lower heating value is calculated by subtracting the heat of vaporization of the water in the combustion products from the higher heating value. In this case any water formed is treated as a gas. The enthalpy of combustion of a typical jet fuel such as JP-4 is generally taken to be the lower heating value since the water vapor in the combustion products does not condense before leaving the nozzle. The value we will use is hf
JP 4

= 4.28 10 J/kg
7

(1.11)

The higher heating value of JP-4 is about 4.6 10 J/kg and can be calculated from a knowledge of the water vapor content in the combustion products. The higher and lower heating values of most other hydrocarbon fuels are within about 10% of these values. At the outlet of the burner P t4 = 315 T t4 = 2785 (1.12)

bjc

1.5

1/4/10

Introduction

Note the very small stagnation pressure loss across the burner. The stagnation pressure drop across any segment of a channel ow is proportional to the Mach number squared.
2 dP t " M % dT t dx& -------- = ---------- ' -------- + 4C f -----( D$ 2 # Tt Pt

(1.13)

A key feature of virtually all propulsion systems is that the heat addition is carried out at very low Mach number to keep stagnation pressure losses across the burner as small as possible. The only exception to this is the scramjet concept used in hypersonic ight where the heat addition inside the engine occurs at supersonic Mach numbers that are well below the ight Mach number. The nondimensional entropy change per unit mass across the burner of the JT9D-7 is s4 s3 315 0.4 2785 ---------------- = Log % -----------& % ------ & Log % --------& = 0.688 + 0.0176 = 0.706 # 335$ # 1400$ # 1.4$ Cp Station 5 - At the outlet of the turbine P t5 = 22 T t5 = 1495 (1.15) (1.14)

The nondimensional entropy change per unit mass across the turbine is s5 s4 0.4 22 1495 ---------------- = Log % -----------& % ------ & Log % --------& = 0.622 + 0.760 = 0.138 # 315$ # 2785$ # 1.4$ Cp (1.16)

Station 0 - Return to the reference state through nozzle expansion to atmospheric pressure and thermal mixing with the surrounding atmosphere. P t0 = 14.7 T t0 = 519 (1.17)

The nondimensional entropy change back to the reference state is s0 s5 14.7 0.4 519 ---------------- = Log % -----------& % ------ & Log % --------- & = 1.058 + 0.115 = 0.943 # 22 $ # 1495$ # 1.4$ Cp (1.18)

The net change in entropy around the cycle is zero as would be expected. That is )s = 0.099 + 0.706 + 0.138 0.943 = 0 . Note that the entropy changes across the compressor and turbine are much smaller than across the burner where substantial heat is added with only a very small change in pressure.

1/4/10

1.6

bjc

Introduction

Similarly there is a large temperature and entropy decrease of the exhaust gases as they mix with the surrounding air. Figure 1.3 shows the fully expanded exhaust from an engine. As the exhaust gas emerges from the nozzle and comes into contact with the surroundings, heat from the hot gases is conducted to the ambient air. U0 P0 T0 Pe=P0 Te Ue e
Q

U0 P0 T0 P0 T0 U* *

Figure 1.3 Constant pressure heat transfer from the engine exhaust to the surroundings. Through mixing, the exhaust gases eventually return to the temperature and pressure of the reference state entering the engine. One can think of this as a two step process. In the rst step viscosity is neglected and the exhaust ow is treated using the 1-D equations of motion. In this approximation, the ow in the streamtube within the dashed lines in Figure 1.3 is governed by the 1-D momentum equation (the Euler equation). dP + + UdU = 0 (1.19)

According to (1.19) since the pressure is constant along this streamtube the velocity must also be constant ( dP = 0 , dU = 0 ) and the ow velocity at the end of the streamtube must be the same as at the nozzle exit U * = U e . The 1-D energy equation for the ow in the stream tube is

- q = dh t
and so the heat rejected to the surroundings per unit mass ow is given by 1 2 1 2 q = h te h t* = h e + -- U e h * -- U * = h e h * . 2 2

(1.20)

(1.21)

The heat rejected is equal to the change in static enthalpy of the exhaust gas through conduction to the surrounding air in the wake of the engine.

bjc

1.7

1/4/10

Thermodynamic cycles

In the second step, viscosity is turned on after the gases lose their heat and the kinetic energy of the exhaust gases is eventually lost through viscous dissipation. The temperature of the atmosphere is raised by an innitesimal amount in the process. In actual fact both processes occur simultaneously through a complex process of nearly constant pressure heat transfer and turbulent mixing in the engine wake. The process of constant pressure heat addition and rejection illustrated by this example is known as the Brayton cycle.

1.2 THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES

The Carnot Cycle Using the Second Law one can show that heat and work, are not equivalent though each is a form of energy. All work can be converted to heat but not all heat can be converted to work. The most efcient thermodynamic cycle, the Carnot cycle involving heat interaction at constant temperature, can be used to illustrate this point. Consider the piston cylinder combination shown in Figure 1.4 and the sequence of piston strokes representing the four basic states in the Carnot cycle. In the ideal Carnot cycle the adiabatic compression and expansion strokes are carried out isentropically. A concrete example in the P-V plane and T-S plane is shown in Figure 1.5 and Figure 1.6. The working uid is Nitrogen cycling between the temperatures of 300 and 500 Kelvin with the compression stroke moving between one and six atmospheres. The entropy of the compression leg comes from tabulated data for Nitrogen. The entropy of the expansion leg is specied to be 7300 J/kg-K .

T1 T2 T1 T2

T1

0 1 adiabatic compression

Q2 isothermal expansion

3 2 adiabatic expansion

Q1 isothermal compression

1/4/10

1.8

bjc

Thermodynamic cycles

Figure 1.4 The Carnot Cycle heat engine 1

P kg m-sec2

T=500

Q2
S=6842

2
S=7300

Q1

3 V m3

T=300

Figure 1.5 P-V diagram of a Carnot Cycle working between the temperatures of 300K and 500K. The working uid is Nitrogen.

Q2

T K 0 3 Q1

S J kg-K Figure 1.6 T-S diagram for the Carnot cycle shown above.

bjc

1.9

1/4/10

Thermodynamic cycles

The thermodynamic efciency of the cycle is W work output during the cycle . = -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- = -----Q2 heat added to the system during the cycle According to the rst law of thermodynamics (1.22)

- Q = dE + - W .

(1.23)

Over the cycle the change in internal energy (which is a state variable) is zero and the work done is W = Q2 Q1 and so the efciency is Q1 . = 1 ------ . Q2 The change in entropy over the cycle is also zero and so from the Second Law (1.25) (1.24)

/ ds

/T -------

-Q

= 0 .

(1.26)

Since the temperature is constant during the heat interaction we can use this result to write Q1 Q2 ------ = -----T1 T2 Thus the efciency of the Carnot cycle is T1 . C = 1 ----- < 1 T2 (1.28) (1.27)

For the example shown . C = 0.4 . At most only 40% of the heat added to the system can be converted to work. The maximum work that can be generated by a heat engine working between two nite temperatures is limited by the temperature ratio of the system and is always less than the heat put into the system. The Brayton Cycle

1/4/10

1.10

bjc

Thermodynamic cycles

As illustrated by the JT9D example, the Brayton cycle involves heat interaction at constant pressure. Now consider the piston cylinder combination shown below and the sequence of piston strokes representing the four basic states of the Brayton cycle. The piston motion is similar to the Carnot cycle except that the heat interaction occurs at constant pressure.

P1 P2 P1 P2

P1

0 1 adiabatic compression

Q2

3 2 adiabatic expansion

isobaric expansion Figure 1.7 The Brayton cycle heat engine

Q1 isobaric compression

In the ideal Brayton cycle the adiabatic compression and expansion strokes are carried out isentropically. The corresponding behavior of the ideal Brayton cycle in the P-V plane and T-S plane is shown below.

bjc

1.11

1/4/10

Thermodynamic cycles

Q2 1

P kg m-sec2
S=constant

S=constant

Q1

3 V m3

Figure 1.8 P-V diagram of a Brayton Cycle working between the pressures of one and 6 atmospheres. Nitrogen is the working uid.

2 T K 1 3
P=constant

Q2
P=constant

Q1 S J kg-K

Figure 1.9 T-S diagram of the Brayton cycle shown above. In the case of the Brayton cycle the work done is still W = Q 2 Q 1 . The rst law can be written

1/4/10

1.12

bjc

The standard atmosphere

-Q = dE + PdV = dH VdP .

(1.29)

The heat interaction occurs at constant pressure, dP = 0 and so the heat added and removed is equal to the enthalpy change. Q2 = H 2 H 1 The efciency of the Brayton cycle is H3 H0 . B = 1 -------------------- . H2 H1 (1.31) Q1 = H 3 H 0 (1.30)

If the working uid is an ideal gas with constant heat capacity then we can write for the ideal Brayton cycle
"1 ----------"1 -----------

H0 T0 % P 0& " ------ = ----- = ' ----- ( H1 T1 # P 1$

% P 3& " = ' ----- ( # P 2$

T3 H3 = ----- = -----T2 H2

(1.32)

Now the Brayton efciency can be written % T 3 1& ----( T0' T0 ' --------------- ( . B = 1 ----( T1' T2 ' ----- 1( #T1 $

(1.33)

From (1.32) the term in parentheses is one and so the efciency of the ideal Brayton cycle is nally T0 . B = 1 ----T1 (1.34)

The important point to realize here is that the efciency of a Brayton process is determined entirely by the temperature increase during the compression step of the cycle (or equivalently the temperature decrease during the expansion step.

1.3 THE STANDARD ATMOSPHERE

The gure below shows the distribution of temperature and density in the atmosphere with comparisons with isothermal and isentropic models of the atmosphere. The scale height of the atmosphere is RT 0 a0 H = ----- = --------- . "g g
2

(1.35)

bjc

1.13

1/4/10

The standard atmosphere

The speed of sound, temperature and gravitational acceleration in (1.35) are evaluated at zero altitude. For air at 288.15K the scale height is 8,435 meters (27,674 feet). At this altitude the thermal and potential energy of the atmosphere are of the same order. Below a scale height of one the atmosphere is approximately isentropic and the temperature falls off almost linearly. Above a scale height of about 1.5 the temperature is almost constant.

"gz ------2 a0

altitude km

+ +0

or

T T0

Figure 1.10 Isothermal and isentropic models of the standard atmosphere. In order to standardize aircraft performance calculations Diehl (Ref. W. S. Diehl, Some Approximate Equations for the Standard Atmosphere, N.A.C.A. Technical Report No. 375, 1930) dened a standard atmosphere which was widely adopted by the aeronautics community. According to this standard the following atmospheric values at sea level are assumed. In English and metric units,

1/4/10

1.14

bjc

Problems

T SL = 518.67R (59 F ) P SL = 2116.22 pounds/ft + SL = 0.0023769 slug/ft g = 32.1741 ft/sec

2 2 3

T SL = 288.15 K (15 C ) P SL = 1.013250 10 newtons/m

5 2

+ SL = 1.2250 kilograms/m
g = 9.80665 m/sec
2

(1.36)

a 0 = 1116.45 ft/sec H = 27, 672 ft R air = 1710.2 ft ( sec R )

2 2

a 0 = 340.294 m/sec H = 8434.5 m/sec R air = 287.06 m ( sec K )

2 2

1.4 PROBLEMS
Problem 1 - Consider the JT9D-7 turbofan cross-section discussed above. Plot the state of the gas which passes through the core of the engine on a temperature versus entropy diagram and on a pressure versus specic volume diagram. Assume constant specic heat throughout the engine with " = 1.4 . Do the same for the gas which passes through the fan. Determine the efciency of the cycle. Assume the fan, compressor and turbine are adiabatic, the inlet is isentropic and the exhaust gas of the JT9D passes through an isentropic nozzle where it is expanded to atmospheric pressure before mixing with the surrounding air. Assume pressures and temperatures within the engine are stagnation values. Problem 2 - An accurate approximation to the specic heat of air as a function of temperature is
2 Cp 6 7 5 0 v ( 2T ) ------ = -- + 3 ------------------------------------- 4 2 1 sinh ( 0 v ( 2T ) ) 2 R

(1.37)

where the vibrational reference temperature for air, 0 v = 3060 K . Plot C p , C v , " and the enthalpy, h , of air as a function of T 0 v over the range 300K to 4000K . Problem 3 - Review quasi-one-dimensional gas dynamics. Carefully derive the mass, momentum and energy equations for stationary 1-D ow. d ( + UA ) = - m ( U xm U ) - m - F x 8 Ddx d ( P 7 xx ) + + UdU = 7 w % ------------- & + ---------------------------------- --------# A $ A A (1.38)

7 xx Q x 7 xx Q x -m -W -Q d % h t ------- + ------- & = ----------- ----------- + % h tm % h t ------- + ------- & & ----------# # + + + U$ + UA + UA # + U $ $ + UA

bjc

1.15

1/4/10

Problems

where U mx is the streamwise component of the velocity and h tm is the enthalpy of the injected mass - m . State the assumptions used to get from the full equations of motion to (1.38).

1/4/10

1.16

bjc