BASIC GAS TURBINE

Engine Air Intakes

Jet Engine Air Intakes

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Engine Air Intakes

Power plant Vs Engine:

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.

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Engine Air Intakes

Engines may be attached to the wing with a pylon (underneath -A310, B747)

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Fig. Lockheed Tri=Star L1011 fuselage top intake

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

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Engine Air Intakes

Fig. Engines attached to the fin, DC-10

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Fig. Engines may be attached to the wing with a pylon on top -Antonov AN-72.

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Fig. Internal engines may be buried in the wing -such as the Comet (Nimrod)

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Engine Air Intakes

Fig. Supersonic airliner (Concorde) Variable geometry Air Inlet

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FIG. ENGINE INSTALLATION – LOCATIONS AND WEIGHTS (LBS)

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Engine Air Intakes

Fig. Gas Turbine Engine- General Layout

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Engine Air Intakes
Introduction

The purpose of an air intake is to deliver sufficient air to the compressor at a

velocity and pressure that the compressor can accept. It serves to furnish a
relatively distortion free, high energy supply of air, in the required quantity, to the
face of the compressor. A uniform and steady airflow is necessary to avoid
compressor stall and excessive internal engine temperatures at the turbine. The
high energy enables the engine to produce an optimum amount of thrust. Normally,
the air intake duct is considered to be an airframe part, but the duct itself is so
important when considering engine performance that it must be included in any
discussion on the complete engine.

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.

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Engine Air Intakes
Ram Ratio
The pressure rise in the intake due to ram effect is known as the ram ratio.

Ram ratio = P1/P0

Where P1 is compression inlet pressure, and P0 is ambient pressure.

Ram Temperature Rise

The temperature rise due to ram compression effect is known as the
ram temperature rise.

Ram temperature rise = T1/T0

Where T1 is compressor inlet temperature, and T0 is ambient temperature.

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.

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Air Intake Design Requirements:

The air intake should be able to:

1. Recover as much of the total pressure of the free airstream as possible, and
deliver this pressure to the face of the engine compressor with the minimum
loss. This is termed ram recovery, or total pressure recovery. This is achieved
by having a diffusion section.
2. Deliver the air uniformly, with as little turbulence and pressure variation as
possible.
3. As far as the aircraft itself is concerned, keep aerodynamic drag to a minimum.
4. Change in cross-section should be gradual.
5. Must have as much straight path as possible with minimum bends.
6. Must have smooth surfaces to avoid pressure losses due to skin friction.
7. Surfaces of air intakes must not have raised or lose rivets.
8. Ideally, the intake should be round to give the optimum passage of air through
it.

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Air Intake Design

Air intakes are of either subsonic or supersonic configuration.

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).

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TYPES OF AIR INTAKE

Probably the simplest and most effective type of intake is the single entrance
pitot type, illustrated in Fig. 4.

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Engine Air Intakes

Single entrance pitot type:

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.

Short Pitot: Length is small, e.g. JT-3D

Adv: Minimum pressure loss, Less weight
Dis-adv: airflow relatively turbulent, during low speed & climb at steep
angles, severe air disturbance at inlet may cause stalling.

Long Pitot: Length is relatively long as pre-requirement of engine installation.

Adv: Smooth out air flow, better ram recovery
Dis-adv: More weight, chocking of air due to back pressure

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Engine Air Intakes

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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.

Blow-in doors are an aircraft part, not an engine part.

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Engine Air Intakes

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Fig. Divided Entrance Duct – Wing Root Inlet

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Fig. Divided Entrance Duct – Fuselage scoops on each side

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Supersonic Intakes

A supersonic diffuser progressively DECREASES in area from front to

rear; therefore supersonic intake ducts follow this general configuration,
until the incoming air is reduced down to a velocity below Mach 1.

To further reduce the velocity to that required by a subsonic intake, the

duct now INCREASES in cross-sectional area, as shown in Fig. 2,
thereby acting as a subsonic diffuser.

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Engine Air Intakes

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VARIABLE GEOMETRY INTAKE
In practice, the supersonic intake illustrated in Fig. 2 will only be efficient at sonic
and low supersonic speeds. As the aircraft speed increases still further, so also
does the ram ratio, and at high Mach numbers it may be necessary to have an
intake which has a variable throat area and spill valves to cope with the changing
volume of air. Fig. 3 illustrates this type of device.
The variable geometry intake is designed to supply the engine with the correct
quantity of air at all times and to reduce the air velocity to a subsonic value at the
compressor inlet.
To carry out these functions, the intake has a movable ramp, an auxiliary door and a
subsonic diffuser. In supersonic flight the ramp is lowered to focus the pattern of shock
waves formed on the intake lip to obtain subsonic flow at the throat. Further
compression and reduction of air velocity is obtained in the subsonic diffuser.
Changes in engine airflow demand caused by changing ambient conditions are met by
spilling quantities of excess air over the intake lip. This ensures maximum intake
efficiency and perfect engine matching.
With rapid throttling or with engine shutdown in flight, the ramp is lowered as far as
possible and the auxiliary door opened to "dump" excess air. This reduces instability
and drag.
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Engine Air Intakes

Fig. Variable Geometry Supersonic Air Inlet

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Variable Geometry Supersonic Air Inlet Operation

• The wedge would be retracted in the subsonic mode, increasing the throat area
to provide a divergent duct effect.

• The dump valve is open in the supersonic mode, reducing the throat area to
form a supersonic diffuser.

• The spill valve is open in open in both modes of operation:-

(i) SUPERSONIC - to vent excess airflow.
(ii) SUBSONIC - to prevent turbulence.

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Engine Air Intakes
The External/Internal Compression Intake
The pitot type intake is unsuitable at higher supersonic speeds, due to the severe
shock wave which forms when the speed increases. The severity of the shock wave
progressively reduces the intake efficiency.

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.

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Fig.6 External/ Internal Pressure Intake

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Moveable Inlet Cone

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.

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Moveable Inlet Cone cont’d

As speed increases, the shock wave becomes increasingly more oblique. As a

result, some inlet cones are designed to move axially to maintain the shock-on-lip
and allow efficient operation over a wider range of flight speeds. At subsonic flight
speeds, the conical inlet operates much like pitot intake. However, as the vehicle
goes supersonic a conical shock wave appears, emanating from the cone apex.
Conical (and oblique) shock waves are akin to the bow wave on a ship. As the
flight Mach number increases, the conical shock wave becomes more oblique and
eventually impinges on the intake lip. Care must be taken to prevent the normal
shock wave, which forms in the diffuser, coming forward too far and upsetting the
flow field external to the intake lip.

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.

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Engine Air Intakes

Inlet BUZZ

Buzz is an airflow instability, which occurs when a shock wave is alternatively

swallowed and regurgitated by the inlet in a variable geometry inlet.
At its worst, the condition can cause violent fluctuations in pressure through the
inlet, which may result in damage to the inlet structure or possibly to the engine
itself.
A suitable variable geometry duct will serve to eliminate buzz by increasing the
stability of the airflow within the inlet duct.

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Engine Air Intakes

Intake Duct Losses

Considerable losses in intake and engine efficiency can occur if the intake duct is
not competently maintained in serviceable condition.
The main causes of losses are generally the result of:-
• Poor sheet metal work, e.g. bad riveting.
• Dents, scores and scratches.
• Misalignment due to incorrect assembly.

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.

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Turbo-Prop Air Inlets and Reduction Gearing

Intake air problem:

• Reduction gearing section is normally located on the same end as the propeller.
• Reduction gearing section is relatively large due to large speed reduction (9:1)

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

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Fig . Air Inlet duct of Turbo-Prop engines

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Bell Mouth Compressor Inlet

• It is usually installed on an engine being calibrated in a Ground Test stand to lead

the outside static air to the inlet guide vanes of the compressor .
• Easily attached and removed
• Designed to obtain very high aerodynamic efficiency (duct loss is considered zero)
• Engine performance data, e.g. Rated Thrust & SFC are obtained
• Usually the inlets are fitted with protective screening. Pressure loss through the
screen must be taken into account.

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Fig . Bell Mouth Compressor Inlets

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Compressor Inlet Screens

• 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

Air Particle Separators

• Used to separate sand, dirt and dust from the incoming air by centrifugal action.
• Useful in preventing compressor blade erosion thus increasing TBO.

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