Propulsion

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Solve problems systematically
• Study and learn independently.
• Demonstrate study and time management skills.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Calculate fundamental performance indicators of an entire engine (such as specific thrust and specific fuel consumption) for given flight regime, engine design parameters, and performance indicators of the engine components (such as the flight Mach number, compressor pressure ratio, and turbine efficiency etc.)
• Differentiate rocket engine cycle designs and relate this to performance requirements.
• Evaluate intuitively how, and explain why variations in the flight regime, design parameters and components performance affect the overall performance of a system.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The architecture of launch vehicles and the role of various rocket motor stages.
• Propulsion system modules and the functional role of each subsystem in detail.
• The environmental impact of combustion processes, alternative fuels and alternative architectures, and consequences for climate forcing and air quality emissions and (qualitatively) for noise, and other contributions to lifecycle environmental impact.
• The configuration of typical commercial engines and relation to their application.
• Typical propulsion system mechanical configurations and their performance indicators.

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• C2/M2 In the exam we will assess the student’s ability to formulate and analyse a gas turbine or rocket propulsion systems using first principles of mathematics, physics, and engineering principles. In the laboratory assessment on supersonic nozzles students will need to use engineering judgment to work with information that may be uncertain or incomplete, discussing the limitations of the techniques employed. C3/M3 In the laboratory assessment on propulsion systems, the students need to select and apply appropriate computational and analytical techniques to model combustion processes, and discuss the limitations of the techniques employed. C4/M4 To evaluate the performance of a gas turbine engine at high-altitude atmospheric conditions in coursework and exam, the students must select and critically evaluate sources of information. C7/M7 In exam and/or coursework questions about aircraft fuels and designs, the students need to quantitatively or qualitatively evaluate the environmental impact of aviation and explain how adverse impacts can be minimized. C12/M12 In the nozzle lab exercise and assessment, the students need to use practical laboratory and workshop skills to investigate compressible flow phenomena.

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Use laboratory skills to investigate the working and practical performance of propulsion components

Introduction and Fundamentals

• Introduction to propulsion and sustainability targets for the industry
• Propulsion concepts, thrust, efficiencies, fuel consumption
• Recap of thermofluids concepts, introducing mixtures of ideal gases, definition of isentropic efficiency, properties of real fluids
• Combustion concepts, combustion chemistry, combustion thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium

Ramjets, Scramjets, Rockets

• Overview of ramjet technology and its application, distinction between ramjets and scramjets
• Calculation of ideal and non-ideal ramjet engines
• Rocket performance parameters, rocket equation, staging
• Rocket engine analysis, combustion, and nozzle performance
• Solid vs liquid propellants, liquid fuel rocket engine cycles

Gas Turbines, Turbojets, and Turbofans

• Thermodynamic analysis of propulsive gas turbines
• Turbofan engine design and selection of fan pressure ratio
• Alternative fuels and alternative architectures, and consequences for climate forcing and air quality emissions and (qualitatively) for noise, other contributions to lifecycle environmental impact

Turbomachinery and Propellers

• Principles of turbomachinery
• Non-dimensional variables and characteristics of turbomachinery
• Euler work equation and velocity triangles
• Axial-flow turbomachinery analysis
• Propeller analysis

Teaching methods will include lectures and laboratory demonstrations.

Learning activities include directed reading, problem solving, and analysis of experimental data.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.