Jet propulsion is a process in which a certain body one of its parts separates at some speed. The force that arises in this case works on its own, without the slightest contact with external bodies. Jet propulsion became the impetus for the creation of the jet engine. Its operating principle is based precisely on this force. How does such an engine work? Let's try to figure it out.

Historical facts

The idea of ​​using jet propulsion, which would overcome the force of gravity of the Earth, was put forward in 1903 by the phenomenon Russian science- Tsiolkovsky. He published a whole study on this topic, but it was not taken seriously. Konstantin Eduardovich, having experienced a change in the political system, spent years of work to prove to everyone that he was right.

Today there are a lot of rumors that the first in this issue there was a revolutionary Kibalchich. But by the time Tsiolkovsky’s works were published, this man’s will was buried along with Kibalchich. In addition, this was not a full-fledged work, but only sketches and outlines - the revolutionary was unable to provide a reliable basis for the theoretical calculations in his works.

How does reactive force work?

To understand how a jet engine works, you need to understand how this force works.

So, imagine a shot from any firearm. This clear example action of reactive force. A stream of hot gas, which is formed during the combustion of the charge in the cartridge, pushes the weapon back. The more powerful the charge, the stronger the recoil will be.

Now let’s imagine the process of igniting the combustible mixture: it occurs gradually and continuously. This is exactly what the operating principle of a ramjet engine looks like. A rocket with a solid fuel jet engine works in a similar way - this is the simplest of its variations. Even novice rocket modelers are familiar with it.

Black powder was initially used as fuel for jet engines. Jet engines, the operating principle of which was already more advanced, required fuel with a nitrocellulose base, which was dissolved in nitroglycerin. In large units that launch rockets that put shuttles into orbit, today they use a special mixture of polymer fuel with ammonium perchlorate as an oxidizer.

Operating principle of RD

Now it’s worth understanding the principle of operation of a jet engine. To do this, you can consider the classics - liquid engines, which have remained virtually unchanged since the time of Tsiolkovsky. These units use fuel and oxidizer.

The latter uses liquid oxygen or nitric acid. Kerosene is used as fuel. Modern liquid cryogenic engines consume liquid hydrogen. When oxidized with oxygen, it increases the specific impulse (by as much as 30 percent). The idea that hydrogen could be used also originated in Tsiolkovsky’s head. However, at that time, due to the extreme explosion hazard, it was necessary to look for another fuel.

The operating principle is as follows. The components enter the combustion chamber from two separate tanks. After mixing, they turn into a mass, which, when burned, releases a huge amount of heat and tens of thousands of atmospheres of pressure. The oxidizer is supplied to the combustion chamber. The fuel mixture cools these elements as it passes between the double walls of the chamber and nozzle. Next, the fuel, heated by the walls, will flow through a huge number of nozzles into the ignition zone. The jet, which is formed using the nozzle, bursts out. Due to this, the pushing moment is ensured.

Briefly, the operating principle of a jet engine can be compared to a blowtorch. However, the latter is much simpler. Its operation scheme does not include various auxiliary engine systems. And these are compressors needed to create injection pressure, turbines, valves, as well as other elements without which jet engine simply impossible.

Despite the fact that liquid engines consume a lot of fuel (fuel consumption is approximately 1000 grams per 200 kilograms of cargo), they are still used as propulsion units for launch vehicles and shunting units for orbital stations, as well as other spacecraft.

Device

A typical jet engine is constructed as follows. Its main components are:

Compressor;

Combustion chamber;

Turbines;

Exhaust system.

Let's look at these elements in more detail. The compressor consists of several turbines. Their job is to suck in and compress air as it passes through the blades. During the compression process, the temperature and pressure of the air increase. Some of this compressed air is supplied to the combustion chamber. In it, air mixes with fuel and ignition occurs. This process further increases the thermal energy.

The mixture leaves the combustion chamber at high speed, and then expands. Then it follows another turbine, the blades of which rotate due to the influence of gases. This turbine, connecting to the compressor located in the front of the unit, sets it in motion. Air heated to high temperatures exits through the exhaust system. The temperature, already quite high, continues to rise due to the throttling effect. Then the air comes out completely.

Airplane engine

Airplanes also use these engines. For example, turbojet units are installed in huge passenger airliners. They differ from conventional ones in the presence of two tanks. One contains fuel, and the other contains oxidizer. While a turbojet engine carries only fuel, air pumped from the atmosphere is used as an oxidizer.

Turbojet engine

The operating principle of an aircraft jet engine is based on the same reactive force and the same laws of physics. The most important part is the turbine blades. The final power depends on the size of the blade.

It is thanks to turbines that the thrust that is needed to accelerate aircraft is generated. Each of the blades is ten times more powerful than an ordinary automobile internal combustion engine. Turbines are installed after the combustion chamber where the pressure is highest. And the temperature here can reach one and a half thousand degrees.

Double-circuit taxiway

These units have many advantages over turbojet ones. For example, significantly lower fuel consumption with the same power.

But the engine itself has a more complex design and greater weight.

And the operating principle of a double-circuit jet engine is slightly different. The air captured by the turbine is partially compressed and supplied to the compressor in the first circuit and to the stationary blades in the second circuit. The turbine acts as a compressor low pressure. In the first circuit of the engine, the air is compressed and heated, and then through the compressor high pressure supplied to the combustion chamber. This is where mixture with fuel and ignition occurs. Gases are formed, which are supplied to the high-pressure turbine, due to which the turbine blades rotate, which, in turn, supplies rotational motion to the high-pressure compressor. The gases then pass through a low pressure turbine. The latter activates the fan and, finally, the gases flow out, creating draft.

Synchronous taxiways

These are electric motors. The operating principle of a synchronous reluctance motor is similar to that of a stepper unit. Alternating current is applied to the stator and creates a magnetic field around the rotor. The latter rotates due to the fact that it tries to minimize magnetic resistance. These motors have nothing to do with space exploration and shuttle launches.

Jet engine was invented Hans von Ohain, an outstanding German design engineer and Sir Frank Whittle. The first patent for a working gas turbine engine was obtained in 1930 by Frank Whittle. However, it was Ohain who assembled the first working model.

On August 2, 1939, the first jet aircraft, the He 178 (Heinkel 178), equipped with the HeS 3 engine developed by Ohain, took off into the skies.

Quite simple and at the same time extremely difficult. Simply based on the principle of operation: outside air (in rocket engines - liquid oxygen) is sucked into the turbine, there it is mixed with fuel and burned, at the end of the turbine it forms the so-called. “working fluid” (jet stream), which moves the car.

Everything is so simple, but in reality it is a whole area of ​​science, because in such engines operating temperature reaches thousands of degrees Celsius. One of the most important problems of turbojet engine construction is the creation of non-melting parts from melting metals. But in order to understand the problems of designers and inventors, you must first study the fundamental structure of the engine in more detail.

Jet engine design

jet engine main parts

At the beginning of the turbine there is always fan, which sucks air from external environment into turbines. The fan has large area and a huge number of blades special form, made of titanium. There are two main tasks - primary air intake and cooling of the entire engine as a whole, by pumping air between the outer shell of the engine and the internal parts. This cools the mixing and combustion chambers and prevents them from collapsing.

Immediately behind the fan there is a powerful compressor, which forces air under high pressure into the combustion chamber.

Combustion chamber It also acts as a carburetor, mixing fuel with air. After the fuel-air mixture is formed, it is ignited. During the combustion process, significant heating of the mixture and surrounding parts occurs, as well as volumetric expansion. In effect, a jet engine uses a controlled explosion to propel itself.

The combustion chamber of a jet engine is one of its hottest parts - it requires constant intensive cooling. But this is not enough. The temperature in it reaches 2700 degrees, so it is often made of ceramics.

After the combustion chamber, the burning fuel-air mixture is sent directly to the turbine.

Turbine consists of hundreds of blades on which the jet stream presses, causing the turbine to rotate. The turbine, in turn, rotates the shaft on which the fan and compressor “sit”. Thus, the system is closed and requires only a supply of fuel and air for its operation.

After the turbine, the flow is directed to the nozzle. The jet engine nozzle is the last but not the least part of a jet engine. It directly forms the jet stream. Cold air is directed into the nozzle, forced by the fan to cool the internal parts of the engine. This flow restricts the nozzle collar from the super-hot jet stream and causes it to melt.

Deflectable thrust vector

Jet engine nozzles come in a variety of different types. He considers the most advanced to be a movable nozzle mounted on engines with a deflectable thrust vector. It can compress and expand, and also deflect at significant angles, adjusting and directing directly jet stream. This makes aircraft with thrust vectoring engines very maneuverable, because maneuvering occurs not only thanks to the wing mechanisms, but also directly by the engine.

Types of jet engines

There are several main types of jet engines.

Classic F-15 jet engine

Classic jet engine– the fundamental structure of which we described above. Used mainly on fighter aircraft in various modifications.

Turboprop. In this type of engine, the power of the turbine is directed through a reduction gearbox to rotate a classic propeller. Such engines will allow large aircraft to fly at acceptable speeds and consume less fuel. The normal cruising speed of a turboprop aircraft is considered to be 600-800 km/h.

This type of engine is a more economical relative of the classic type. the main difference is that a larger diameter fan is installed at the inlet, which supplies air not only to the turbine, but also creates a fairly powerful flow outside it. In this way, increased efficiency is achieved by improving efficiency.

Used on airliners and large aircraft.

Ramjet engine

Operates without moving parts. Air is forced into the combustion chamber in a natural way, due to the braking of the flow against the inlet fairing.

Used on trains, airplanes, UAVs, and military missiles, as well as bicycles and scooters.

And finally, a video of a jet engine in action:

Pictures taken from various sources. Russification of pictures – Laboratory 37.

ATTENTION! Outdated news format. There may be problems with the correct display of content.

Jet engine

Early aircraft with jet engines: Me.262 and Yak-15

Creation ideas heat engine, which includes the jet engine, have been known to man since ancient times. Thus, in the treatise of Heron of Alexandria entitled “Pneumatics” there is a description of Aeolipile - the ball “Aeolus”. This design was nothing more than a steam turbine, in which steam was supplied through tubes into a bronze sphere and, escaping from it, spun this sphere. Most likely, the device was used for entertainment.

The great Leonardo did not ignore the idea either, intending to use hot air supplied to the blades to rotate a spit for frying.

The idea of ​​a gas turbine engine was first proposed in 1791 by the English inventor J. Barber: his gas turbine engine design was equipped with a gas generator, a piston compressor, a combustion chamber and a gas turbine.

He used a heat engine and A.F. as a power plant for his aircraft, developed in 1878. Mozhaisky: two steam engines drove the propellers of the machine. Due to low efficiency, the desired effect could not be achieved.

Another Russian engineer - P.D. Kuzminsky - in 1892, developed the idea of ​​a gas turbine engine in which fuel burned at constant pressure. Having started the project in 1900, he decided to install a gas turbine engine with a multi-stage gas turbine on a small boat. However, the death of the designer prevented him from finishing what he started.

They began to create a jet engine more intensively only in the twentieth century: first theoretically, and a few years later - practically.

In 1903, in the work “Exploration of World Spaces by Reactive Instruments” K.E. Tsiolkovsky were developed theoretical foundations liquid rocket engines(LPRE) with a description of the main elements of a jet engine using liquid fuel.

The idea of ​​​​creating an air-breathing engine (WRE) belongs to R. Lorin, who patented the project in 1908. When trying to create an engine, after the drawings of the device were made public in 1913, the inventor failed: the speed required for the operation of the jet engine was never achieved.

Attempts to create gas turbine engines continued further. So, in 1906, Russian engineer V.V. Karavodin developed and, two years later, built a compressor-free gas turbine engine with four intermittent combustion chambers and a gas turbine. However, the power developed by the device, even at 10,000 rpm, did not exceed 1.2 kW (1.6 hp).

The intermittent combustion gas turbine engine was also created by the German designer H. Holwarth. Having built a gas turbine engine in 1908, by 1933, after many years of work to improve it, he brought the engine efficiency to 24%. However, the idea has not found widespread use.

The idea of ​​a turbojet engine was voiced in 1909 by Russian engineer N.V. Gerasimov, who received a patent for a gas turbine engine for creating jet thrust. Work on the implementation of this idea did not stop in Russia and subsequently: in 1913 M.N. Nikolskoy designs a gas turbine engine with a power of 120 kW (160 hp) with a three-stage gas turbine; in 1923 V.I. Bazarov proposes a schematic diagram of a gas turbine engine, similar in design to modern turboprop engines; in 1930 V.V. Uvarov together with N.R. Briling designs and in 1936 implements a gas turbine engine with a centrifugal compressor.

A huge contribution to the creation of the theory of the jet engine was made by the work of Russian scientists S.S. Nezhdanovsky, I.V. Meshchersky, N.E. Zhukovsky. French scientist R. Hainault-Peltry, German scientist G. Oberth. The creation of an air-breathing engine was also influenced by the work of the famous Soviet scientist B.S. Stechkin, who published his work “The Theory of an Air-Jet Engine” in 1929.

Work on the creation of a liquid jet engine did not stop: in 1926, the American scientist R. Goddard launched a rocket using liquid fuel. Work on this topic also took place in the Soviet Union: from 1929 to 1933 V.P. Glushko developed and tested an electrothermal jet engine at the Gas Dynamics Laboratory. During this period, he also created the first domestic liquid jet engines - ORM, ORM-1, ORM-2.

The greatest contribution to the practical implementation of the jet engine was made by German designers and scientists. Having support and funding from the state, which hoped to achieve this way technical superiority V the coming war, engineering corps of the III Reich with maximum efficiency and in short terms approached the creation of combat systems based on ideas jet propulsion.

Concentrating attention on the aviation component, we can say that already on August 27, 1939, the Heinkel test pilot, captain E. Warsitz, took off the He.178 - a jet aircraft, the technological developments of which were subsequently used in the creation of the Heinkel He.280 and Messerschmitt Me.262 Schwalbe.

The Heinkel Strahltriebwerke HeS 3 engine installed on the Heinkel He.178, designed by H.-I. von Ohain, although he did not have high power, but managed to open the era of jet flights of military aviation. Achieved by He.178 maximum speed at 700 km/h using an engine whose power did not exceed 500 kgf spoke volumes. Ahead lay limitless possibilities, which deprived piston engines of a future.

A whole series of jet engines created in Germany, for example, Jumo-004 manufactured by Junkers, allowed it to have serial jet fighters and bombers at the end of World War II, ahead of other countries in this direction by several years. After the defeat of the Third Reich, it was German technology that gave impetus to the development of jet aircraft in many countries around the world.

The only country that managed to answer the German challenge was Great Britain: the Rolls-Royce Derwent 8 turbojet engine created by F. Whittle was installed on the Gloster Meteor fighter.

Trophy Jumo 004

The world's first turboprop engine was the Hungarian Jendrassik Cs-1 engine, designed by D. Jendrasik, who built it in 1937 at the Ganz plant in Budapest. Despite the problems that arose during implementation, the engine was supposed to be installed on the Hungarian twin-engine attack aircraft Varga RMI-1 X/H, specially designed for this purpose by aircraft designer L. Vargo. However, the Hungarian specialists were unable to complete the work - the enterprise was redirected to the production of German Daimler-Benz DB 605 engines, selected for installation on the Hungarian Messerschmitt Me.210.

Before the start of the war, work continued in the USSR to create various types jet engines. So, in 1939, rockets were tested, powered by ramjet engines designed by I.A. Merkulova.

In the same year, work began at the Leningrad Kirov Plant on the construction of the first domestic turbojet engine designed by A.M. Cradles. However, the outbreak of war stopped experimental work on the engine, directing all production power to the needs of the front.

The real era of jet engines began after the end of World War II, when in a short period of time not only the sound barrier, but also gravity was conquered, which made it possible to take humanity into outer space.

Jet engines. History of jet engines.

Jet engines.

A jet engine is a device whose design makes it possible to obtain jet thrust by converting internal energy fuel reserve into the kinetic energy of the jet stream of the working fluid.

The working fluid of the object with high speed flows out of the jet engine, and, in accordance with the law of conservation of momentum, a reactive force is generated, pushing the engine into opposite direction. To accelerate the working fluid, both expansion of gas heated in one way or another to a high temperature (thermal jet engines) and other physical principles, for example, acceleration of charged particles in an electrostatic field (ion engine).

A jet engine allows you to create traction force only due to the interaction of the jet stream with the working fluid, without support or contact with other bodies. In this regard, the jet engine found wide application in aviation and astronautics.

History of jet engines.

The Chinese were the first to learn how to use jet propulsion; rockets with solid fuel appeared in China in the 10th century AD. e. Such missiles were used in the East and then in Europe for fireworks, signaling, and as combat missiles.

Rockets of ancient China.

An important stage in the development of the idea of ​​jet propulsion was the idea of ​​​​using a rocket as an engine for an aircraft. It was first formulated by the Russian revolutionary N. I. Kibalchich, who in March 1881, shortly before his execution, proposed a design for an aircraft (rocket plane) using jet propulsion from explosive powder gases.

N. E. Zhukovsky, in his works “On the reaction of outflowing and inflowing liquids” (1880s) and “On the theory of ships driven by the reaction force of outflowing water” (1908), first developed the basic issues of the theory of a jet engine.

Interesting works on the study of rocket flight also belong to the famous Russian scientist I.V. Meshchersky, in particular in the field of the general theory of motion of bodies of variable mass.

In 1903, K. E. Tsiolkovsky, in his work “Exploration of World Spaces with Jet Instruments,” gave a theoretical justification for the flight of a rocket, as well as a schematic diagram of a rocket engine, which anticipated many fundamental and design features modern liquid rocket engines (LPRE). Thus, Tsiolkovsky envisaged the use of liquid fuel for a jet engine and its supply to the engine with special pumps. He proposed to control the flight of the rocket using gas rudders - special plates placed in a stream of gases escaping from the nozzle.

The peculiarity of a liquid-jet engine is that, unlike other jet engines, it carries with it the entire supply of oxidizer along with the fuel, and does not take the air containing oxygen necessary for burning the fuel from the atmosphere. This is the only engine that can be used for ultra-high-altitude flight outside the earth's atmosphere.

The world's first rocket with a liquid rocket engine was created and launched on March 16, 1926 by the American R. Goddard. It weighed about 5 kilograms, and its length reached 3 m. The fuel in Goddard’s rocket was gasoline and liquid oxygen. The flight of this rocket lasted 2.5 seconds, during which it flew 56 m.

Systematic experimental work work on these engines began in the 1930s.

The first Soviet liquid-propellant rocket engines were developed and created in 1930-1931 at the Leningrad Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) under the leadership of the future academician V.P. Glushko. This series was called ORM - experimental rocket motor. Glushko used some new innovations, for example, cooling the engine with one of the fuel components.

In parallel, the development of rocket engines was carried out in Moscow by the Jet Propulsion Research Group (GIRD). Its ideological inspirer was F.A. Tsander, and its organizer was the young S.P. Korolev. Korolev's goal was to build a new rocket vehicle - a rocket plane.

In 1933, F.A. Zander built and successfully tested the OR1 rocket engine, running on gasoline and compressed air, and in 1932-1933, the OR2 engine, running on gasoline and liquid oxygen. This engine was designed to be installed on a glider that was intended to fly as a rocket plane.

Developing the work they had begun, Soviet engineers subsequently continued to work on the creation of liquid jet engines. In total, from 1932 to 1941, the USSR developed 118 designs of liquid jet engines.

In Germany in 1931, tests of missiles by I. Winkler, Riedel and others took place.

The first flight of a rocket-propelled aircraft with a liquid-propellant engine was made in the Soviet Union in February 1940. A liquid propellant rocket engine was used as the aircraft's power plant. In 1941, under the leadership of the Soviet designer V.F. Bolkhovitinov, the first jet fighter aircraft with a liquid-propellant engine was built. Its tests were carried out in May 1942 by pilot G. Ya. Bakhchivadzhi. At the same time, the first flight of a German fighter with such an engine took place.

In 1943, the United States tested the first American jet plane, on which a liquid-propellant jet engine was installed. In Germany in 1944, several fighter aircraft were built with these Messerschmitt-designed engines.

In addition, liquid rocket engines were used on German V2 rockets, created under the leadership of V. von Braun.

In the 1950s, liquid-propellant engines were installed on ballistic missiles, and then on space rockets, artificial satellites, automatic interplanetary stations.

The liquid-propellant rocket engine consists of a combustion chamber with a nozzle, a turbopump unit, a gas generator or steam-gas generator, an automation system, control elements, an ignition system and auxiliary units (heat exchangers, mixers, drives).

The idea of ​​air-breathing engines (WRE) has been put forward more than once in different countries. The most important and original works in this regard are the studies carried out in 1908-1913 by the French scientist Renault Laurent, who proposed a number of designs for ramjet engines (ramjet engines). These engines are used as an oxidizer atmospheric air, and air compression in the combustion chamber is ensured by dynamic air pressure.

In May 1939, a rocket with a ramjet design designed by P. A. Merkulov was tested for the first time in the USSR. It was a two-stage rocket (the first stage is a powder rocket) with a take-off weight of 7.07 kg, and the weight of the fuel for the second stage of the ramjet was only 2 kg. During testing, the rocket reached an altitude of 2 km.

In 1939-1940, for the first time in the world, the Soviet Union conducted summer tests of air-breathing engines installed as additional engines on an aircraft designed by N.P. Polikarpov. In 1942, ramjet engines designed by E. Zenger were tested in Germany.

An air-breathing engine consists of a diffuser in which air is compressed due to the kinetic energy of the oncoming air flow. Fuel is injected into the combustion chamber through a nozzle and the mixture ignites. The jet stream exits through the nozzle.

The process of operation of the jet engines is continuous, so they do not have starting thrust. In this regard, at flight speeds less than half the speed of sound, air-breathing engines are not used. The most effective use of jet engines is at supersonic speeds and high altitudes. An aircraft powered by a jet engine takes off using rocket engines running on solid or liquid fuel.

Another group of air-breathing engines - turbocompressor engines - has received greater development. They are divided into turbojet, in which the thrust is created by a stream of gases flowing from the jet nozzle, and turboprop, in which the main thrust is created by the propeller.

In 1909, the design of a turbojet engine was developed by engineer N. Gerasimov. In 1914, Russian lieutenant navy M. N. Nikolskoy designed and built a model of a turboprop aircraft engine. The working fluid for driving the three-stage turbine was the gaseous combustion products of a mixture of turpentine and nitric acid. The turbine worked not only on the propeller: the exhaust gaseous combustion products directed into the tail (jet) nozzle created jet thrust in addition to the thrust force of the propeller.

In 1924, V.I. Bazarov developed the design of an aviation turbocompressor jet engine, which consisted of three elements: a combustion chamber, a gas turbine, and a compressor. Here, for the first time, the compressed air flow was divided into two branches: the smaller part went into the combustion chamber (to the burner), and the larger part was mixed with the working gases to lower their temperature in front of the turbine. This ensured the safety of the turbine blades. The power of the multi-stage turbine was spent on driving the centrifugal compressor of the engine itself and partly on rotating the propeller. In addition to the propeller, thrust was created due to the reaction of a stream of gases passed through the tail nozzle.

In 1939, the construction of turbojet engines designed by A. M. Lyulka began at the Kirov plant in Leningrad. His trials were interrupted by the war.

In 1941, in England, the first flight was carried out on an experimental fighter aircraft equipped with a turbojet engine designed by F. Whittle. It was equipped with an engine with a gas turbine, which drove a centrifugal compressor that supplied air to the combustion chamber. Combustion products were used to create jet thrust.

By the end of World War II, it became clear that further effective development of aviation was only possible with the introduction of engines using the principles of jet propulsion in whole or in part.

The first aircraft with jet engines were created in Nazi Germany, Great Britain, the USA and the USSR.

In the USSR, the first fighter project, with a jet engine developed by A. M. Lyulka, was proposed in March 1943 by the head of OKB-301, M. I. Gudkov. The plane was called Gu-VRD. The project was rejected by experts due to disbelief in the relevance and advantages of WFD compared to piston aircraft engines.

German designers and scientists working in this and related fields (rocket science) found themselves in a more advantageous position. The Third Reich planned a war, and hoped to win it due to technical superiority in weapons. Therefore, in Germany, new developments that could strengthen the army in the field of aviation and rocketry were subsidized more generously than in other countries.

The first aircraft equipped with a HeS 3 turbojet engine designed by von Ohain was the He 178 (Heinkel Germany). This happened on August 27, 1939. This aircraft exceeded the piston fighters of its time in speed (700 km/h), the maximum speed of which did not exceed 650 km/h, but it was less economical and, as a result, had a shorter range. In addition, it had high takeoff and landing speeds compared to piston aircraft, which is why it required a longer runway with high-quality pavement.

Work on this topic continued almost until the end of the war, when the Third Reich, having lost its former advantage in the air, made an unsuccessful attempt to restore it by supplying military aviation jet aircraft.

Since August 1944, the Messerschmitt Me.262 jet fighter-bomber, equipped with two Jumo-004 turbojet engines manufactured by Junkers, began to be mass-produced. The Messerschmitt Me.262 aircraft was significantly superior to all its “contemporaries” in speed and climb rate.

Since November 1944, the first jet bomber Arado Ar 234 Blitz with the same engines began to be produced.

The only jet aircraft of the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition that formally took part in World War II was the Gloucester Meteor (Great Britain) with a Rolls-Royce Derwent 8 turbojet engine designed by F. Whittle.

After the war, intensive development in the field of air-breathing engines began in all countries that had an aviation industry. Jet propulsion opened up new opportunities in aviation: flights at speeds exceeding the speed of sound, and the creation of aircraft with a payload capacity many times greater than that of piston aircraft, as a result of the higher specific power of gas turbine engines compared to piston engines.

The first domestic production jet aircraft was the Yak-15 fighter (1946), developed in record time on the basis of the Yak-3 airframe and an adaptation of the captured Jumo-004 engine, made at the engine-building design bureau of V. Ya. Klimov.

And a year later, the first, completely original, domestic turbojet engine TR-1, developed at the A. M. Lyulka Design Bureau, passed state tests. Such fast pace the development of a completely new area of ​​engine building has an explanation: A. M. Lyulka’s group has been working on this issue since pre-war times, but the “green light” for these developments was given only when the country’s leadership suddenly discovered that the USSR was lagging behind in this area.

The first domestic jet passenger airliner was the Tu-104 (1955), equipped with two RD-3M-500 (AM-3M-500) turbojet engines developed at the A. A. Mikulin Design Bureau. By this time, the USSR was already among the world leaders in the field of aircraft engine building.

The ramjet engine (ramjet engine), invented in 1913, also began to be actively improved. Since the 1950s, a number of experimental aircraft and production aircraft have been created in the USA. cruise missiles for various purposes with this type of engine.

Having a number of disadvantages for use on manned aircraft (zero thrust at a standstill, low efficiency at low flight speeds), the ramjet has become the preferred type of ramjet for unmanned disposable projectiles and cruise missiles, due to its simplicity, and, consequently, low cost and reliability.

In a turbojet engine (TRE), the air entering during flight is compressed first in the air intake and then in the turbocharger. Compressed air is supplied to the combustion chamber, where liquid fuel (most often aviation kerosene) is injected. Partial expansion of the gases formed during combustion occurs in the turbine rotating the compressor, and the final expansion occurs in the jet nozzle. An afterburner can be installed between the turbine and the jet engine to provide additional fuel combustion.

Nowadays, most military and civil aircraft, as well as some helicopters, are equipped with turbojet engines (TRDs).

In a turboprop engine, the main thrust is generated by the propeller, and additional thrust (about 10%) is generated by a stream of gases flowing from the jet nozzle. The operating principle of a turboprop engine is similar to a turbojet (TR), with the difference that the turbine rotates not only the compressor, but also the propeller. These engines are used in subsonic aircraft and helicopters, as well as for the propulsion of high-speed ships and cars.

The earliest solid rocket motors (SRM) were used in combat missiles. Their widespread use began in the 19th century, when rocket units appeared in many armies. IN late XIX centuries, the first smokeless gunpowder was created, with more stable combustion and greater performance.

In 1920-1930, work was carried out to create rocket weapons. This led to the appearance of rocket-propelled mortars - Katyushas in the Soviet Union, six-barreled rocket-propelled mortars in Germany.

The development of new types of gunpowder made it possible to use solid-fuel jet engines in combat missiles, including ballistic ones. In addition, they are used in aviation and astronautics as engines for the first stages of launch vehicles, starting engines for aircraft with ramjet engines, and braking engines for spacecraft.

A solid fuel jet engine (SFRE) consists of a housing (combustion chamber), which contains the entire fuel supply and a jet nozzle. The body is made of steel or fiberglass. The nozzle is made of graphite or refractory alloys. The fuel is ignited by an igniter. Thrust can be adjusted by changing the combustion surface of the charge or the critical section area of ​​the nozzle, as well as by injecting liquid into the combustion chamber. The direction of thrust can be changed by gas rudders, a deflector (deflector), auxiliary control motors, etc.

Solid fuel jet engines are very reliable, do not require complex maintenance, can be stored for a long time, and are always ready to start.

Types of jet engines.

Nowadays, jet engines of various designs are used quite widely.

Jet engines can be divided into two categories: rocket jet engines and air-breathing engines.

Solid propellant rocket engine (SRM) - a solid fuel rocket engine - an engine running on solid fuel, most often used in rocket artillery and much less often in astronautics. It is the oldest of the heat engines.

Liquid rocket engine (LPRE) is a chemical rocket engine that uses rocket fuel liquids, including liquefied gases. Based on the number of components used, one-, two-, and three-component liquid propellant engines differ.

Ramjet;

Pulse air jet;

Turbojet;

Turboprop.

Modern jet engines.

The photograph shows an aircraft jet engine during testing.

The photo shows the process of assembling rocket engines.

Jet engines. History of jet engines. Types of jet engines.

the site and Rostec remember the people who made rockets fly.

Origins

“A rocket will not fly by itself” is a phrase attributed to many famous scientists. And Sergei Korolev, and Wernher von Braun, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. It is believed that the idea of ​​rocket flight was almost formulated by Archimedes himself, but even he had no idea how to make it fly.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

To date, there are many types of rocket engines. Chemical, nuclear, electrical, even plasma. However, rockets appeared long before man invented the first engine. The words “nuclear fusion” or “chemical reaction” hardly meant anything to the residents Ancient China. But the missiles appeared exactly there. Exact date It’s difficult to name, but presumably this happened during the reign of the Han dynasty (III-II centuries BC). The first mentions of gunpowder date back to those times. The rocket, which rose upward due to the force generated by the explosion of gunpowder, was used in those days exclusively for peaceful purposes - for fireworks. These missiles, characteristically, had own stock fuel, in this case, gunpowder.

Conrad Haas is considered the creator of the first combat rocket

Next step was made only in 1556 by the German inventor Conrad Haas, who was a firearms specialist in the army of Ferdinand I - Holy Roman Emperor. Haas is considered the creator of the first military rocket. Although, strictly speaking, the inventor did not create it, but only laid the theoretical foundations. It was Haas who came up with the idea of ​​a multi-stage rocket.

Multistage rocket as imagined by Conrad Haas

The scientist described in detail the mechanism for creating an aircraft from two rockets that would separate in flight. “Such a device,” he assured, “could reach enormous speed.” Haas's ideas were soon developed by the Polish general Kazimir Semenovich.

Front page books in which Kazimir Semenovich described rockets

In 1650, he proposed a project to create a three-stage rocket. However, this idea was never brought to life. That is, of course, it was, but only in the twentieth century, several centuries after the death of Semenovich.

Rockets in the army

The military, of course, will never miss the opportunity to adopt new look destructive weapons. In the 19th century they had the opportunity to use a rocket in battle. In 1805, the British officer William Congreve demonstrated at the Royal Arsenal the powder rockets he had created, which were of unprecedented power at that time. There is an assumption that Congreve “stole” most of the ideas from the Irish nationalist Robert Emmett, who used some kind of rocket during the uprising of 1803. One can argue on this topic forever, but nevertheless, the rocket that the British troops adopted is called the Congreve rocket, and not the Emmett rocket.

The military began using rockets at the dawn of the 19th century

Launch of the Congreve Rocket, 1890

The weapon was used many times during the Napoleonic Wars. In Russia, Lieutenant General Alexander Zasyadko is considered the pioneer of rocket science.

Alexander Zasyadko

He not only improved the Congreve rocket, but also thought that the energy of this destructive weapon could be used for peaceful purposes. Zasyadko, for example, was the first to express the idea that using a rocket it would be possible to fly into space. The engineer even calculated exactly how much gunpowder would be needed for the rocket to reach the Moon.

Zasyadko was the first to propose using rockets to fly into space

On a rocket to space

Zasyadko's ideas formed the basis for many of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's works. This famous scientist and inventor theoretically substantiated the possibility of flying into space using rocket technology. True, he proposed using not gunpowder as fuel, but a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Similar ideas were expressed by Tsiolkovsky’s younger contemporary Hermann Oberth.

Hermann Oberth

He also developed the idea of ​​interplanetary travel. Oberth perfectly understood the complexity of the task, but his work was not at all fantastic in nature. The scientist, in particular, proposed the idea of ​​a rocket engine. He even conducted experimental tests of such devices. In 1928, Obert met a young student, Wernher von Braun. This young physicist from Berlin was soon to make a breakthrough in rocket science and bring many of Oberth's ideas to life. But more on that later, because two years before the meeting of these two scientists, the first liquid fuel rocket in history was launched.

Rocket Age

This happened significant event March 16, 1926. And the main character was the American physicist and engineer Robert Goddard. Back in 1914, he patented a multi-stage rocket. He soon managed to bring to life the idea proposed by Haas almost four hundred years earlier. Goddard proposed using gasoline and nitrous oxide as fuel. After a series of unsuccessful launches, he achieved success. On March 16, 1926, at his aunt's farm, Goddard launched a rocket the size of human hand. In just over two seconds, she flew 12 meters into the air. It is curious that Bazooka will later be created based on Goddard’s works.

Robert Goddard and his rocket

The discoveries of Goddard, Oberth and Tsiolkovsky had a great resonance. In the USA, Germany and the Soviet Union, societies of rocket science enthusiasts began to spontaneously emerge. In the USSR, already in 1933, the Jet Institute was created. In the same year, a fundamentally new type of weapon appeared - rockets. The installation for launching them went down in history under the name “Katyusha”.

Salvo "Katyusha"

In Germany, the development of Oberth's ideas was carried out by the already familiar Wernher von Braun. He created rockets for the German army and did not leave this activity after the Nazis came to power. Moreover, Brown received fabulous funding and unlimited work opportunities from them.

Wernher von Braun with a V-2 model in his hands

Slave labor was used to create new rockets. It is known that Brown tried to protest against this, but received a threat in response that he himself might end up in the place of forced laborers. This is how a ballistic missile was created, the appearance of which was predicted by Tsiolkovsky. The first tests took place in 1942. In 1944, the V-2 long-range ballistic missile was adopted by the Wehrmacht. With its help, they fired mainly at the territory of Great Britain (the missile reached London from Germany in 6 minutes). The V-2 caused terrible destruction and struck fear into the hearts of people. At least 2,700 civilians of Foggy Albion became its victims. In the British press, the V-2 was called the “winged horror.”

The Nazis used slave labor to create rockets

After the war

The American and Soviet military have been hunting for Brown since 1944. Both countries were interested in his ideas and developments. The scientist himself played a key role in resolving this issue. Back in the spring of 1945, he gathered his team for a council, at which the question of who should surrender at the end of the war was decided. Scientists have concluded that it is better for the Americans to surrender. Brown himself was captured almost by accident. His brother Magnus, seeing an American soldier, ran up to him and said: “My name is Magnus von Braun, my brother invented the V-2, we want to surrender.”

R-7 Korolev - the first rocket used to fly into space

In the USA, Wernher von Braun continued to work on rockets. Now, however, he worked mainly for peaceful purposes. It was he who gave a colossal impetus to the development of the American space industry by designing the first launch vehicles for the United States (of course, Brown also created combat ballistic missiles). His team launched the first American artificial Earth satellite into space in February 1958. Soviet Union beat the United States with the launch of satellite by almost six months. On October 4, 1957, the first artificial satellite was launched into Earth orbit. It was launched using the Soviet R-7 rocket, created by Sergei Korolev.

Sergey Korolev

The R-7 became the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile, as well as the first rocket used for space flight.

Rocket engines in Russia

In 1912, a plant for the production of aircraft engines was opened in Moscow. The company was part of the French society "Gnome". Engines for aircraft of the Russian Empire during the First World War were also created here. The plant successfully survived the Revolution, received a new name “Icarus” and continued to operate under Soviet rule.

A plant for the production of aircraft engines appeared in Russia in 1912

Aviation engines were created here in the 1930s and 1940s, the war years. The engines that were produced at Icarus were installed at the forefront soviet planes. And already in the 1950s, the company began to produce turbo-rocket engines, including for the space industry. Now the plant belongs to OJSC Kuznetsov, which received its name in honor of the outstanding Soviet aircraft designer Nikolai Dmitrievich Kuznetsov. The company is part of the Rostec state corporation.

Current state

Rostec continues to produce rocket engines, including for the rocket industry. IN recent years production volumes are growing. Last year, information appeared that Kuznetsov received orders for the production of engines for as much as 20 years in advance. Engines are created not only for the space industry, but also for aviation, energy and rail freight transportation.

In 2012, Rostec tested a lunar engine

In 2012, Rostec tested the lunar engine. Experts managed to revive technologies that were created for the Soviet lunar program. The program itself, as we know, was eventually discontinued. But seemingly forgotten developments have now found a new life. The lunar thruster is expected to see widespread use in the Russian space program.