PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A TURBOFAN AS A PART OF AN AIR-BREATHING PROPULSION SYSTEM FOR SPACE SHUTTLES

This paper presents the results of the design and performance analysis of airbreathing engines for aerospace planes. The analysis is illustr ated by introducing an exemplary twin-shaft turbofan engine with post- combustion and bypass-combustion. Some modules of the performance anal ysis algorithm such as inlet pressure recovery or real gas effects are also presented. The jet engine is designed in view of increasing temp eratures at high flight Mach numbers, Hence, the engine design data ar e dependent on the characteristics of the available materials as well as on the trajectory of the aerospace plane. The results illustrate th e strong influence of the real gas effects on the engine thrust partic ularly in the case of over-stoichiometric combustion of hydrogen. Turb ofan engines offer the following advantages in comparison with equival ent turbojet engines: higher thrust performance in supersonic flight r ange and lower fuel consumption due to operation management of post-co mbustion and bypass-combustion.