In: Operations Management
In what ways is a propeller similar to a high-bypass fan? In what ways is it different?
In what ways is a propeller similar to a high-bypass fan? In what ways is it different?
Just a general rule of thumb that is good to note; an airplane is propelled by thrust produced by its power plant accelerating or increasing the momentum of mass of air. Without this power of propulsion, I hope that we can all agree that an aircraft will be unable to take off. Now, within this interactive assessment we need to distinguish the differences of a reciprocating engine and a high-bypass ratio engine. Hopefully we all know what a propeller is, but a high-bypass ratio engine is described as a turbofan engine whose bypass ratio is 4:1 or greater.The main difference, initially, is that a prop will have a hard time recreating this ratio; meaning that a turbofan is powerful.
Taking a step back we need to understand that a turbojet engine, or a high-bypass fan, takes in a relatively small mass of air and accelerates it by a large amount. An engine driving a propeller accelerates a much larger mass of air, but by a smaller amount. Turbofan engines produce thrust in two ways: the core engine imparts a large acceleration to a small mass of air while the fan, acting in much the same way as a propeller, imparts a smaller acceleration to a much larger mass of air. The fan in a high-bypass ration turbofan engine produces about 75% of the total thrust