Get ready to geek out over giant engines, quirky egg-shaped planes, and the secrets of why airplane engines don't mind flying through rain! We break down the coolest aviation tech, from the monster UltraFan to the story behind jet engines in wings. If you love planes, this one's for you. Subscribe for more sky-high content, and comment below with your favorite fact from the video! #aviation #airplanes #engineering #technology #history
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with @kramola_online
00:00:00 - Introducing the UltraFan Engine
00:00:49 - Curiosity About Aircraft Engines
00:01:08 - Modern Piston Engines and Propeller Innovations
00:03:25 - Turbofan Engine Structure and Technologies
00:07:49 - Supporting Components and Global Turbofan Industry
00:08:57 - Turbojet Engines and Supersonic Planes
00:12:59 - Plane Speeds and Flying in Rain
00:16:06 - History and Placement of Jet Engines on Wings
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with @kramola_online
00:00:00 - Introducing the UltraFan Engine
00:00:49 - Curiosity About Aircraft Engines
00:01:08 - Modern Piston Engines and Propeller Innovations
00:03:25 - Turbofan Engine Structure and Technologies
00:07:49 - Supporting Components and Global Turbofan Industry
00:08:57 - Turbojet Engines and Supersonic Planes
00:12:59 - Plane Speeds and Flying in Rain
00:16:06 - History and Placement of Jet Engines on Wings
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MotorTranscript
00:00Look at this monster. This is the giant Ultrafan aircraft engine with 87,000 horsepower from Rolls-Royce.
00:10Its diameter is over 3.5 meters.
00:13The Ultrafan will run exclusively on eco-friendly aviation fuel, sustainable aviation fuel, sustainable aviation fuel.
00:22Testing of the Ultrafan is set to begin at the start of 2023.
00:27And, as they say, a big engine needs a big test stand. In fact, the largest in the world.
00:34The site with Testbed 80 was launched two years ago and was specifically designed for the development of the Ultrafan.
00:42And just recently, they brought in the so-called Demonstrator, which was created specifically for this giant.
00:48Most viewers of this video have likely flown on an airplane.
00:52But it's unlikely that each of you knows how the engine of this machine actually.
00:57What's inside? A fan? A turbine? Or maybe a couple thousand little gnomes pedaling special pedals?
01:05Let's figure it out.
01:07At the dawn of aviation, piston engines ruled the scene.
01:12Now, they've almost become a thing of the past.
01:15Although, how should I put it? Meat?
01:18This is the Celera 500LA prototype single-engine piston aircraft.
01:23The aircraft looks like an egg with wings and resembles a children's toy, but its capabilities are very serious.
01:31By using an unusual shape, the engineers reduced aerodynamic drag by 59%.
01:39Not bad for a toy.
01:40The Celera's closest competitor is the Boeing business jet.
01:44Let's compare the technical specifications of the aircraft.
01:47The cruising speed of the Celera is 740 km per hour, and its range is 8,300 km.
01:55The cruising speed of the business jet is 842 km per hour, and its range is 11,519 km.
02:04It seems pretty close, but for every 100 km, the Boeing uses 258 liters of fuel, while the Celera uses
02:14only 13.
02:16It turns out that this funny-looking plane is more economical than an SUV in city traffic,
02:22and if the pilot wants to save even more fuel, he can simply turn off the engine.
02:28With the engine off, the Celera can glide for more than 200 km.
02:33There are other examples of modern engineering that are connected to the seemingly outdated propeller.
02:41This is the world's first 11-blade propeller.
02:43It successfully completed its first test flight, as reported in a press release by its developer, MT Propeller.
02:50This is another achievement for the company, which previously produced 5, 7, and 9 blade propellers.
02:57The group of developers recorded a 15% increase in static thrust of the new propeller compared to the company's
03:065-blade propellers.
03:08The aircraft's propeller system, combined with a low revolutions per minute power source,
03:14can open up new possibilities for performance, efficiency, and low noise levels.
03:19After all, even an electric motor can be a low revolutions per minute power source.
03:25However, despite all these exceptions to the rule, it's not piston aircraft engines with propellers that dominate today, but two
03:32other types.
03:34The most popular engine installed on modern commercial airplanes is the turbofan.
03:40Its advantage is that it's quite compact.
03:44The air flow in it moves through two circuits.
03:47In the inner circuit, the air is compressed by a compressor, ignited, spins the turbine, and is expelled through the
03:53nozzle, creating thrust.
03:55The second circuit starts with a large fan that we see from the outside.
04:00The fan drives and moves air through the circuit, creating additional thrust and increasing the engine's efficiency.
04:07Let's explain this system further with the PD-14, a fifth-generation engine, as an example.
04:14Don't mix up fifth-generation engines with fifth-generation fighter jets.
04:19Engines like these from the World War II era could heat up to 900 degrees,
04:24and by the fifth generation, this threshold has actually doubled.
04:28At the same time, the ability to operate in this mode for a long period also increased.
04:32At the front is the compressor, whose job is to compress the air passing through it.
04:38The air is pushed forward by stages, rotating disc structures of complex shape with blades around the circumference.
04:46Essentially, these are fans.
04:47There are as many as 11 of them here, 3 low pressure and 8 high pressure.
04:52Moreover, as the air moves through the engine, the number of blades increases,
04:57while the volume through which the air passes decreases.
05:01So, the air turns from a cool breeze into a hot gas, with its pressure increasing by 40 times.
05:08Next after the compressor comes the culprit of the fiery show, a low-emission combustion chamber,
05:14where fuel is injected and ignited, heating it up to almost 2,000 degrees.
05:20The chamber itself is a work of art.
05:23The design, with a very intricate flow configuration, and including 48 injectors,
05:29is so complex to manufacture that its parts are 3D printed from metal.
05:33And this is not just a nod to industrial fashion.
05:37Otherwise, creating such a compact and reliable mechanism is impossible.
05:42In the turbine, the process is essentially the opposite of the compressor.
05:48Now, the hot compressed air rushes through the mechanism,
05:52first hitting two high-pressure stages, and then six low-pressure stages.
05:57The gas rotates the stages, transferring energy through the turbine to the shaft,
06:03which drives the fan and compressor stages that compress and push the gas here.
06:09That's the cycle of energy in the engine.
06:12The hot gas that has passed through the turbine bursts out with a roar through the nozzle, creating jet thrust.
06:19The main challenge for engineers in the hot section is the components that come into direct contact with the working
06:26area,
06:27primarily the blades.
06:28They must be able to withstand enormous loads without melting or breaking apart.
06:33There are several solutions to this problem.
06:36First, specially designed heat-resistant alloys.
06:40Second, there are special channels inside these housings through which air flows, cooling them from the inside.
06:46As a final touch, there are special ceramic coatings that take the first impact of the heat.
06:52These solutions, in various combinations, allow the blades to function properly.
06:57The outer contour is simpler.
06:59No combustion chamber, turbine, or more than one fan.
07:03But what a fan it is!
07:05It's made up of hollow titanium blades.
07:09Unlike the regular metal blades you can see on most aircraft engines,
07:13these new blades are lighter, larger, have a complex aerodynamic shape,
07:19and don't require additional reinforcing elements.
07:22Yes, they're still a bit heavier than composite ones, but again, it's a matter of balance.
07:29Composite blades are quite complex and expensive to manufacture,
07:32and the weight advantage becomes crucial as their size increases.
07:37Composite fans are not used on large engines.
07:40You end up with the same result for a higher price.
07:43On the other hand, on large engines, composite fans are actually the only viable option.
07:49Metal would be too heavy here.
07:51Now we're about to see a maze of units, cables, pipes, pumps, and sensors lining the outer contour of the
07:58engine.
07:58People rarely discuss them, since it's difficult to understand what they are.
08:03But without all of this, any aircraft engine is just an art object.
08:08The engine's component base is almost entirely Russian.
08:12There are only four countries in the world capable of creating modern turbofan engines through a full production cycle.
08:18The United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia.
08:23Each of them strictly protects their research results and know-how in engine building.
08:29For example, France produces the hot sections of the CM146 engines only on its own territory.
08:36These units take years to design.
08:38A modern aircraft engine takes 1.5 to 2 times longer to develop than the aircraft.
08:43For example, the PD-14 began development in 2008.
08:48The designers implemented 16 key technologies, which cannot be mastered without creating your own production facilities.
08:56The second type of engine is the turbojet.
08:59Such an engine is quite bulky and is usually used on military aircraft of various classes.
09:05For installation, either a section of the carrier aircraft's fuselage is used, or special recesses along its sides.
09:13The turbojet engine has high power and, as a result, helps the aircraft reach high speeds, up to and including
09:20supersonic.
09:21In a turbojet engine, air is drawn into the compressor, which is powered by an external cold turbine, and after
09:29compression, it is supplied to the hot turbine.
09:32This engine is not economical at all, which is why it is very rarely used in civil aviation.
09:38However, this has happened in history as well.
09:41The most obvious examples of turbojet engines being used on civil aircraft are the supersonic Concorde and 2-1-44.
09:50Let's take a closer look at them.
09:52The development of the supersonic aircraft 2-1-44 was first announced in 1962.
09:58It was positioned as a direct response to the foreign Concorde, which was supposed to be the first passenger aircraft
10:06to break the sound barrier.
10:09However, the first flight of the aircraft from the Tupolev Design Bureau took place on December 31, 1968, two months
10:18earlier than the Concorde's flight.
10:20The 2-1-44 and Concorde's supersonic aircraft are often seen as twins.
10:26Some people are convinced that the aircraft have many similarities because one side stole the blueprints from the other.
10:34But in reality, engineers from the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France often met and discussed their ideas.
10:41There are similarities and very significant ones, but at the same time, the aircraft also have major differences.
10:47The main differences are the Tupolev 1-44 has nose canards, while the Concorde does not.
10:55The Tupolev 1-44 used large solid plates, while the Concorde used many small riveted parts.
11:03The Tupolev 1-44 was equipped with the NK-144 jet engine, while the Concorde had the Olympus 593 engine.
11:13However, the fate of these two aircraft is very similar.
11:17Supersonic passenger planes were retired from service due to a series of accidents.
11:22For the first time, the Soviet 2-1-44 crashed in 1973 during the air show in Le Bourget.
11:30Six crew members and eight people on the ground were killed.
11:34The second time, the aircraft crashed in 1978 during a test flight, resulting in the deaths of two flight engineers.
11:42The third emergency occurred in 1980, when one of the engines of the prototype was destroyed during testing.
11:51Fortunately, the crew took control of the situation, landed the aircraft, and survived.
11:56In 1981, the aircraft was already preparing to begin commercial flights.
12:01But a fire broke out on board, and the crew had to evacuate the aircraft through the emergency exits.
12:07After all that, interest in the aircraft disappeared.
12:10However, later it was sometimes used for sleeping.
12:13Urgent cargo and mail flights operated between Moscow and Khabarovsk.
12:17The last flight was made in 1999.
12:21The Concord aircraft got into trouble much less often than its Soviet counterpart.
12:26But the disaster that happened in Paris in 2000 turned out to be the most tragic.
12:33During takeoff from Paris to New York, the left landing gear of the Concord ran over a piece of another
12:39plane's fuselage, which caused a fire.
12:42The disaster claimed the lives of not only all 100 passengers and nine crew members on the plane, but also
12:48four people who were in the hotel.
12:51After this terrible event, they tried to continue using the aircraft, but after several more malfunctions, the project was shut
12:58down.
12:59But even if we don't talk about supersonic planes, can't we just make a regular plane fly faster?
13:07Yes, we can, and they are capable of reaching those same 800 to 900 kilometers per hour, which often becomes
13:14the cruising speed of regular airliners.
13:17But there's just no point in doing that.
13:20The costs will increase significantly, while the travel time will be reduced by just about 10 minutes, especially if the
13:26flight isn't a long one.
13:28There's another question that might interest a typical airline passenger.
13:33Why don't airplane engines stall during rain, and how dangerous is it to fly in a downpour?
13:40Most car owners know that water should never get into the engine under any circumstances.
13:45Moisture in internal combustion engines can cause severe damage, including broken parts and engine rupture.
13:51But airliners fly using engines that convert the thermal energy of fuel.
13:57Therefore, their engines should not have water.
14:00Yet aircraft engines lack moisture protection systems.
14:05Planes don't even have bird screens installed in front of the engines.
14:09So how do airliners fly in the rain?
14:12Why doesn't water harm their engines?
14:14An airliner can fly in heavy rain.
14:17At this time, every cubic meter of air contains 10 cubic centimeters of water.
14:23The airplane engines take in huge amounts of air.
14:27So on average, about 1 liter of water enters the engines every second.
14:31In just a few minutes, a significant amount of liquid should accumulate.
14:36But why doesn't it stall the engine or cause it to fail?
14:40First of all, the airflow in airplane engines is distributed at a ratio of 1 to 10.
14:45Most of it doesn't go into the engine itself, but into the outer bypass.
14:5190% of the air passes through it, increasing thrust.
14:55Some of it also serves as cooling.
14:57The air is captured by something like a fan.
15:00It acts as a centrifuge.
15:02Under its influence, the heavier water particles end up near the walls of the outer bypass,
15:07while the lighter air stays in the center.
15:10Next, the air masses enter the compressor.
15:12As a result of compression, the gases are heated up to 260 degrees.
15:18Accordingly, the water evaporates even before it actually enters the engine.
15:23The second reason water doesn't harm airplane engines is their size.
15:28That 1 liter of liquid per second that could potentially get into the engine is negligible on its scale.
15:34Modern airliners are tested for safety, and it is insured even with 75 liters of water per second,
15:41which is impossible in the sky even during the heaviest downpour.
15:45A much greater threat to an airliner can be hail,
15:49because solid particles will hit the fuselage and engine at bullet speed,
15:53and will behave very differently from water.
15:57But this atmospheric phenomenon is much rarer and more predictable,
16:01and almost always, airliners have enough time to avoid the hail zone.
16:05And here's another interesting question, by the way.
16:09Why did they stop making such beauty?
16:11Why don't they install engines inside the airplane wings anymore?
16:15The first commercial airliner in history to be equipped with four engines mounted inside the wings
16:22was the British the Heavyland de Havilland 106 Comet,
16:27which made its first flight back in 1949.
16:31And already in 1955, the Soviet 2-104 with engines built into the wings took to the air.
16:38And a similar design was also used in the 2-1-24.
16:42So why was the decision ultimately made to abandon this component?
16:46At first glance, it has a clear advantage.
16:49The first and probably main advantage of engines in the wings
16:53is an aerodynamically clean wing,
16:56which in turn allows for significantly greater lift.
17:00And for the first jet airliners, this was indeed a critically important factor.
17:05After all, if we look at the same Comet,
17:07it was originally equipped with engine installations,
17:10Rolls-Royce Avon, with a thrust of 32.7 km, which is incredibly low.
17:15And if we look at the Rolls-Royce Trent 7,000 engines with a thrust of 324 km,
17:22the difference is obvious.
17:24Another advantage of built-in engines was the lower yawing moment in case of engine failure.
17:30Yes, modern engines rarely break down these days.
17:34Statistics show one failure per 100,000 flight hours,
17:39but back then, one failure per 2,500 flight hours was considered a good indicator.
17:45So back then, engines failed almost 40 times more often.
17:49The third advantage is a lower tendency to ingest debris
17:53compared to engines mounted under the aircraft wing.
17:57But this configuration also had its drawbacks.
18:00For example, if there was a fuel leak resulting in an engine fire,
18:04there was a high probability that the wing itself,
18:07as well as the neighboring engine, would be damaged.
18:10If we look specifically at the cometa.
18:12But an engine suspended under the wing is quite well isolated,
18:15and, in fact, can even burn out completely,
18:18without causing significant harm to the airliner as a whole.
18:22Among other things, an engine mounted higher is simply harder to service
18:26because of its higher position.
18:28Another significant drawback is the inability to upgrade the engines
18:32without serious structural changes,
18:35because when replacing a built-in engine,
18:37it was inevitably necessary to adjust the wing geometry.
18:41And that's far from a cheap undertaking.
18:43In this regard, the Boeing 737 is a true example of rational cost-saving.
18:50This airliner has been produced for 54 years now,
18:53and during this time has undergone four major redesigns with engine changes.
18:58At the same time, the fuselage itself has changed very little.
19:02In addition, the advantages of placing the engine under the wing include these factors.
19:07More space in the wings for fuel.
19:09At the same time, if the fuel supply system fails,
19:12the fuel will flow to the engines by gravity.
19:15Besides that, the suspended engines also help balance the wings themselves,
19:20damping unwanted vibrations, which also allowed for lower strength requirements,
19:24and, therefore, made them lighter.
19:26These advantages determine the appearance of modern airliners,
19:30while engines inside the wing were relevant only at the very dawn of civil aviation.
19:35In today's reality, flights on airplanes with such a configuration
19:39would be too expensive and impractical.
19:41In this episode, we covered only a part of the questions
19:44related to the fascinating topic of aviation,
19:47and we will continue to do so in future episodes.
19:50Set up notifications so you don't miss them.
19:53Thank you for watching, and see you on our channel.
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