Course detail
Aircraft Propulsion
FSI-OLE-A Acad. year: 2025/2026 Winter semester
The Aircraft Engines course provides a comprehensive overview of the principles of operation and construction of aircraft propulsion system to provide a sufficient understanding of the relationship between propulsion efficiency and structural complexity. Students will gain deeper knowledge about the work of piston, turbine and hypersonic aircraft engines. Their construction, arrangement and auxiliary systems necessary to ensure their operation are analyzed in detail, the emphasis is placed on aspects of reliability and efficiency in construction solutions. In addition to conventional propulsion systems, sustainability topics in the field of aircraft propulsion are also discussed in the course. Students are introduced to the developed technologies as well as the physical limitations of various types of propulsion systems using electricity or hydrogen as an energy source and possible areas for reducing the environmental impact of current propulsion technologies to ensure their sustainability. The course also includes a more detailed analysis of the environmental requirements for aircraft engines. Within the course, space is also devoted to the issue of maintenance, economy and sustainability of modern aircraft propulsion system.
Supervisor
Department
Learning outcomes of the course unit
Prerequisites
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Assesment methods and criteria linked to learning outcomes
The condition for granting credit is the completion of compulsory classes and the completion of all assigned individual assignments. The subject exam is written. During the exam, the student demonstrates knowledge of the material in the scope of lectures, exercises and prescribed literature. The test question consists of three parts. The first part consists of solving a specific assignment, the second and third parts are theoretical. The final evaluation of the subject is given by the result achieved in the exam. Each part of the exam question contributes equally to the exam result.
All seminars are mandatory for students. The student makes up for excused non-participation in the seminar by completing an individual replacement assignment. Ongoing monitoring of studies takes place as part of the seminars. Students prepare presentations of selected engines, where they demonstrate the specific properties of the selected design
Language of instruction
English
Aims
The objective of the subject Aircraft engines is to acquaint students with the current state and development trends in the field of aircraft propulsion units and to provide knowledge necessary for choosing the optimal engine for a given type of aircraft, its construction, economic and ecological operation and maintenance. Environmental aspects associated with the aircraft propulsion system are also emphasized in the course, which develops students' green skills. The student will learn to assess aircraft engines from the point of view of their operational and environmental characteristics and choose the optimal solution for the given purpose, not only from a technical point of view, but will be able to make a comprehensive assessment with consideration of the economics and environmental impacts of aircraft engine operation.
Specification of controlled education, way of implementation and compensation for absences
The study programmes with the given course
Programme N-AST-A: Aerospace Technology, Master's
branch ---: no specialisation, 5 credits, compulsory
Type of course unit
Lecture
26 hours, optionally
Syllabus
1. Categorization of aircraft propulsion units, physical principles of work, efficiency.
2. Piston engines – thermodynamic cycles of petrol and diesel engines. Aviation fuels and their properties.
3. Arrangement of main parts of aircraft piston engines
4. Auxiliary devices and piston engine systems – fuel, oil, cooling, starting.
5. Power and altitude characteristics of the propeller drive, increasing power by turbocharging, maintenance and care of the engine
6. Vane motors, principle of operation, thermodynamic cycle, input system
7. Vane compressors, distribution, centrifugal compressors, principle of operation and calculation.
8. Axial compressors, working characteristics of compressors, instability of compressor work and its suppression.
9. Combustion chambers of vane engines – principle of operation and construction. Turbine section – high-pressure and low-pressure turbines, technology for increasing the efficiency of turbine engines.
10. Propelling nozzles, fixed and adjustable, afterburning, Systems necessary for the work of the gas turbine engine: fuel system, oil system, starting system.
11. Properties and development trends of turbine engines, operating characteristics for single-stream, two-stream, turboprop and special turbine engines
12. Environmental requirements for aircraft engines, electric propulsion units concepts with accumulators and fuel cell.
13. Energy requirements of aircraft propulsion and their provision with sustainable energy sources, use of hydrogen for propulsion. An overview of bladeless propulsion units and their characteristics.
Exercise
13 hours, compulsory
Syllabus
1. The main quantities of a piston engine.
2. The main quantities of a piston engine.
3. Kinematics of the crank mechanism.
4. Kinematics of the crank mechanism.
5. Liquid cooling of the piston engine.
6. Parameters of the centrifugal compressor.
7. Parameters of the centrifugal compressor.
8. Forces loading the centrifugal compressor impeller.
9. Forces loading the centrifugal compressor impeller.
10. Turbine blade force stress.
11. Calculation of the thermodynamic circulation of a jet engine.
12. Analysis of the efficiency of aircraft propulsion
13. Calculation of the carbon footprint of a CS – 25 category transport aircraft.