PROPULSION ENGINEERING: Mechanics and Thermodynamic Principles: Gas Turbines, Rocket Motors, and the Physics of Flight - Softcover

Kelridge, Evan

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798194256853

Verlag: Independently published, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

Propulsion engineering spans an unusually wide range of physical regimes, from the subsonic inlet flow of a turbofan on approach to landing, through supersonic and hypersonic flight, to the near-vacuum environment where an electric thruster can operate for months at a time. Most readers meet these as separate subjects, taught in different courses, with no shared notation between them.

That separation creates a real gap. A reader who has just worked through a compressor stage in one course and a rocket nozzle in another often has no way to see that both problems rest on the same compressible-flow equations and the same thrust equation, applied twice rather than derived once. Textbooks that hand over finished formulas without their derivation make the gap worse, since a memorized formula offers no way forward when a real design problem does not match the textbook case.

This sixteen-chapter guide treats propulsion engineering as one connected subject rather than as separate topics in aircraft engines and rocket engines. Every governing equation, from the steady-flow energy equation to the rocket thrust equation, is derived from stated assumptions, and every numerical example carries consistent units, in SI and US customary systems, from the given data to a final boxed answer.

Inside, readers will:

• Follow every major equation from its stated assumptions through a full derivation, rather than accepting a boxed formula without justification.
• Build one connected framework for compressible flow, stagnation properties, and the thrust equation, applicable across gas-turbine and rocket systems alike.
• Move component by component through a complete gas-turbine engine, from inlet and compressor through combustor, turbine, and nozzle, before assembling those components into turbojet, turbofan, turboprop, and turboshaft cycles.
• Apply the thrust equation to compute gross thrust, net thrust, propulsive efficiency, thrust-specific fuel consumption, and specific impulse for realistic flight conditions.
• Extend the same reasoning into high-speed ramjet and scramjet propulsion, and into chemical rocket propulsion, propellants, and combustion.
• Explore emerging electric and advanced propulsion concepts, including ion and Hall-effect thrusters, nuclear thermal rockets, and solar sails.
• Check understanding against practice problems at the end of every chapter, each paired with a worked, boxed answer.

Key topics: thermodynamic and gas-dynamic foundations; the thrust equation and propulsive, thermal, and overall efficiency; Brayton-cycle analysis and real-cycle losses; inlet, compressor, combustor, turbine, and nozzle behavior; turbojet, turbofan, turboprop, and turboshaft cycle performance; ramjet, scramjet, and afterburning propulsion; chemical rocket propulsion and propellant combustion; electric and advanced propulsion systems; and the integration and testing practices that connect analysis to flight hardware.

This book is written for the upper-level mechanical or aerospace engineering student encountering propulsion systems for the first time in a structured course, and for the practicing engineer who needs a rigorous, well-organized reference for cycle analysis, component behavior, or rocket propulsion fundamentals. Its consistent notation and self-contained chapters make it equally useful as a course companion and a standing reference.

Take the next step toward a clearer, more connected understanding of propulsion engineering: add this comprehensive, derivation-based guide to your library and begin working through the equations, examples, and component-by-component reasoning the subject demands.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Independently published
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 13: 9798194256853
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 379
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Manufactured by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.de/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxemburg