The Aerodynamics of the Gas Turbine

Aerodynamics is naturally associated with the external air flow past aircraft, but with the advent of the gas turbine it has also become of the greatest importance for the internal flow through such engines. The efficiency and bulk of the compressor and turbine components in gas turbines are largely an aerodynamic matter, and their design is determined by a knowledge of the lift coefficients, drag coefficients, Mach numbers, and so on that can be used. The same fundamental laws, if they were fully known, would apply to both internal and external flows, but there are at present considerable differences in practice between the data obtained, and the detail methods used, for the two categories of flow. This lecture attempts to cover in a general way the internal aerodynamic flow through gas turbines.