Gas-turbine engine

An internal-combustion engine that burns fuel in a continuous flow of compressed air. Expanding hot gas drives a turbine, producing shaft power or thrust.

Brayton cycle: A thermodynamic cycle in which a gas is compressed, heated at roughly constant pressure, and expanded to produce work. It idealizes the compression, combustion, and expansion sequence of a gas-turbine engine.
Internal combustion engine: A heat engine in which fuel burns inside the working-fluid flow or chamber. Gas turbines belong to this broad family, despite their continuous rather than reciprocating operation.
Turbojet: A jet engine that produces thrust mainly by accelerating exhaust from its gas-turbine core. It is the simplest aircraft propulsion arrangement centered on a gas-turbine core.
Reciprocating engine: An engine that converts pressure-driven back-and-forth piston motion into rotary or linear output. Its intermittent cylinder cycles contrast with the gas turbine’s continuous airflow and combustion.
Axial compressor: A compressor that raises a gas’s pressure as it flows parallel to a rotating shaft through alternating rotor and stator rows. It supplies the high-pressure airflow required before fuel can burn efficiently.
Combustion: A chemical reaction in which a fuel reacts with an oxidizer and releases heat, often with light and exhaust products. The engine’s combustor releases fuel energy into the moving gas stream.
Turboprop: An aircraft engine that uses a gas turbine to drive a propeller through a reduction gearbox. It converts turbine power into propeller thrust, especially efficiently at lower flight speeds.
Steam turbine: A rotary machine that extracts work from expanding steam, usually produced in a separate boiler. Unlike a gas turbine, it generally separates fuel combustion from the turbine’s working fluid.
Combustor: A chamber in which fuel burns continuously in a stream of compressed air. It adds heat to the compressed airflow while limiting pressure loss and flame instability.
Compressor: A machine that raises a gas’s pressure by supplying mechanical work. Compression raises air pressure before it enters the combustor.

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