PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Pounds thrust to horsepower
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Old 18th Oct 2005, 13:35
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cwatters
 
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But hovering, while it's a very useful characteristic, should not be confused with doing work in physical terms. While it may carry an impressive payload, a hovering machine has zero velocity and is thus doing zero work - i.e. zero HP generated to the payload.
Yup kow that... but the OP asked about thrust and horsepower. I mentioned a heli because the thrust will be equal to the weight in the hover - making the numbers easier to obtain.


Consider a turbine in a power plant, Since it isn't physically moving, or translating, by your definition, it's doing zero work
No that's incorrect. It doesn't have to move to do work - just moving something else is enough.

In the case of a stationary jet engine...

The basic equation is..

Work done = Force x Distance

Power = work/time

so

Power = Force x Distance/Time

Distance/Time = Velocity so

Power = Force x Velocity

I think the force can be calculated from the pressure after the turbine x the area of the turbine. Velocity is the velocity of the exhaust.
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