PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Merged: Qantas 747 Engine failure. Returns to SFO
Old 2nd Sep 2010, 02:00
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Groaner
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
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skol is right.

Assuming the rpm is constant (maybe a big assumption), blade velocity increases linearly with radius. Energy is proportional to velocity-squared, so longer blades (fans) have energy increasing more than linearly with radius increasing.

Of course, this is oversimplified, longer blades (fans) often have much lower rpm than shorter ones (turbine blades)....
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