Concorde Designing the Dream Programme
Just to add a bit to what Buster wrote - that's the case for pretty much any aircraft designed to cruise supersonic - you get most of the thrust from the pressure distribution over the inlet and exhaust. The engine is mainly there to create and maintain the airflow, it's direct contribution to the net thrust is secondary. The SR-71 was another example - IIRC something like 85-90% of the thrust at Mach 3 was from the inlet and exhaust.
Yet another really clever part of the whole design. You have to slow the air down so they used con/di intake doors or ramps. Obviously the faster you fly the bigger the impact of bernoulli effect. Just as clever was the use of the exhaust nozzle constantly moving to keep the LP Compressor at its optimum speed (NL root theta) as well as using the thrust reverser buckets to utilise the exhaust pressure recovery. That is why the aircraft could cruise @ Mach 2 without reheat. We always think that later generations are more clever but clearly without any computers they were seriously brilliant.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 78
Posts: 104
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The second part shown this evening, 11th Dec, had many revealing anecdotes. To see the factors contributing to the fatal crash, was quite shocking. What a tragic loss.
On Flight Global:-
ANALYSIS: Fifty years since the iconic Concorde's roll-out
Snip:-
ANALYSIS: Fifty years since the iconic Concorde's roll-out
Snip:-
Half a century ago this week, a dart-like airliner that promised to revolutionise the air-transport industry broke cover in Toulouse.
And the state-of-the-art machine that emerged would henceforth be referred to universally with the French spelling of its name – Concorde. Although it would not go on to the revolutionise the industry – that task fell to the its peer, the Boeing 747 –the Anglo-French supersonic transport captivated the public’s imagination throughout the world, thanks to its aesthetic design and eye-watering performance. Its beauty, combined with a passenger clientele that usually comprised business leaders, politicians and showbiz types, created a mystic-like image among the general public.
And the state-of-the-art machine that emerged would henceforth be referred to universally with the French spelling of its name – Concorde. Although it would not go on to the revolutionise the industry – that task fell to the its peer, the Boeing 747 –the Anglo-French supersonic transport captivated the public’s imagination throughout the world, thanks to its aesthetic design and eye-watering performance. Its beauty, combined with a passenger clientele that usually comprised business leaders, politicians and showbiz types, created a mystic-like image among the general public.
