1950s Pratt & Whitney nuclear steam-turbine ducted blower aircraft engine

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mvdmitri

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In early 1950s Pratt and Whitney was working on supercritical water ducted blower aircraft engine.
410 MW thermal energy source was heating highly pressurized water to 1000F.
Here is the description of this engine from Aviation Week , December 19, 1960.

2.98 m low pressure air compressor/blower was driven by 49100 hp 20000 rpm steam turbine via 1/9.5 gearbox. Water pump was driven by a separate 7930 hp steam turbine. Exhaust steam was condensing in radiator heating compressed air to 385F. At sea level at 59F two engine aircraft was designed to fly at 685mph or Mach 0.9. Thrust of each engine at these conditions was 28257 lbs.
There were also some theoretical engineering papers on steam turbine turboprops, turbojets/turbofans, and air cushion vehicles.

An Analysis of a Nuclear Powered Supercritical-Water Cycle for Aircraft Propulsion​


REVIEW OF THE STATUS OF SUPERCRITICAL WATER REACTOR TECHNOLOGY​




Calculated condenser performance for a steam turbine power plant for aircraft (5000 hp steam turbine turboprop cooling)​





Investigation of a Sodium Vapor Compressor Jet for Nuclear Propulsion of Aircraft -Supersonic speed 1000 mph at 40000 ft​



Steam cycle analysis for nuclear powered turbofan engine - steam turbine driven bypass turbofan engine designed for flight speed 0.8 Mach.

A steam cycle for aircraft nuclear propulsion - NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steam cycle analysis for nuclear powered turbofan engine
hdl.handle.net hdl.handle.net


Project of the giant fast air cushion vehicle with 14x6500 hp lift steam turbine air blowers and 8x35000 hp steam turbofans.





Steam turbine jet aircraft.jpg
 
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Besler company was working on 4x200 hp steam engines STOL aircraft in early 1950s:


Test results were not very good. Engine efficiency was below 10%, less than promised 16-20%. Engine had to work at lower temperatures because of the problems with high pressure piston/cylinder lubrication. The powerplant was finally installed into a sea boat.

In 1930s in Soviet Union several R&D organisations were attempting to build steam turbine powerplants for the Tupolev TB-3 and TB-4 aircrafts.
There were 2x1500(1800) hp up and 2x3000(3600) hp poweplants designed. Weight was 3600 kg and 9000 kg for the complete system.
The compact lightweight steam turbines and steam generators were successfully built.
But steam condensation was not achieved. Condenser size, weight and power of the cooling fans was so large that aircraft could not take off.
The test of the 1500 hp steam powerplant in 1937 achieved only 800 hp at take off setting.

 
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There are many papers describing Pratt and Whitney's 1950s attempt to build first steam turbine ducted blower motorjet and later indirect cycle liquid metal turbojets and turboprops.

Steam turbojets and turbofans design work is described in papers PWAC #1-116


Hilbert Schenck, one of the engineers who was designing steam condensers for the ducted blower engine, wrote in 1988 a sci fiction book " Steam Bird", in which he briefly described the design and operation of such aircraft with ten steam turbofans.
 

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Another possible application for the steam Rankine cycle was a heavy lift helicopter or vtol aircraft.
Potassium and mercury vapor, and organic Rankine cycles using fossil fuel or fission energy were applied to three different size helicopters - 2x500hp, 2x1500hp and 2x10000hp. Vapor condensers were installed in downwash air flow from the main rotor:

 
The only working model of the steam turbine ducted blower motorjet was built and tested in 1997:

Patent GB2334556A
Turbojet with steam turbine


"Abstract
The Thermo Induction Turbojet operates by drawing in air and compressing it in an axial flow compressor 1. Front here it is passed into combustion chamber 6 where it is mixed with fuel from nozzles 5 and burnt. The rapidly expanding hot gases pass around convoluted water tube 10 and over encased steam turbine 3, exiting through jet nozzle 12. Water supplied from pump 8 is force circulated through water tube 10. This cools the combustion chamber and produces high pressure steam. The steam is fed via nozzles 11 to steam turbine 3, thus rapidly rotating it, the connecting shaft 2 and compressor 1. Exhausted steam exits the turbine via ducts 13 and manifold 14. From here it travels via pipe 15 to a suitable condenser in the front of the engine. Condensed water is recirculated via pump 8."

View: https://youtu.be/cLhvpWdq5rk



Patent US4333309A
Steam assisted gas turbine engine


"Abstract
A gas turbine engine is disclosed which has an integral steam power system consisting of heat absorbing boilers which convert an unpressurized liquid into an expanded and heated steam by utilizing heat normally lost through component cooling systems and the exhaust system. Upon completion of the steam power cycle, the steam is condensed back to a liquid state through a condensing system located within the compressor and other functional components of the gas turbine engine. A system of high pressure air and friction seals restrict steam or liquid condensate within designed flow bounds. The gas turbine engine disclosed is designed to give improved fuel efficiency and economy for aircraft and land use applications."


These ideas are are not new.
Campini was originally working on such powerplant in 1930s:

Caproni-Campini C.C.2 – das zweite Strahlflugzeug der Welt | FliegerRevue X

www.fliegerrevuex.aero www.fliegerrevuex.aero

There was experimental installation in 1942:




''News has now reached us that the Breguet Aircraft works at Toulouse is building an experimental jet-propelled machine to the designs of R.Leduc.This French engineer is well known for his work in connection with the problem of jet propulsion.As reported in the fourth article on the subject appearing in the October 9th, 1941, issue of Flight, Leduc patented a thermal jet system in the year 1933.' According to Inter Avia, the new experimental type is basically similar in principle to the Caproni-Campini machine, but with one important exception.Whereas the Italian craft uses a standard type of air-cooled radial engine to drive the air compressor unit, Leduc employs a steam turbine of the VUIA type for this purpose running at 3,000 r.p.m.under a steam pressure of 1,910 lb.per sq.in., the turbine is estimated to develop 1,200 h.p. Experiments, presumably on the test bed, are claimed to have given satisfactory results.No details are yet available, however, of either the boiler or the necessary condenser plant.Obviously, the steam system would have to operate on a closed cycle.Condensing raises further problems which are not easy of solution in an aircraft instal-lation.The condenser would, most likely be placed in the main air stream so that heat transferred from the steam would be usefully absorbed for the propulsive jet.The development of a jet-propelled aircraft employing such a system will be watched with intense interest by designers throughout the world.''
 
I understand my comment may be badly received but, just how irresponsible is this idea of nuclear powered aircraft? IMHO, we have sufficient damage done by the aircraft dropped already, a nuclear aircraft being dropped, possibly in a high density population area. I used to live right under the Heathrow east/west landing approach with aircraft a few hundred feet above us. A nuclear powered aircraft down there would be a real disaster not worth contemplating.
 
Logistics, logistics, logistics...

When MAD meant keeping a fleet of nuke-armed bombers circling above eg Arctic Circle, ready to 'go for broke', sorta made sense. The support fleets of 'flying tankers' were a nightmare in themselves...

But, like the apocalyptic 'Project PLUTO' cruise-missile, with its hyper-dirty nuclear-powered ramjet, creatures of their time...

Thankfully, lonnng loiter times suit subs better than aircraft, and few surface ships smaller than fleet air-craft carriers can justify the fuss...

Yes, nuclear-powered ice-breakers are another, logical niche application.

Although not under an approach path, I'm beneath an Atlantic fly-way, plus 'go-arounds' for both a regional airport and Airbus Beluga. Thankfully, we do not get 'falls' of wingy-bits, 'Blue Ice' or wheel-well corpsicles.

The proposed modular mini-reactors for distributed utility power may provide other options. Big enough aircraft seem unlikely, but 'lighter than air' heavy-cargo carriers offer possibilities. The waste heat is a bonus, propulsion would be benign electric fans. IIRC, modules are light enough that they shade into MilSpec LAV parachute delivery, for possible safe ejection...

Okay, okay, would need 'special handling', but 'Little League' compared to eg the Russian spy satellite which scattered its reactor core across Arctic Canada, or the 1966 Palomares B-52 incident. IIRC, there are still several 'missing' nukes which found sufficiently soft ground along US East Coast to bury themselves beyond location...
 
mvdmitri said:
Besler company was working on 4x200 hp steam engines STOL aircraft in early 1950s:
Click to expand...
https://aerovision.org/avant-lavion-solaire-lavion-a-vapeur/ Before the solar plane, the ... steam plane


Solar Impulse 2made his trip aroundof the world. If he'squite unlikely While this type of energy could one day be found on commercial flights, the idea of an alternative energy to gasoline on airplanes is not new. Starting with theveryTravelAirthe Besler brothers' steam plane just over 80 years ago.
Born in 19ecentury,Aviation has not escaped the rule of a century whose industrial revolutions relied on the use of two major energies long before oil: steam and then electricity. Fairly quickly, the technical progress made in internal combustion engines made steam obsolete in aviation: not powerful enough, too much fuel-intensive.
But there you are… there are stubborn engineers, in 1933 in Oakland California US two brothers, William and Georges Besler, struggle to tamper with a Travel Air 2000, a rather nervous biplane intended for sport flying. Their goal ? Remove the gasoline engine from the traditional model and replace it with theirs. The eldest, Georges, is a geologist and William the youngest is a young mechanical engineer. For the past three years, the two brothers have been working in secret on a steam engine project they started building in a mechanic's back room. A beautiful baby with V-cylinders, 250 kilos of metal capable of developing a power of 150 horsepower, powered by a vertical water pump, provided with a feed water heater and two condensers located on either side other of the fuselage and interconnected by pipes. The boiler was controlled automatically. The steam temperature was maintained at 400 ° C by injecting water into the superheated steam.

One fine April morning, William took a risk and climbed into the cabin in front of a few curious people. We start the machine which rises in temperature in a few minutes, the steam circulates in the engine pipes. Under the amused gaze of a few other pilots who will remain stunned, the plane rolls down the runway and takes off without any problem, followed by a thin vapor trail. The first,and the only one,history's steam-powered plane had just left the ground. The most striking? The impressive silence, barely disturbed by the slight hiss of the propeller. From the ground, the spectators hear the young engineer shout at them "Hello»The movement of
turbines is so quiet that Besler will claim to have heard the spectators answer him. Besler made two turns over the airfield at a speed of about 170 km / h. The commands respond perfectly.
Besler thus flew for 5 minutes without encountering any problem before landing at the end of a final turn with great flexibility and still quietly. Better still, the steam engine allows it to stall the propeller before turning it in the opposite direction: while touching the ground at around 75 km / h, the TravelAir brakes in barely thirty meters.
In the press, the news spread like wildfire. We point out the absence of vibrations which avoids mechanical fatigue, we emphasize the interest of these silent flights for military purposes, we praise an economic mechanism that prevents any risk of fire on board, in short: we get carried away: "Steam has finally triumphed in the air"Writes an aviation journal; "the success of the Oakland flights proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that steam is destined to play a major role in the history of aviation.The two brothers’s other demonstration flights over the next few days only added to the general enthusiasm. Enthusiasm that the Besler brothers themselves will quickly temper. It’s not so much the flight that interests them but their engine, of which they have high hopes. Flying an airplane is above all a spectacular way of demonstrating its capabilities: lightness, power, energy performance… In short, marketing; the Besler brothers never believed in the development of industrial-scale steam planes, let alone the possibility of carrying passengers in such planes. Above all, the Beslers wanted to show that the steam had not said its last word. From this moment they will devote themselves to the development of other vehicles, in particular steam locomotives for urban trams which operated until the 1960s.


 
Michel Van said:
I try to access some of PDF but:

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/051752.pdf
This document is not available in digital form.

http://www.flyingkettle.com/jvfiles/bes1958.pdf
http://www.flyingkettle.com/jvfiles/bes1958p2.pdf
http://www.flyingkettle.com/jvfiles/bespix.zip
Ending up on page that say "Uncategorised"

https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1942/1942%20-%200918.PDF#navpanes=0&scrollbar=0&page=1&view=FitH,0
The page you're looking for cannot be found.
Click to expand...
A STEAM POWERPLANT FOR AN AIRPLANE EQUIPPED WITH BOUNDARY-LAYER CONTROL by William J. Besler and Stanley J. Whitlock of the Besler Corporation
https://web.archive.org/web/20210105201151/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/051752.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20040711140912/http://www.flyingkettle.com/jvfiles/bes1958.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20040907074640/http://www.flyingkettle.com/jvfiles/bes1958p2.pdf
 
mvdmitri said:
Hilbert Schenck, one of the engineers who was designing steam condensers for the ducted blower engine, wrote in 1988 a sci fiction book " Steam Bird", in which he briefly described the design and operation of such aircraft with ten steam turbofans.
Click to expand...
Last of the Air Wonder Stories...after a fashion...
 

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