The Effects of Scaling on the Design and Performance of the Brayton-Gluhareff Cycle Pressure Jet Engine

摘要

Sometime in the 1950s while experimenting with tip-mounted ramjet engines, Eugene M. Gluhareff built the first working pressure jet engine, a variation on the classical ramjet engine that uses an acoustically-pressurized inlet system to boost the chamber pressure at static conditions to produce efficient thrust. Despite successful development and varied applications, Gluhareff himself never published his design methods nor any extensive information on the engines except what was necessary to sell his design. This study has compiled much of the limited data available on Gluhareff s engines and attempted to reverse engineer as many of its design principles as possible. It details what is known about the engine's design and operation and works to match scaling trends with injector sizing. All sizing trends with the exception of thrust force were found to have reasonably good linear trends as represented by R-squared values. This study concludes with a discussion of past applications of the engine and the potential for future study of the pressure jet and its design principles.