Nuclear-Powered Flight. Chapter 3: Preliminary Design of Long-Range Pilotless Airplanes

Abstract

In designing jet propulsion engines using nuclear energy, three sets of design condition must be met simultaneously. These are 1) conditions under which a nuclear energy reactor will operate, 2) conditions imposed by the design of the jet engine and finally, 3) conditions arising from the considerations of properties of materials. It is easy to meet any two sets of requirements but difficult to meet all three simultaneously. For example, a nuclear energy rocker or a ram-jet would be easy if materials were available with melting points of 10,000 degrees C. In the case of the rocket it appears that these three sets of conditions are probably not mutually exclusive but they may be for the ram-jet. In the turbo-jet, however, the design limitations of the engine appear to be relatively easy to meet.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 14, 1947
Accession Number
AD1185490

Entities

People

  • A. C. Beer
  • E. A. Bonney
  • R. B. Roberts

Organizations

  • Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Current Density
  • Energy
  • Energy Transfer
  • Engines
  • Equations
  • Jet Engines
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Materials
  • Melting Point
  • Nuclear Energy
  • Propellers
  • Specific Heat
  • Turbines
  • Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.
  • Strategic Security Studies