1. A turbine drives air to the burner; SYN. turbojet engine, turbofan, turbofan engine.
2. Airplane powered by a turbojet engine; SYN. turboprop.
Jet engine that derives its thrust from a jet of hot exhaust gases. Pure turbojets can be very powerful but use a lot of fuel.
A single-shaft turbojet consists of a shaft (rotor) rotating in a casing. At the front is a multiblade compressor, which takes in and compresses air and delivers it to one or more combustion chambers. Fuel (kerosene) is then sprayed in and ignited. The hot gases expand through a nozzle at the rear of the engine after spinning a turbine. The turbine drives the compressor. Reaction to the backward stream of gases produces a forward propulsive thrust.