Intermittent Afterburner Engagement Leading to Single Engine Landing in a Typical Bypass Military Aero Engine

Thrust of an aero engine is augmented with the help of afterburners which are useful during takeoff and tactical maneuvers. It provides higher thrust without increase in engine size and helps to take off with maximum weapon load. Failure of afterburner engagement influences takeoff and/or abandon mission requirements. The current case studies are deliberated with respect to a low bypass turbofan engine having a thrust to weight ratio of 8:1 with afterburner on. The ignition of afterburner is by hot streak method where fuel is supplied for a short duration of time into the gas stream of the core engine just upstream of the turbine. The paper highlights the ignition system and its problem during afterburner engagement leading to single engine landings in twin engine aircraft configuration. It also highlights importance of various systems during afterburning ignition and the deficiencies in fuel nozzles in its manufacturing and assembly configurations leading to intermittent afterburner engagement thus affecting the reliability of aircraft/aero engine operation.