Gas turbine engines are an important mechanism to fly airplanes. A gas turbine can be separated into 3 main sections, the compressor, the combustor, and the exhaust. The compressor uses many bladed disks, to increase the pressure of the air entering the turbine. The combustor burns fuel to increase the temperature of the air passing through. And finally, the exhaust stage, extracts energy from the hot and high-pressure air to power parts of the whole turbine and produce thrust. Thrust is the force that makes airplanes fly so fast, and by changing the design of the compressor stage and the bladed disks, the amount of thrust is produced can change. Which effects how efficient gas turbines engines are.
Disk Me Away TEK8 Student Handout
The student handout will be given to all students working on the design challenge. It gives a brief recap of the story, it helps the students identify what they are attempting to achieve, and it recaps the design process.
Disk Me Away TEK8 Facilitator Guide
This Instructor’s Guide provides the instructor additional information on how to run the design challenge with alternatives for materials and test setups as well as information to help make the design challenge a good educational experience.
The Telling the Story Video conveys the societal impact of the student’s research that is the basis for the design challenge and will set the problem-solving context for students.
The Design Challenge Video leads students through the design process. It indicates materials available, states what the criteria are for success and any constraints. It also gives a second ‘level’ of the design challenge that allows ‘early completers’ to move on to a slightly more difficult challenge.