How are the four strokes of a reciprocating engine analogous to turbine engine sections?

How are the four strokes of a reciprocating engine analogous to turbine engine sections?

• A. Intake equals air inlet, compression equals compressor, ignition and power equals combustion and turbine, exhaust equals exhaust.
• B. Intake equals air inlet, compression equals combustion, ignition equals turbine, exhaust equals exhaust.
• C. Intake equals exhaust, compression equals turbine, ignition and power equals combustion and air intake, exhaust equals exhaust.
• D. Intake equals air inlet, compression equals compressor, ignition and power equals combustion and turbine, exhaust equals turbine.

Answer: (B)

Understand how energy moves through the engine. In a four-stroke reciprocating engine, each stroke has a corresponding job that mirrors a section of a turbine engine: bringing in working air, increasing its pressure, adding energy to produce work, and expelling the spent gases. The intake stroke is about drawing air into the engine, which is like the air inlet in a turbine engine that brings ambient air into the system. The compression stroke raises the pressure of that air, just as the compressor does in a turbine engine. For the power stroke, the energy comes from combustion pushing the piston; in a turbine engine, the combustor adds heat and energy to the gas, and the turbine extracts energy from that hot gas to drive the compressor and produce thrust. Finally, the exhaust stroke clears the burnt gases from the cylinder, analogous to the exhaust section of a turbine engine that removes the spent combustion products. So the best-fit mapping is: intake to air inlet, compression to compressor, ignition and power to combustion and turbine, and exhaust to exhaust.

Understand how energy moves through the engine. In a four-stroke reciprocating engine, each stroke has a corresponding job that mirrors a section of a turbine engine: bringing in working air, increasing its pressure, adding energy to produce work, and expelling the spent gases.

The intake stroke is about drawing air into the engine, which is like the air inlet in a turbine engine that brings ambient air into the system. The compression stroke raises the pressure of that air, just as the compressor does in a turbine engine. For the power stroke, the energy comes from combustion pushing the piston; in a turbine engine, the combustor adds heat and energy to the gas, and the turbine extracts energy from that hot gas to drive the compressor and produce thrust. Finally, the exhaust stroke clears the burnt gases from the cylinder, analogous to the exhaust section of a turbine engine that removes the spent combustion products.

So the best-fit mapping is: intake to air inlet, compression to compressor, ignition and power to combustion and turbine, and exhaust to exhaust.