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turbine territory
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[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by dave e</i> <br /><br />The hole in the bridge and roasted pigeons sound like urban legends to me. First, the exhaust wasn't THAT hot, the object of the game was to extract as much heat as possible from the fuel to spin the turbine. This is unlike a jet aircraft in which the useful energy comes out the back as thrust. Consider also the large steam locos were running at the same time, blasting the undersides of bridges. <br /> <br />I worked as a trainee engineer for GE, both at Erie when the 8500 hp were built and 3 months as service engineer at Omaha, NP and SLC. <br />[/quote] <br />Dave: <br />Young pigeons may have fallen to the heat of the exhaust, probably dead of shock from the heat, or grounded by singed feathers, but I am fairly sure veteran pigeons knew when to vacate, and when to relax. <br /> <br />Turbines are not driven by heat, turbines are driven by the force of the exhaust. <br />The trick of designing any (including auto units) turbine driven by combustion exhaust, is to design a system that can deal with the heat, which is in four figures, even in a piston engine turbine. <br />Efficient combustion produces two things, among others, greater output and greater heat; i.e. the reason the hottest part of any fire, is where the most efficient (complete) combustion is taking place. <br />I doubt a hole was "blown" , in the road, (yet, I was not there) but it proabably did melt the surface and caused fire at the hottest point, if it was a tar road. <br /> <br />I first heard the story from one who was involved in railroading, but that was a long time ago. <br /> <br />
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