Afterburner

[Bruno Ogorelec]

Take a look at Bruce's website:

http://aardvark.co.nz/pjet/masterindex.shtml

He has tried an afterburner on a Lockwood.

[Dave]

Does it do anything for thrust, or is it just a nice show?

[Mark]

With my 2.5 gallon piglet tank and pipe attached making it 3 feet long, it only breathes/gulps air from the tip of the tail, it will do the same if you hold a short length of auto muffler pipe in the exhaust flow. It conjures a substantial flame aft of the augmenter in the same fashion, whereas you normally would only see the engine flicker occasionally without it in the daytime.
It's interesting to watch run at night where the flares are more prominent. I shot an entire roll of film, but they didn't turn out the developer said and they didn't attempt to develop them, but there are one or two shots that you can make something out on the negatives, the glowing red tank and tongue of fire from the semi-eratic combustion. I should have left the aperture open some 15 or 20 seconds instead of 3-5 seconds. I will get these few negatives turned into pictures and post them soon I hope.
Mark

[Bruno Ogorelec]

Does it do anything for thrust, or is it just a nice show?

Well, Bruce is reserved about that. He says the jet kart that the thing is attached to is shaking much more than before, so presumably there is some effect on thrust, but it is impossible to say anything concrete before some thrust measurements are performed. Guess we'll have to wait for measurements before he makes claims.