Solutions to present and future energy shortages will rely increasingly on improved designs of high-efficiency turbomachinery, from the steam and gas turbines in solar-energy "power tower" systems to the promising gas-turbine engines made largely from nonmetallic ceramic and "carbon-carbon" materials. This comprehensive text makes available to students and practicing engineers methods for the design of such machines with configurations that are close to the optimum possible for the duty specified.

An introductory chapter outlines aims, defines terms and turbomachinery parts, and compares the characteristics and power ranges of gas turbines with other kinds of engines. A review of the basic principles of thermodynamics and efficiency definitions is provided in the second chapter. The rest of the book deals with the analysis and design of actual turbomachinery configurations and gas turbines, based on a consistent' application of thermodynamic theory and a more empirical treatment of fluid mechanics, one that relies on the extensive use of design charts.

The topics covered in the book's final eleven chapters are the thermodynamics of gas-turbine power cycles, diffusion and diffusers, energy transfer in turbomachines, the analysis and design of three-dimensional free-stream flow, the design and performance prediction of axial-flow turbines, the design and performance prediction of axialflow compressors and pumps, preliminary design methods for radial-flow turbomachines, convective heat transfer (including blade cooling and heat-exchanger design considerations), cavitation and two-phase flow in pumps, combustion systems and combustion calculations, and mechanical-design considerations (including vibration characteristics and material selection).

David Gordon Wilson is a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, where he teaches advanced graduate and professional summer courses on turbomachinery and gas turbines.