This is probably the most familiar example of the modern gas turbine.

Gas turbines have made a big impact on aircraft design. The gas turbine engine has almost completely replaced the reciprocating engine for aircraft propulsion.

Jet engines derive thrust by ejecting the products of combustion in a jet. In simplest terms, a jet engine ingests air, heats it, and ejects it at high speed.

Because its basic design employs rotating rather than reciprocating parts, a jet engine is far simpler than a reciprocating engine of equivalent power, weighs less, is more reliable, requires less maintenance, and has a far greater potential for generating power. It does, however, consumes fuel at a faster rate. Some of the specific aeronautical variations on the simplest gas turbine are: turbofan, turboprop, propfan, rocket, ramjet and scramjet.

When you’re talking about burning a liquid or gaseous fuel to generate electricity, gas turbines are the prime mover of choice.

At sufficiently large sizes, gas turbines are cheaper, lighter and more efficient than steam turbines or engines.

Furthermore, they require less space and can be quickly brought into operation. They do not require elaborate foundations and can be dropped on a simple concrete pad. In a matter of weeks, a gas turbine can be delivered, hooked up to the grid and a fuel source, and be in operation.

On a day-to-day basis, gas turbines can be started and operational in a matter of minutes, whereas steam turbines (and their associated equipment) can take hours to start-up. For these reasons, gas turbines have found a niche in the medium sized, ‘peak’ generating stations – power plants that are turned on and operated intermittently during periods of high demand.

Gas turbines can be found in a number of industrial processes.

One of the more common applications is driving the compressors used on natural gas pipelines. These units are often automated so that only occasional on-site supervision is required.

Small portable gas turbines with centrifugal compressors have also been used to operate pumps. They can be found in oil refineries as part of the Houdry process (where pressurized air, passing over a catalyst burns off accumulated carbon).

Because gas turbines can deliver a lot of power (up to 20,000 horsepower) while remaining lightweight and compact, they have been incorporated into the designs of many types of ships by the world’s navies. They are also used in merchant ships.

Gas turbines have been tested in locomotives and automobiles. In spite of their small size and weight compared to their power output, they have not been wildly successful because they are inefficient at partial loads (or idling), and have low thermal efficiencies.