Thermal efficiency is a measure of how well an engine or a system converts the heat energy from fuel into useful work. For aircraft like the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, thermal efficiency is a critical factor in evaluating the overall performance of the propulsion system.
For the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, which was equipped with a turbojet engine, the specific values for these parameters would need to be obtained from the engine performance data or specifications provided by Lockheed or the engine manufacturer.
The thermal efficiency is expressed mathematically as:
where:
- is the thermal efficiency,
- is the thrust produced by the engine,
- is the jet velocity,
- ṁf is the mass flow rate of fuel,
- is the specific enthalpy of the fuel.