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by icegreentea2 48 days ago
This might be interesting: https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/23490/chapter/6

Thermodynamic efficiency (which is what turbine blades enable) has increased from ~30 to 55% over the last 50-60 years. The book estimates that the practical limit of for thermodynamic efficiency is in the 65-70% range.

2 comments

Is there a curve for how much an efficiency gain translate in max distance?
From https://web.mit.edu/16.unified/www/FALL/thermodynamics/notes...

All other things equal, range varies proportionately with efficiency. Ie, if you have 500km range at 50% overall efficiency, then at 65% overall efficiency, you have 650km range.

Great resource, thanks.