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Aviation glossary

Combustor

Also: combustion chamber, burner, annular combustor

Engines

Section of a turbine engine where compressed air is mixed with fuel and burnt continuously, producing the hot gases that drive the turbine.

What it is

Air leaves the compressor and enters the combustor at high pressure. Fuel injectors atomise the kerosene and the mixture burns continuously; once the engine is running, the flame sustains itself. Only part of the air takes part directly in combustion: the rest surrounds the flame and cools the walls, because the gases reach temperatures above the melting point of the metals the combustor is made from.

Modern engines almost always use annular combustors, a single ring around the shaft, which are more compact and lighter than the separate can-type chambers of early jets. Combustor design has a major effect on emissions: better mixing of air and fuel and closer control of flame temperature reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx), as in the lean-burn combustors of the GEnx and the CFM LEAP.

On Vuelopedia

GE Aerospace CFM International

Related terms

CompressorSection of a turbine engine that raises the pressure of incoming air through successive rows of rotating blades and fixed vanes before it reaches the combustor. TurbineSet of bladed wheels that extracts energy from the hot combustion gases to drive the engine's compressor, fan or propeller. Engine coreCentral part of a turbofan, essentially the high-pressure compressor, combustor and high-pressure turbine, through which the air that is burnt passes. Jet fuelPetroleum-based fuel used by the turbine engines of civil aircraft; the most common grades are Jet A-1 and, in the United States, Jet A. SAFJet fuel made from renewable or waste sources that can be blended with conventional kerosene and reduces carbon dioxide emissions over its life cycle.
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Combustor. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/combustor

MLA

“Combustor.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/combustor. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Combustor.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/combustor.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Combustor. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/combustor (Accessed: 17 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_combustor,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Combustor}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/combustor},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/combustor}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-17},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/combustor |title=Combustor |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}

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