Fundamentals Of Turbomachinery By William W Peng -

This is the heart of the book, covering specific hardware:

Most textbooks present this equation as an intimidating formula. Peng introduces it via a thought experiment: Imagine a swirling flow entering a rotor. How does the change in angular momentum create torque? He then derives: [ W = \dotm (V_u2 u_2 - V_u1 u_1) ] Where ( W ) is power, ( \dotm ) is mass flow, ( V_u ) is tangential velocity, and ( u ) is blade speed. Peng’s genius is in the 20 pages of worked examples showing how to measure ( V_u ) using velocity triangles. Fundamentals Of Turbomachinery By William W Peng

This textbook is not for absolute beginners in physics. A prior course in fluid mechanics (covering Bernoulli, viscosity, and boundary layers) is highly recommended. However, within that constraint, the book serves three distinct audiences: This is the heart of the book, covering

This is where Peng’s book excels. He teaches a 5-step method to draw any velocity triangle: This is where Peng’s book excels

The book contains over 50 practice problems specifically on triangles, ensuring the reader builds muscle memory.

For aerospace students, this is gold. Peng explains surge and rotating stall—the two killers of jet engines and industrial compressors. He uses a simple spring-mass analogy to explain why surge is a system-level instability. The chapter concludes with surge avoidance techniques: bleed valves, variable inlet guide vanes, and active control.

Real machines rarely operate at the “design point.” Peng explores cavitation (the formation of vapor bubbles in pumps), surge and stall (dangerous instabilities in compressors), and matching (how a turbine and compressor work together in a gas turbine engine).