Designing & Building a Functional Jet Engine

For my International Baccalaureate Personal Project, I challenged myself to design and build a functional jet engine from the ground up. With no kit or pre-made design to follow, I used CAD software to develop my engine and moved directly from design into hands-on fabrication and testing.

The process involved a lot of trial and error. Fuel delivery, airflow, and reed alignment became some of my biggest challenges, and several early tests failed. Each failure gave me new information. I analyzed what went wrong, modified the design, rebuilt components, and tested again.

Eventually, the engine successfully ran.

More important than the final result was what I learned through the process: engineering is rarely about getting something right the first time. It is about designing, testing, failing, adapting, and continuing to solve the problem.

This project strengthened my skills in CAD design, fabrication, mechanical systems, critical thinking, and independent problem-solving, while giving me the opportunity to explore my growing interest in aerospace engineering.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

✦ Designed the engine using CAD software
✦ Fabricated and assembled the system from the ground up
✦ Troubleshot fuel, airflow, and reed-alignment challenges
✦ Conducted multiple rounds of testing and redesign
✦ Successfully achieved a functioning engine
✦ Developed a deeper understanding of the engineering design process