Definition
A type of gas turbine engine combustion section in which fuel is burned inside several individual cylindrical combustion chambers (called cans) arranged in a circle around the engine's main axis. Each can has its own fuel nozzle and inner liner, and the cans are interconnected by small flame-propagation tubes so that ignition in one or two cans spreads to all the others.
Plain English
Instead of one big chamber where fuel burns, the engine has a ring of small, separate burner tubes. Fuel is sprayed and lit in each tube, and the hot gases from all of them combine before flowing into the turbine.
Context Anchor
Seen in turbine engine systems, maintenance descriptions, and cutaway diagrams of older or certain small turbine engines.
Derivation
The word combustor comes from the Latin combustus, meaning 'burned up,' so a combustor is simply 'the burner.' Multiple-can describes the arrangement: several can-shaped chambers rather than one continuous ring. The 'can' name stuck because each chamber really does look like a metal can.
Why Pilots Care
Knowing the combustor type helps a pilot understand why turbine engines have specific start procedures, igniter locations, and hot-section inspection requirements. Multiple-can designs are mostly found on older turbine engines and APUs, so recognising the term often signals an older powerplant.
Analogy
Think of a gas stove with several small burners arranged in a circle, each lit individually but all feeding heat into the same pot above. That is closer to a multiple-can combustor than a single large fire pit.
Intuition Check
“Can” does not mean “is able to” here, and it does not mean an ordinary storage can. In a turbine engine, a can is one separate combustion chamber.
Example Sentence 1
The early turbojet used a multiple-can combustor with eight cans, each fitted with its own fuel nozzle.
Example Sentence 2
Early turbojet engines often used a multiple-can combustor because the individual cans were easier to build and replace.