Engine Alliance GP7000
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The Engine Alliance GP7000 (known as the GP7200 for a brief time period) is a new turbofan jet engine that will incorporate advanced technologies of proven wide-body products, originally from the world's No.1 and No.3 aero-engine manufacturers, GE Aircraft Engines (now GE Aviation) and Pratt & Whitney.
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[edit] Development
Originally intended to power Boeing Commercial Airplanes' cancelled 747X, the engine has since been pushed for Airbus' A380-800 superjumbo. It is built on the GE90 core and new fan and low-pressure system designs.
The competing Rolls-Royce Trent 900 was named as the lead engine for the then-named A3XX in 1996 and was initially selected by almost all A380 customers. However the GE/PW engine increased its share of the A380 engine market to the point where as of September 2007 it will power 47% of the super-jumbo fleet. This disparity in sales was resolved in a single transaction, with Emirates' order of 55 GP7000-powered A380-800s, comprising over one quarter of A380 sales (as of September 2007). Emirates has traditionally been a Rolls-Royce customer. A380 aircraft powered by the GP7000s will have A380-86X model numbers as 6 is the code for Engine Alliance engines.
Ground testing of the engine began in April 2004 and the engine was run for the first time on an A380 on August 14, 2006. [1] The American Federal Aviation Administration certified the engine for commercial operation on January 4, 2006. [2] On August 25, 2006, an A380-861 test aircraft (MSN 009) made the first flight of an Engine Alliance powered A380. The flight began and ended at Toulouse and lasted about four hours. Tests were performed on the engines flight envelope, cruise speed, and handling. A day earlier, the same aircraft performed rejected takeoff tests on the engines
[edit] Major customers
[edit] Specifications (GP7270)
General characteristics
- Type: two-spool high-bypass turbofan engine
- Length: 474 cm (187 in)
- Diameter: 316 cm (124 in), fan tip 295 cm (116 in)
- Dry weight: 6712 kg (14,798 lb)
Components
- Compressor: hollow-titanium, 24 swept wide-chord hollow titanium fan blades, by-pass ratio of 8.7:1; five-stage low-pressure axial compressor; nine-stage high-pressure axial compressor
- Combustors: low-emissions single annular combustor
- Turbine: two-stage high pressure turbine, boltless architecture, single crystal blades, split blade cooling and thermal barrier coatings, axial flow; six-stage low-pressure axial flow
Performance
- Power output:
- Overall pressure ratio: 43.9
- Thrust-to-weight ratio: 4.73 (assuming 17,230 lbf weight of engine and 81,500 lbf of thrust)
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Approximative unit cost: $13.5 million (2006 USD)
Sources
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official site, Engine Alliance
- Official site, GE-Aviation
- Official site, Pratt & Whitney
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