Rolls-Royce Trent XWB

Trent XWB
A Trent XWB on an Airbus A350 prototype
Type Turbofan
Manufacturer Rolls-Royce plc
First run June 14, 2010[1]
Major applications Airbus A350 XWB
Developed from Rolls-Royce Trent 1000

The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is a series of turbofan jet engines developed from the Trent 1000. It is the latest engine of the Trent family, and is used exclusively for the Airbus A350 XWB.[2]

Design and development

By 2004 Airbus had been facing pressure from customers to develop a competitor to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, then in October 2005 formally launched a new aircraft designated the Airbus A350. Rolls-Royce initially offered a variant of the Trent 1000 engine, with a throttle-push to 75,000 lbf (330 kN) static thrust, which was dubbed the Trent 1700. Unlike the Trent 1000, the Trent 1700 would have been a conventional bleed-air engine.[3] and would have been developed in partnership with Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

After a review of the Airbus A350, Rolls-Royce reached an agreement to supply all versions of the aircraft with a brand-new engine variant, currently known as the Trent XWB.[4] This was originally announced with a static thrust range of 75,000–95,000 lbf (330–420 kN), but by September 2007 Airbus had revised their requirements down to 75,000–93,000 lbf (330–410 kN).[5] This was then revised again, and the engines for the largest A350 have been uprated to 97,000 lbf to meet new performance requirements, and better compete with the Boeing 777-300ER.

On 18 June 2007 Rolls-Royce announced that it had signed its biggest ever contract, with Qatar Airways, worth US$5.6 billion at list prices. This was for 80 Airbus A350 XWBs, powered by Trent XWB engines.[6] On 11 November 2007 another large contract was announced at the Dubai Airshow, with Emirates, for Trent XWBs to power 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000 aircraft, with a further 50 option rights. Due to be delivered from 2014, the Emirates order was potentially worth up to $8.4 billion at list prices, including options.[7] However, on 11 June 2014, Airbus announced that Emirates Airline had decided to cancel its order of 70 A350 XWB aircraft.[8] More than 1,400 engines had been sold by July 2014.[9]

MDS Aero began testing the XWB engine in the Aerotest facility for Rolls Royce.

The first engine test on a static test-bed was made on 14 June 2010,[10] and on 18 February 2012, Airbus announced that the Trent XWB had successfully made its maiden flight aboard Airbus’ dedicated Airbus A380 flying test bed.[11] Certification for the early engine variants was achieved in 2013,[12] and the first engine is expected to enter service in 2014.[13] The first flight of the Trent XWB powering the Airbus A350 XWB took place on 14 June 2013.[14]


On 15 May 2014 Rolls-Royce delivered the first production 84,000 lb-thrust Trent XWB engines intended for the first Airbus A350 XWB to enter service with Qatar Airways.[15] Final assembly of these production engines had started in February 2014.[16] On 15 July 2014 Rolls-Royce announced the first run of the Trent XWB-97 powerplant with 97,000 lb-thrust for the Airbus A350-1000.[9]

Variants

Trent XWB variants[17]
Designation Certified Take-off Rating
Trent XWB-75 1 October 2010 74,200 lbf (330 kN)
Trent XWB-79 1 October 2010 78,900 lbf (351 kN)
Trent XWB-79B 1 October 2010 78,900 lbf (351 kN)
Trent XWB-84 1 October 2010 84,200 lbf (375 kN)
Trent XWB-97 97,000 lbf (430 kN)

Specifications

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rolls-Royce Trent XWB.
  1. ↑ "PICTURE: A350's Trent XWB engine runs for first time". Flightglobal.com. 2010-06-18. Retrieved 2013-05-09.
  2. ↑ "Trent XWB". Rolls-Royce. Retrieved 2013-05-09.
  3. ↑ Kaminski-Morrow, David (6 October 2005). "Rolls-Royce to develop Trent 1700 for A350". Flight International
  4. ↑ "Farnborough: Airbus A350 powerplant race ignites as Rolls-Royce reaches agreement to supply Trent, Alliance confirms interest". Flight International]. 25 July 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
  5. ↑ Flat-rated to ISA+25C
  6. ↑ "Rolls-Royce inks biggest-ever sale". Flight Global. 19 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
  7. ↑ "Emirates places $8.4bn order for Rolls-Royce Trent XWB". Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  8. ↑ "Airbus and Emirates Airline agree to cancel A350 XWB order". Airbus. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Higher-thrust Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine runs for first time". www.rolls-royce.com. Rolls-Royce. 15 July 2014.
  10. ↑ Kaminski-Morrow, David (2010-06-18). "A350's Trent XWB engine runs for first time". Flight Global. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  11. ↑ Perry, Dominic (2012-02-18). "Trent XWB powerplant makes maiden sortie". Flight Global. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  12. ↑ "Trent XWB achieves important milestone with award of EASA type certification". Rolls-Royce. Retrieved 2013-05-09.
  13. ↑ "Airbus advances towards first flight of A350 twinjet". Flightglobal.com. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2013-05-09.
  14. ↑ "World's most fuel efficient engine powers first flight". www.rolls-royce.com. Rolls-Royce. 14 June 2013.
  15. ↑ "Rolls-Royce dispatches first Trent XWB for entry into service". www.rolls-royce.com. Rolls-Royce. 15 May 2014.
  16. ↑ "started final assembly of the first production Trent XWB". www.rolls-royce.com. Rolls-Royce. 10 February 2014.
  17. ↑ "Type-Certicate Data Sheet Trent XWB series engines" (pdf). European Aviation Safety Agency. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  18. ↑ "Airbus revises A350 Trent XWB thrust values following weight increases". Flight International. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-19.