Engine Alliance GP7000

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.

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. [ [http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/08/15/Navigation/177/208485/Picture+Airbus+begins+engine+runs+on+Engine+Alliance+GP7200-powered+A380+in.html Picture: Airbus begins engine runs on Engine Alliance GP7200-powered A380 in Toulouse-15/08/2006-London-Flightglobal.com ] ] The American Federal Aviation Administration certified the engine for commercial operation on January 4, 2006. [ [http://www.enginealliance.com/release010506.html Engine Alliance GP7200 Achieves FAA Certification] ] 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

Major customers

* Emirates
* Air France
* International Lease Finance Corporation
* Korean Air

pecifications (GP7270)

jetspecs

type = two-spool high-bypass turbofan engine
length = 474 cm (186 in)
diameter = 316 cm (124 in), fan tip 295 cm (116 in)
weight = 6712 kg (14,798 lb)
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
combustion = 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
fueltype =
oilsystem =
compression = 43.9
aircon = 900 to 1,200 kg/sec (2,000 to 2,600 lb/sec)
fuelcon =
specfuelcon =
thrust=
*36,980 kgf, 363 kN, 81,500 lbf
thrust/weight = 4.73 (assuming 17,230 lbf weight of engine and 81,500 lbf of thrust)

Miscellaneous

*Approximative unit cost: $13.5 million (2006 USD)

Sources
* [http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgMakeModel.nsf/0/114398eac7af8d93862570fc00591557/$FILE/E00072EN.pdf FAA certificate data sheet]

References

External links

* [http://www.enginealliance.com/gpintro.html Official site] , Engine Alliance
* [http://www.geaviation.com/engines/commercial/gp7000/ Official site] , GE-Aviation
* [http://www.pw.utc.com/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextrefresh=1&vgnextoid=dfc4e64a5d7db010VgnVCM1000000881000aRCRD Official site] , Pratt & Whitney