Russia's answer to the latest turbofan engines for single-aisle aircraft from CFM International and Pratt & Whitney was on public display for the first time at the MAKS air show.
Engine manufacturer Aviadvigatel unveiled the technology demonstrator - bearing serial number 100-01 - of the PD-14, the proposed alternate powerplant for Irkut's in-development MC-21 narrowbody.
Although Aviadvigatel has previously displayed scaled mock-ups of the engine, the MAKS show marks the first time the manufacturer has shown off the real example of Russia's latest engine technology.
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The engine was displayed with a 1.9m (75in)-diameter inlet fan composed of 18 blades made from a titanium alloy. The fan diameter provides a bypass ratio of 8.5:1, which is significantly larger compared with previous Russian engines, but still slightly below the 10:1 bypass ratio achieved by the CFM Leap-1A or the 12:1 ratio of Pratt & Whitney's PW1400G.
The latter is the baseline engine selected by Irkut to power the MC-21 at service entry in 2017, but the PD-14 is being pursued as an indigenous option.
Aviadvigatel acknowledges the PD-14 would also provide a new core that could be developed into an engine it calls the PD-18R, which would feature a fan-drive gear system similar to the PW1400G.
Although the PD-14 display at MAKS revealed that Aviadvigatel has not yet adopted CFM's composite fan blade technology, the Russian manufacturer is catching up in other ways.
The first-stage high-pressure turbine of the Russian engine was shown with 3D aerodynamic shaping and advanced interior cooling channels, which are hallmarks of all modern Western engine designs.
Source: Flight International
