General Electric has completed tests of the XTE77/SE2 advanced technology demonstrator engine, which it says validates critical technologies for the F414 Enhanced Durability Engine (EDE) aimed at growth versions of platforms including the Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin A-50 and Saab Gripen.
The engine was also the last GE-built demonstrator to run under the US government and industry's Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine Technology (IHPTET) programme, which began in 1988. Since succeeded by the Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines programme, the effort aimed to more than double turbine engine power-to-weight ratio and reduce specific fuel consumption by 40% over late 1980s-standard engines.
The XTE77/SE2 was used to demonstrate an advanced two-stage, all-blisk (blade and disk) fan and new high-pressure turbine (HPT) design, says GE. "The engine ran to 100% of maximum steady core speed and successfully completed all programme objectives during more than 20h of testing."
In a design similar to its much larger new commercial counterpart, the GEnx, the demonstrator's fan design incorporates three-dimensional-aerodynamic forward-swept aerofoil technology, which GE says provides about 10% higher airflow. The recently completed work builds on rig tests completed in 2005 to verify an advanced, six-stage compressor configuration.
The higher power of the F414 EDE is being offered by GE as a way of either increasing thrust by up to 20% over the current F414-400 engine, or offering "up to three times the life of today's hot section at current thrust levels". Partly funded by the US Navy, the ongoing demonstrator programme also includes research into high-cycle-fatigue reduction technologies, and foreign object damage-tolerant fan and compressor aerofoil designs.
"GE is working with the USN to plan the next phases of testing, which are aimed at further performance and durability improvements through application of next-generation aero and HPT cooling schemes, advanced materials and low-emissions technologies," says the company.
The F414 EDE is likely to compete for future combat aircraft opportunities with the Volvo Aero RM12++ project, as well as potential growth versions of the Eurojet EJ200 and Snecma M88-2. Pratt & Whitney has also studied an IHPTET-derived engine, dubbed the PW7000. This is based on its XTE/XTC-66 demonstrator originally sized as a drop-in replacement for the F414, more than 650 of which have now been delivered for the USN's Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.
Source: Flight International
