Bjorn’s Corner: Engine ratings

leehamnews.com/2015/10/02/bjorns-corner-engine-ratings/

October 2, 2015

02 October 2015, ©. Leeham Co: After the article about the role
of bypass ratio on a turbofan’s efficiency, we now look at other
aspects of civil turbofan engines that are worth some light. It’s
about how the engine OEMs create different versions of the
same engine to cater for different aircraft variants.

The aircraft OEMs create different size variants from the same
base model of aircraft by means of stretches. There is no better
example of that than the Boeing 737. Over the years it has had
more than 10 major versions. For the present in-service series, By Bjorn Fehrm

737NG, there is three official variants, from the -700 to the -

900ER. Originally it also had a smaller -600 variant.

These require engines from 20klbf to 27klbf. How this is achieved and what it means for
engine characteristics and reliability is the focus of today’s Corner. We will also compare it
to a typical long range engine, the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000/7000, which powers the Boeing
787 and Airbus A330neo.

Aircraft turbofans are real flexible engines. To cover the different size aircraft in the 737NG
or 787 range, the engine OEMs make one engine that they then adapt to the different
aircraft by simply spinning them more or less fast. This give them the different ratings the
aircraft OEM needs. The different ratings are achieved by rating plugs, which are inserted
into the engine’s control computer, the FADEC. The plug enables another version of the
engine by changing the look-up tables which governs how the FADEC controls the engine.

The engine’s thrust rating is measured on the engine’s Static Take-Off Thrust at Sea Level
and standard ISA temperature (15°C). For the 737NG series, it starts with operators
specifying the 20klbf version (CFM56-7B20) for the -600 and finishes with the -27klbf
version for -900ER (CFM56-7B27). For the 787, you would order a 64.5 klbf or 69.9klbf
Trent 1000-A for a 787-8 and the strongest version of 78.9klbf Trent-K for a 787-10.

The way the engines OEMs create the different variants is by injecting more and more fuel
into the combustor. This means the combustor temperatures increase and the fuel-air
mixture has higher temperatures when hitting the turbines. This means more horsepower
gets generated in the turbines, which drives the compressors and fan harder. The engine
spins faster, pumps more air through and thereby generates more thrust. Stretching an
engine like this is called “throttle push”.

There is, of course, a limit to how far this can be done and there are drawbacks for creating
stronger variants with throttle push. The hotter temperatures in the core (both compressors
and turbines get hotter at higher RPMs) will shorten the time-on-wing for the engine.

Whereas a 20, 22 or 24klbf CFM56-7Bs will stay on wing for the whole life of its Life Limited
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Parts (LLPs, the blades+ discs of compressors and turbine which need to be changed after
20,000-30,000 engine cycles), the higher rated versions, 26 and especially 27, will have to
be taken off for performance restoration repairs to the hot sections at about half time or
even less if the maximum take-off rating is used often, i.e. take-offs are made with little or
no thrust de-rate.

The result is that the maintenance costs for the higher rated engines are higher in addition
to a higher engine price from the engine OEM (engines are priced in proportion to thrust
rating).

The throttle push principle of raising the engine’s thrust means that the engine parameters
change for each thrust variant. The harder the core drives the fan the more dominant it gets
in the engine. The engine’s pressure ratio (PR) increases as the compressors spins faster
but its by-pass ratio (BPR) diminishes.

The 20klbf CFM56-7B20 has BPR of 5.5 versus 5.1 for the 27klbf CFM56-7B27 version.
Pressure ratio is going from 23 to 29 for the stronger version. As the engine spins faster it
generates higher compression ratios. For the Trent 1000, the values go from BPR 9.6 to 9
and PR 39 to 46 for the 64.5klbf engine to the 78.9klbf variant.

The fact that the values in a Turbofan vary with throttle position is very clear to see in this
GasTurb simulation I did for the Trent 1000:

It shows the engines working lines (engine parameter values at different throttle positions)
when a 787-8 cruises at FL350. A 787-8 then needs about 8 klbf-12klbf thrust per engine
dependent on cruise weight and altitude. At a cruise thrust of 10klbf, the BPR is at 11 (red
scale and curve) and the PR at 34, the burner exit temperature is at 1400 Kelvin and TSFC
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at 0.53 lb/lbf and hour. As can be seen, the values vary greatly with thrust and therefore
engine RPM.

Due to the thin air at FL350 weighing much less than at sea level (about a quarter of the
seal level weight) the engine needs to spin at around 90% of max RPM to generate the
10klbf cruise thrust. During decent the engine is throttled back to around 60% of max RPM
and the BPR raises to 15-20, PR is around 15. The engine can not be throttled back more
than around 60% as the compressors need to supply bleed air for the aircraft air condition
and de-ice, the engine’s compressors also have problems working reliably at still lower
RPM.

As can be seen from the above one shall always ask at what conditions an engine OEM
states his engine parameters.

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