ESS-38-93

Rolls Royce Civil Turbofan Engines

Godbless Enenifa
Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, United Kingdom, Godbless.Enenifa@cranfield.ac.uk
@cranfield.ac.uk

Abstract

This study of Roll Royce civil turbofan engines covers a full descriptions and introduction of turbofan
bypass engines; both low bypass and high bypass engines developed by Rolls Royce. Most of the family engines which have
their applications
pplications and variants are discussed. All these engines are design with different specifications, different performance
and speed which are all discussed and including their figures. Rolls Royce designs the world first turbofan, RB.80 Conway
which is a low bypass turbofan, with high specific thrust/large core airflow, multi
multi-stages,
stages, high pressure ratio and high exhaust
velocity was also discussed. Rolls Royce has made a remarkable design in aircraft indus
industry
try in developing this civil turbofan
engine, later in this paper we see the improvement made by Rolls Royce to modify this engine with a high bypass turbofan
engine with lower specific thrust and small core airflow , which has less noise burns less fuel aand
nd has low maintenance cost.
Rolls-Royce RB.80 Conway, Rolls-RoyceRoyce RB.163/183 SPEYSPEY, Rolls-Royce RB.211-22 & -524 & -535 535, Rolls-Royce RB.183
TAY, Rolls-Royce IAE V2500, Rolls-Royce Royce BR 700/715/725
700/715/725, Rolls-Royce RB.211-524L524L TRENT 500-1000,
500 Rolls Royce
Trent XWB.

Keywords: Rolls-Royce;
Royce; Civil engine; Turbofan; Bypass; Thrust

Abbreviations

LP Low pressure
IP Intermediary pressure
HP High pressure
SFC Specific fuel consumption

1. ENGINE INTRODUCTION stages LP compressor and 9 stages HP compressor, the first

Rolls Royce is an English brand, second largest makers of
aircraft engines in the world. The introduction of bypass
engine started early 1950s and 1960s with the introduction
of RB.80 Conway.
This section gives preliminary descriptions of all the civil
turbofan
bofan engines that are developed by Roll Royce with a
brief specifications.
and the last stage were design using made by aluminium
and titanium , while the HP turbine has 9 stages ,the first
seven stages are titanium and last stage is made by steel.
The bypass duct is made of titanium ,it also has one HP
turbine
rbine and two stage LP turbine, the combustor is rounded
with 10 cannular cans , has a maximum thrust of 76.3KN.
76.3KN

1.1. RB.Conway

This turbofan engine has been in use before new turbofan

engines are introduced,, other variants like RCO.11,
RCO.12, RCO.17,RCO.43 were also introduced with mod modi-
fied thrust ,some having the same thrust or reduced thrust
Compared with RB.80 Conway.(Figure
(Figure 1)
RB.80 Conway is an axial flow turbofan engine with 7
38th Engine Systems Symposium – March 2013 ESS-38-93
Godbless Enenifa / Rolls-Royce civil turbofan engines

1.2.RB. 163/168/183 Spey

Rolls Royce continue their innovation of new technologies

by introducting the Rolls Royce spey which is low bypass
turbofan, which has an increased thrust of 91.2KN, which
means it has a increase mass flow but reduced number of
stages has to compensate for the increase mass flow, so that
it will have a low cost engine and maintenance cost.

Figure 1-RB.80 Conway[1]

Conway was use for some applications such as boeing 707-

420, Douglas DC-8-40, Handley page victor and Vicker
vc10 which has different variant of engines mention above.
Two applications are shown.
Figure 3-Rolls Royce RB Spey[2] .

This is an axial flow turbofan, with 5 stages LP and 12

stage HP, with a combustor rounded with 10 can-annular
combustion chambers, and a 2 stage LP turbine, 2 stage HP
turbine. Below is brief description and their applica-
Figure 2-Handley page victor and Vickers Vc 10[1] . tion.(Table 2).
These are RB. Conway variants with different specifica-
tions, application and time they were introduced.(Table 1)
ENGINE TIME THRUST( APPLICA-
Engine Thrust Overall Application NO OF lb) TIONS
(KN) Pressure shaft RB.163 1964 11,400 Gulfstream II
ratio MK 511-8 and III
RB.80 77.84 27.9 Victor B.2 RB.163 1967 12,000 BAC one Elev-
Rco.11 2 MK 512- en
MK 14DW
101 RB.168 1958 12,140 Blackburn
RB.80 77.84 27.9 Douglas DC- 2 MK 101 Buccaneer
Rco.12 8- RB.168 1958 12,140 McDonnell
MK 41/42/43/43F MK 202 Douglas F-4
509 Phantom II
RB.80 91.63 29.5 Victor B- 2 RB.168 1969 12,140 Hawker
Rco.17 2A/K MK 250 Siddeley Nim-
MK rod MR1/MR2
201 RB.168 1958 12,140 Hawker
RB.80 90.61 14.8 Vickers VC10 2 MK 251 Siddeley Nim-
Rco.42 rod Ri and
MK AEW
540 Table 2-Specifications and Application for RB.Spey[2]
RB.80 97.12 15.1 Vickers VC10 2
Rco.42.
3
RB.80 96.97 17.3 Vickers VC10 2 1.3. RB.211-22 & -524 & -535
Rco.43
D MK The Rolls Royce RB211 is a bypass turbofan engine also a
301 family of bypass turbofan engines that was also intro-
RB.80 96.97 15.8 Vickers VC10 2 duced. During the time Rolls Royce was not good in airline
Rco.43 industry, the development of RBB211 bankrupt Roll Royce
D MK which were later finance by British government, later the
550B engine first three spool engine , Rolls Royce was later
Table 1-RB.Conway variants [1] know as a world player in airline business. Diagram of
RB211-524/535 is shown below. (Figure 4).

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Godbless Enenifa / Rolls-Royce civil turbofan engines

Rolls Royce Conway Rco.12 was the first airline engine The RB211-535 was an improved engine with a hollow
with Bypass or Turbofan configuration, with a thrust of wided core which improves the efficiency , core is made by
16,500 lb, another version was the Conway Rco.43 Bypass titanium and carbon composites.
engine of thrust 21,800 lb which powers the B.A.C Vc10,
the RB.211-22 was another engine choice that was intro-
duced with a bypass ratio of 4.7, the reason for introducing
this engine is stated below.

• Rolls Royce made an improvement of reducing

the fuel consumption by combining higher pro-
pulsive efficiency and higher thermodynamic ef-
ficiency.
• It also reduces the total fan noise and jet noise of
the engine. Figure 6-RB.211-524[3]
• It also provide a performance and maintenance
characteristics.

Figure 4-RB211-524[3]

Figure 5-RB211-535[3]

Table 4-Specifications and applications of RB.211-

22/524/535[3] .

1.4.RB.183 Tay

The Rolls Royce RB.183 Tay is another turbofan engine

which was design from other engines like the RB.163 Spey.
It has a thrust of 62.82KN, the compressor is design to
have a LP compressor of three stage and a HP compressor
of twelve stage, the turbine is deign to have a HP of 3 stage
and a LP of three stage , tay is use for Fokker 70/100,
Gulfstream IV.

Table 3-Table description of RB211-22/524/535[3]

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Figure 5-Tay611-8c[4]
Figure 8-IAE V2500[5]

The V2500 is a high bypass turbofan engine with two shaft,

it has a thrust of 22,000 pounds and 33,000,(97.86 &
146.79). it is design for low emission and low noise.

Vari- Thrust( By- Com- Produc- Appli-

ant KN) pass pressor tion cation
Type ratio ratio year
V250 111 5.4 : 35.8 : 1 1989 A320
0-A1 1
V252 97.86 4.9 : 32.8 : 1 1992 A319
2-A5 1
V252 106.75 4.9 : 32.8 : 1 1996 A319
4-A5 1
V252 111 4.8 : 34.5 : 1 1995 MD90
5-D5 1
Table 5.RB. 183 Tay[4]
V252 117.88 4.8 : 32.8 : 1 1993 A320
7-A5 1
V252 124 4.7 : 35.2 : 1 1995 MD90
Rolls Royce Tay engines is an axial flow , which has a low 8-D5 1
pressure system that comes from the RB.211-53E4 and the Table 6-Applications, Specification and Variants of IAE
high pressure system that comes from the RB.183-555 V2500[5]
engine.

There was also an engine which was used when Tay 650-15
was not available, the Tay 620-15. It was used to power
the F-100, but when the Tay 650-15 now became available
it was now use to power the F-100 and F-70, having a
better performance at high altitude.
1.6.BR 700/715/725
Rolls-Royce BR 700 was an engine made by joint ventures
, BMW and Rolls-Royce in 1990, the engine was first run
in September 1994 in Germany. This engine has similar
and little difference from the BR710, it was the first variant
of BR700 family, later another engine was introduced, the
BR725, it was design to improve the engine thrust and to
reduce the specific fuel consumption.

Figure 7-Fokker 100 and Gulfstream IV[4]

1.5.IAE V2500

The IAE V2500 is design and manufactured by joint part-

nership of aerospace leaders, is design for two shaft which
can power the airbus A320 family, it has many variant and
it can b use on some applications.
Figure 9. BR 700[6] .
The Rolls-Royce BR 700 have different variant were each
variant have different thrust and specifications.

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BR 710 is a family of the BR700, it is design to have high seven stage, while the HP compressor is six stage, it has a
ranges of operating environments, this engine was first run single annular combustor with 18 fuel burners, the Turbine
in 1994. has a single stage HP turbine, a single stage IP turbine,
BR710 is a twin shaft turbofan, which entered service in with a LP turbine of three stage.
1997, it powers the Gulfstream G550, it has a single stage
fan driven by a two LP turbine and a ten stage HP compres-
sor driven by two stage HP turbine.

BR 715 is a twin shaft turbofan, which also entered service

in April 1997, it powers the Boeing 717. It has two stage
compressors driven by a three stage LP turbine.

BR 725 is a three stage-axial flow low pressure turbine that Figure 12-Boeing 757-200 and Boeing 747-400[7]
powers the Gulfstream G650.

The Trent 500 was first run on may 1999, which powers
the airbus A340-500, with different variant engines like
Trent 553, 556, it have:

A fan which is a single stage, a IP compressor eight stages,

and a high pressure compressor of six stage. While the
Figure 10. BR 700 and Gulfstream G650[6] . Combustors uses a Tiled annular combustor fitted with 20
fuel injectors. The Turbine has a Single stage high pressure
turbine, an intermediate pressure turbine of one stage, and a
BR 700 Family specification low pressure turbine of five stage.
BR710-48 BR715-58 BR725-50
Thrust 14,750- 18,500- 15,000-17,000 The Trent 600 was run in August 1990, and 1991 it was
(lb) 15,500 22,000
downgraded , because it could not leave up to expectations
Dry 4640 6155 4912 appx
Weight and performance requirements, it was later replaced by
(lb) Trent 700, which means Trent 600 was never used.
Overall 134.0 147.0 202.0 nacelle
Length The Trent 700 is a Turbofan engine which was developed
(in)
from RB.211, it was the first variant from the Trent family.
Fan 48.0 58.0 50.0
The Trent 700 was first run in August 1990, which delivers
Diameter
(in) thrust of 72,000lb , it has the best take-off performance,
Table 7-BR 700 Family Specifications[6] . Rolls Royce has also plan to reduce the fuel burn of the
engine by 2015. It was used to power the A330, it has
different variant engine which are stated in the table 8.

1.7.RB.211-524L TRENT 500-1000 The Compressor has a IP compressor of Eight stage, an a

Over the years Rolls-Royce try to always improve their
engine, especially the thrust of the engine.
Rolls Royce RB211 was redesign to a new engine, RB211-
524, which offers more performance and efficiency, its
powers the L-1011 and Boeing 747. Is also one the variant
of Trent family.
six stage HP compressor, while the uses a Single annular
combustor with 24 fuel injectors mostly for (Trent 700-
800). The Turbine has a Single stage HP turbine, an IP
turbine of single stage, and a four stage LP turbine.
The Trent 800, is an high bypass ratio engine which was
also developed form RB.211, this engine was first run in
September 1993, it was made to power the Boeing 777,
which also have different variants, it has its component as
follows:

The Compressor has Eight stage IP compressor, and a six-

Figure 11-Boeing 747[7] and RB.211 Trent 800[20]
RB.211-524L is a triple-spool high bypass turbofan with a
single stage and a wide-chord fan, the IP compressor is
stage HP compressor, while the Combustors is a Single
annular combustor which has a 24 fuel injectors. The
Turbine has a Single stage HP turbine, and a single stage IP
turbine, five stage LP turbine.

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Godbless Enenifa / Rolls-Royce
Royce civil turbofan engines
The Trent 900 is also a Turbofan engine, it was first run on
may 17 2004, also developed from RB.211 .211 and powers the
Airbus A380 , it has different variants and have it
it’s compo-
nent as follows:
The Compressor has a Eight stage IP compressor, and a six
stage HP compressor with a Tiled Combustor
Combustor, while the
Turbine has a Single stage HP turbine, a single stage IP
turbine, and a five stage LP turbine.
The Trent 1000 was first run on 14th February 2006, it was
made to power the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, during 2007 it
fails to meet up with Boeing requirement of specific fuel
consumption,, which also lead to setbacks. It has different
variants and it’s component is as follows:
The Compressor compresses of Single stage LP, and a eight
stage IP, while the HP compressor is a six stage, the
Combustors uses a Tiled combustor,, the Turbine has a one
stage HP turbine, a one stage IP turbine, and a six stage LP
turbine.
Table 8-Trent Specification Table . [7]
Above is a Table that contains Trent family series of diffe
differ-
ent versions and specifications.
1.8.TRENT XWB
The Trent XWB is a turbofan engine which powers the
Airbus A350-WXB,, it has a thrust of 370KN, which was
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later derated to a thrust of 330KN to power A350-800,
A350
Rolls Royce is has also introduce a Trent XWB to power
A350-800 and A350-900,, this was achieved by maintaining
the same
ame core of the engine and fan diameter, but the speed
of the fan was increased by using a strong blades and a
stronger casing , also the core temperature will be in-
i
creased.
Trent XWB was first run 17, June 2000 , which will enter
service in 2014, it has three shaft design incorporated with
the latest technologies from research
researc and demonstration of
programss with high performance and low operating cost.
The state of the art design
gn of the Trent XWB has a blisk
contra-rotation, with a low hub-tiptip ratio swept fan which
means it has a reduced weight and size, also an advanced
compressor aerodynamic, new material advanced technolo-
technol
gy. It has an in built installed monitoring system and a pro-
pro
active maintenance system as welll which helps to prolong
life cycle of the engine and reducing operational disruption,
test has also been carried out for the engine to deliver a
thrust of 100,00lb.
[20]
Figure 13-Airbus A350-800
800 and A350-900
A350
The Trent XWB has the lastest technology which has the
lowest emission , with a lower operating cost .
Figure 14-Trent XWB[20] .
The Trent XWB has a 15% reduced weight from other
Trent engines, with optimized internal air system which
regulates the air entering the core of the engine as a result
the fuel burn. The Table below shows few variants of Trent
XWB.
38th Engine Systems Symposium – March 2013
Godbless Enenifa / Rolls-Royce civil turbofan engines
Table 9-Specifications and Applications of Trent XWB
Variants[20] .
2. THE EVOLUTION OF ROLLS-ROYCES CIVIL
TURBOFAN ENGINES.
The research of a Turbofan engines has linger for years,
due to the Rolls Royce Conway RCO 12 which was earlier
mention, which was in operation in 1960, A group of or-
ganization known as ministry of Aviation at the National
gas turbine establishment were trying to design a high
bypass ratio at that time.
Between 1963 to 1964, a group know as Sud-Aviation
Galion and British Aircraft corporation tries to optimize
some engine performance that will favors the high turbofan
engines, Rolls Royce came up with a plan to introduced an
engine called RB.178-16, but it was having a low bypass
ratio, so it wasn’t successful because it can not be use for
other aircrafts applications and more funds were needed for
more research works.
All these development of bypass engine linger for some
time till a company in the United States of America , GE
T39 Turbofan was introduced to power Lockhead Galaxy
military transport, it has a higher bypass ratio of 8, so Rolls
Royce became more competitive in developing new en-
gines, from one to another which brought about the
RB.211.
Figure 15-RB.211[3]
Developing RB.211 result in bankruptcy of Rolls Royce
which was later financed by the British Government.
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Bypass ratio is an important parameter use to classify
turbofan engines, like the low bypass turbofan and the high
bypass turbofan, with these brief explanations below
• Low Bypass Turbofan- These was introduced in
1960s, which has multi stage fan and a high ex-
haust velocity, but to achieved a smaller
core/higher bypass ratio, the turbine rotor inlet
temperature was increase which will give the
core more power to drive fan, so a Bypass flow
can only be introduce if we increase the turbine
inlet temperature to compensate for the smaller
core flow.
• High Bypass Turbofan- A low specific thrust for
high bypass turbofan was introduced by remov-
ing the multi stage fan and replaced with single
stage unit, the engine core will drive fan at its de-
sign and pressure ratio.
The turbojet and low Bypass turbofan have noise due to the
velocity of the exhaust gases; where by the high Turbofan
have a lesser noise compared to both.
3. FUTURE GENERATION
Last year, in 2012. Rolls Royce unveiled a new Trent fami-
ly, the Trent 1000-TEN, an improved version with a proven
next generation technology from the new Trent WXB
which we mention.
The word TEN means (THRUST, EFFICIENCY and NEW
TECHNOLOGY), the Trent 1000-TEN was design to meet
all the thrust requirements of all the versions of Boeing 787
dreamliner.
The Trent 1000-TEN is not recently in service until 2016,
the engine is also design to power new versions of (-8 and -
9) of Boeing 787 dreamliner, even to the lastest version of
Boeing family, the 787-10x. Most times producing an
engine from a previous engine , Rolls Royce takes account
of the Thrust of the engine as well as the weight.
3.1 Future vision
Rolls Royce will be looking at an engine that has an intelli-
gent sensors, an advanced engine health monitoring sys-
tem, a generator that replaces conventional gearboxes.
The engine health monitoring system is mainly used to
collect data from sensors throughout the engine, this data’s
are controlled and transmitted via satellite from aircraft in
flight to give exact time diagnostic capability, which helps
to protect the engine problems
When looking at vision of Roll Royce, it is seen that Roll
Royce tries to make sure the thrust , size, weight, fuel
efficiency, reliability and cost are controlled, maintained,
and are achieved through developing of new technologies,
new programs and research, to make sure there product and
services remain on top as world market leaders.
4. CIVIL TURBOFAN OF TODAY
Rolls Royce which has been a major marketer in aircraft,
always improve in reliability, availability of their products,
38th Engine Systems Symposium – March 2013
Godbless Enenifa / Rolls-Royce civil turbofan engines
looking, looking at the Trent XWB combustor, which has
low emission, cleaner and reliable. It also has an improved
new larger bearing system for load capability , which will
help in fuel burn benefit.
Currently , Rolls Royce Trent XWB engine was tested to
power the Airbus A380 aircraft on 18th February, 2012, it
was a huge success for Rolls Royce, because it also became
the fasting selling Trent engine ever.
[20]
Figure 16-Trent XWB Montage . %200077.html / (accessed 01/03/2013).
There are certain things Rolls Royce do to keep remaining
as forefront in developing and maintaining engines, which
really helps throughout the life cycle of the engine. Most
times they combine designers knowledge and information’s
with data’s collected or generated from engines in opera-
tions during testing or designing to deliver good services.
Secondly, the management and maintenance this engines,
which includes requirements of individual customers, this
is known as total care.
This generation ,Rolls Royce look at the three shaft design
for civil turbofan engines, where the core and fan of the
engine are scaled to produce the desire thrust of the engine,
you should also know that the fan and it’s diameter plays
an important role in producing large amount of air or mass
flow, which as a result produce 80 percent of the engine
thrust, this fan are designed to withstand any number of
birds ingestion during testing, this fans also shows the
ability to produce more thrust due to bird ingestion.
5. CONCLUSION
All engines made by Rolls Royce are design to meet the
maximum requirement of customers and to reduce the
environmental impact, this is because the higher demand of
air travelers gives more challenges to Rolls Royce to also
look at the environmental effect which includes noise
reduction, reducing pollution, burn less fuel(energy) which
actually affects the environment and people, that is why
some of Rolls Royce engine are design for low NOx com-
bustor and the new introduced contra-rotating HP system
which reduces emission, noise and fuel consumption.
Also, Rolls Royce over the years has always try to mini-
mize the weight of their engines while increasing the thrust
of the engine and also looking at other effects of the engine
and lifecycle of the engine as well.
The latest Trent XWB which powers the A350-XWB is
more environmental friendly with new advanced technolo-
gy used on it. In many years to come Rolls Royce will be
having well defined engine with very low noise, with high
thrust, high efficiency ,less cost and low fuel consumption.
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ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS
My appreciation goes to YI-Guang li for advising me to
choose a different topic from my individual projects, it
really helps to broaden my knowledge of different engines.
I also thank the Editing team for their advice and guidance
throughout the completion of this paper.
Finally, I thank canfield library for their support for the
information, even my friends for the courage for the sup-
port, Thank you.
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Godbless Enenifa / Rolls-Royce civil turbofan engines

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