Turbine engines with planetary gear stages to reduce the speed of the fan stage

have entered into the market (Pratt&Whitney Geared Turbofan GTF, application etc.

in A319/A320/A321 neo) respectively have reached a mature development stage

(Rolls-Royce UltraFan). Turbine suppliers like Safran Aircraft Engines and General

Electric Aerospace are also working on this technology. Engines with Geared

Turbofans enable up to 20% reduction of fuel consumption and an enormous

reduction of sound emissions. The reduced fuel consumption leads to drastically

reduced operating costs and thus a rapidly growing number of aircraft use these

engines. Together with the climate goals (Austria to be climate neutral in 2040) this

technology is - compared with technologies like Electric Engines, Hydrogen engines

and Fuel cells - more likely to bring a relevant contribution to decarbonization and

sound emissions.

Against this background a consortium of TU Wien wants to systematically evaluate

further potentials of engines with geared turbofans, independent from suppliers and

1st tiers, to establish networks that cover all disciplines from turbomachinery to

gearbox technology and system design and to propose research projects to realise

the identified potentials.