Geared Turbofan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Geared TurboFan (GTF) is the next step to future aviation technology. A turbofan is a type of airplane engine, similar to a turbojet. It consists of a ducted fan with a smaller diameter turbojet engine mounted behind it that powers the fan.
The majority of the flow through the engine passes through the fan and produces most of the thrust.
A small part of the airstream passes through the core of the engine, which includes compressors, a combustion chamber and turbines. All of these comprise the "turbojet" mentioned in the first paragraph. The core turbines drive the compressors and the fan.
In a Geared Turbofan, the fan that produces most of the thrust is driven through a reduction gearbox, rather than being directly connected to the rest of the engine. The gearbox between the fan and low-pressure compressor and turbine allows the selection of the best possible operating speed for each engine section. Each runs much more efficiently, reducing the number of engine stages and parts. The PW8000 geared turbofan is from Pratt and Whitney and is supposed to set new records in aviation fields due to its reliability, operating cost, fuel burn, and reduced noise levels [1]
