The Airbus A380 is the world’s largest passenger airliner, a wide-body aircraft manufactured by Airbus. The first prototype was unveiled in Toulouse on 18 January 2005, with its first flight on 27 April 2005. The full-length double-deck aircraft has a typical seating capacity of 525, though it is certified for up to 853 passengers. I simply love Airbus planes – particularly A350 & A380 and has been very closely following since the project inception in 2000s to demo flights in 2005 / 2006 when it visited Shanghai among other cities in the world to first flight between Singapore – Sydney in 2007 and till now. I also closley followed the Airbus factories in Hamburg & Tianjin. Im very sad that production of A380 would cease in 2021

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How is the AIRBUS A380 less noisy ?

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• Thanks to its modern engines and aerodynamic improvements, Lufthansa’s A380s produce half the noise of the Boeing 747-200 while carrying 160 more passengers
• In 2012, the A380 received an award from the Noise Abatement Society
• London Heathrow is a key destination for the A380
• The aircraft is below the QC/2 departure and QC/0.5 arrival noise limits under the Quota Count system set by the airport
• Field measurements suggest the approach quota allocation for the A380 may be overly generous compared to the older Boeing 747, but still quieter
• Rolls-Royce is supporting the CAA in understanding the relatively high A380/Trent 900 monitored noise levels
• Heathrow’s landing charges having a noise component, the A380 is cheaper to land there than a Boeing 777-200 and -300 and it saves $4,300 to $5,200 per landing, or $15.3M to $18.8M of present value over 15 years
• Tokyo Narita has a similar noise charge
• Sufficient braking capacity allowed for thrust reversers to be installed on only the inboard engines
• The outboard engines lack them, reducing the amount of debris stirred up during landing
• The reversers are electrically actuated to save weight, and for better reliability than pneumatic or hydraulic equivalents

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AIRBUS A380 ENGINE

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OPTION 1

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Rolls-Royce Trent 900

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The Rolls-Royce Trent 900 is a high bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc to power the Airbus A380, competing with the Engine Alliance GP7000

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It is one of the powerplant options available for the Airbus A380, along with the Engine Alliance GP7000

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• Type : Turbofan
• First run : 18 March 2003
• Program cost : $450 million

General characteristics

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• Type : Three-shaft high bypass turbofan engine
• Length : 5478 mm (215.7 in) tip of spinner minus rubber tip to Tail Bearing Housing Plug Mount Flange
• Diameter : 2950 mm (116 in) fan
• Dry weight : 6246 kg (13770 lb)

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Components

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• Compressor : single stage LP (fan), 8-stage IP axial compressor (IPC), 6-stage HP axial compressor (HPC)
• Combustors : Single annular combustor
• Turbine : single stage HP turbine (HPT), single stage IP turbine (IPT), 5-stage LP turbine (LPT)

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Performance

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• Maximum thrust : 334.29 to 374.09 kN (75,152 to 84,098 lbf)
• Overall pressure ratio : 37–39
• Bypass ratio : 8.5 – 8.7
• Air mass flow : 2655–2745 lb (1204–1245 kg)/sec
• Thrust-to-weight ratio : 5.46 – 6.11

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• The Rolls-Royce Trent 900 is a high bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc to power the Airbus A380, competing with the Engine Alliance GP7000
• Initially proposed for the Boeing 747-500/600X in July 1996, this first application was later abandoned but it was offered for the A3XX, launched as the A380 in December 2000
• It first ran on 18 March 2003, made its maiden flight on 17 May 2004 on an A340 testbed, and was certified by the EASA on 29 October 2004
• Producing up to 374 kN (84,000 lbf), the Trent 900 has the three shaft architecture of the Rolls-Royce Trent family with a 2.95 m (116 in) fan
• It has a 8.5-8.7:1 bypass ratio and a 37–39:1 overall pressure ratio
• The A3XX was launched as the A380 on 19 December 2000
• It was then selected by Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic over the competing GP7200
• The Trent 900 ran for the first time on 18 March 2003, achieving its certification thrust of 81,000 lbf (360 kN) on 2 April and attaining 88,000 lbf (390 kN) a week later, with growth room to 94,000 lbf (420 kN)
• Its 300 cm (118 in) fan comes from the Trent 8104 demonstrator, and a contra-rotating HP spool is used for the first time, for up to 2% better efficiency
• The Trent 900 made its maiden flight on 17 May 2004 on Airbus’ A340-300 testbed, replacing the port inner CFM56 engine
• Its final certification was granted by the EASA on 29 October 2004 and the FAA on 4 December 2006
• After a twelve-month suspension caused by delays to the A380, Rolls-Royce announced in October 2007 that production of the Trent 900 had been restarted
• On 27 September 2007, British Airways announced the selection of the Trent 900 to power 12 A380 aircraft helping to take the engine’s share of the A380 engine market to 52% at the end of February 2009

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Consistently the most reliable and durable A380 engine

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Rolls-Royce Trent 900 : Design

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• The Trent 900 is an axial flow, high bypass turbofan with the three coaxial shafts of the Rolls-Royce Trent family
• The 2.95 m (116 in) fan with swept blades is driven by a 5-stage LP turbine, the 8-stage IP compressor and the 6-stage HP compressor are both powered by a single stage turbine, with the HP spool rotating in the opposite direction of the others
• It has a single annular combustor and is controlled by an EEC
• It is certified for thrusts between 334.29 to 374.09 kN (75152 to 84098 lbf)
• Its swept-back fan is inherited from the Trent 8104 demonstrator and a contra-rotating HP spool is used for the first time
• It features a scaled-down Trent 800 core
• It can be transported on a Boeing 747 freighter whole, the only A380 engine capable of
• The swept-back fan is 15% lighter than previous wide-chord blades
• Rolls-Royce has seven risk and revenue sharing partners on the Trent 900: Industria de Turbo Propulsores (low-pressure turbine), Hamilton Sundstrand (electronic engine controls), Avio S.p.A. (gearbox module), Marubeni Corporation (engine components), Volvo Aero (intermediate compressor case), Goodrich Corporation (fan casings and sensors) and Honeywell (pneumatic systems)
• In addition, Samsung Techwin, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) are programme associates
• The Trent 900 will be the first Trent engine fitted with the advanced Engine Health Monitoring (EHM) system based on QUICK Technology

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Co-operation & Competition at the same time !

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• Whereas most members of the Trent family are controlled by FADECs from Goodrich, engine controllers on the Trent 900 are provided by Hamilton Sundstrand, a United Technologies (UTC) company, the parent of Pratt & Whitney, the co-producer of the Engine Alliance GP7000 along with GE Aircraft Engines, the competing A380 powerplant
• This cooperation among competitors is prevalent in the aircraft market as it provides for risk sharing and diversity in source countries, which may be a factor in an airline’s choices

AIRBUS A380 ENGINE

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OPTION 2

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Engine Alliance GP7200

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The Engine Alliance GP7200 is a turbofan jet engine manufactured by Engine Alliance, a joint venture between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney

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It is one of the powerplant options available for the Airbus A380, along with the Rolls-Royce Trent 900

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What are the engine options used in AIRBUS A380 ?

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• The A380 is offered with the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 (A380-841/-842) or the Engine Alliance GP7000 (A380-861) turbofan engines
• The Trent 900 is a combination of the 3 m (118 in) fan and scaled IP compressor of the 777-200X/300X Trent 8104 technology demonstrator derived from the Boeing 777’s Trent 800, and the Airbus A340-500/600’s Trent 500 core
• The GP7200 HP core technology is derived from GE’s GE90 and its LP sections are based on the PW4000 expertise

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Engine Alliance GP7270 : Specifications

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General characteristics

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• Type : two-spool high-bypass turbofan engine
• Length : 4.92 m (16.1 ft; 194 in) spinner to flange
• Diameter : 3.16 m (10.4 ft ; 124 in), fan 2.96 m (9.7 ft ; 117 in)
• Dry weight : 6712 kg (14797 lb)

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Components

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• Compressor :
  • 24 swept wide-chord hollow titanium fan blades
  • 8.8:1 by-pass ratio
  • Five-stage low-pressure axial compressor
  • Nine-stage high-pressure axial compressor
• Combustors : low-emissions single annular combustor
• Turbine :
  • Two-stage high pressure turbine
  • Boltless architecture
  • Single crystal blades
  • Split blade cooling and thermal barrier coatings
  • Axial flow
  • Six-stage low-pressure axial flow

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Performance

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• Maximum thrust : 36980 kgf, 363 kN, 81,500 lbf
• Overall pressure ratio : 43.9
• Air mass flow : 900 to 1,200 kg/s (2,000 to 2,600 lb/s)
• Thrust-to-weight ratio : 5.197 (assuming 13400 lbf weight of engine and 70000 lbf of thrust)

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• Originally intended to power Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ cancelled 747-500X/-600X, the engine has since been pushed for Airbus’ A380-800 superjumbo
• It is built around an 0.72 scale of the GE90-110B/115B core and contains a Pratt & Whitney fan and low-pressure system design
• The competing Rolls-Royce Trent 900 was named as the lead engine for the then-named A3XX in 1996 and was initially selected by almost all A380 customers
• However the GE/PW engine increased its share of the A380 engine market to the point where as of September 2007 it will power 47% of the super-jumbo fleet
• This disparity in sales was resolved in a single transaction, with Emirates’ order of 55 GP7000-powered A380-800s, comprising over one quarter of A380 sales (as of September 2007)
• Emirates has traditionally been a Rolls-Royce customer
• A380 aircraft powered by the GP7000s will have A380-86X model numbers as 6 is the code for Engine Alliance engines
• The engine powers an estimated 60% of Airbus A380 in service as reported in 2017
• Ground testing of the engine began in April 2004 and was first flight tested as the number two engine on GE’s 747 flying testbed over Victorville, CA in December 2004
• The American Federal Aviation Administration certified the engine for commercial operation on January 4, 2006
• The engine was ground run for the first time on an A380 on August 14, 2006, in Toulouse
• On August 25, 2006, the same aircraft, A380-861 test aircraft (MSN 009), made the first flight of an Engine Alliance powered A380
• The flight began and ended at Toulouse and lasted about four hours. Tests were performed on the engines’ flight envelope, cruise speed, and handling
• A day earlier, the same aircraft performed rejected takeoff tests on the engines
• The Engine Alliance offered the GP7200 for the Airbus A380 passenger and freighter configurations
• The GP7270 is rated at 74,735 lbf (332.44 kN) of thrust whilst the GP7277 is rated at 80,290 lbf (357.1 kN)
• The engine is offered with two ratings appropriate for the various A380 configurations and take-off weights: GP7270 for the 560 tonne variant, and GP7277 for the 590 tonne A380-800 freighter (which was subsequently cancelled by Airbus)
• In mid-2011 an upgrade was announced which will lead to a cut in weight for each engine by 23 kg (51 lb)
• The new components come from Volvo Aero
• MTU Aero Engines is a major partner of the programme, with 22.5% share
• The German company produces the high-pressure turbine, the low-pressure turbine and the turbine center frame
• Safran with 17.5% designs and produces the low-pressure compressor
• MDS Aero Support Corporation, a Canadian company, is working hand in hand with MTU to develop next generation test beds
• MDS in joint cooperation is building the facility to test the next version of this engine in France