Looking 15 years beyond the Leap-1, CPM partner Snecma is heading back into the wind tunnel as it moves toward the ground demonstration of a fuel-efficient, open-rotor engine in 2015 under Europe's Clean Sky civil-aviation research program. The high-speed aerodynamic test of the l/5th-scale model in French research agency Onera's large S1 tunnel at Modane will focus on demonstrating the potential fuel-burn reduction with the counter-rotating, open-rotor engine. "Our objective on the open rotor is to reduce fuel burn by 25-30%, compared with the CFM56-and we are very confident we can reach this goal," says Marc Doussinault, propeller module manager.
展开▼
