Trent 1000 durability: An illustrated guide

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Trent 1000 durability

An illustrated guide

See exactly which areas we’ve made the improvements to and learn new details about each innovative solution

The Trent 1000 is part of a larger family of three-shaft, high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines. It’s powerful: at takeoff, the force exerted on each fan blade is around 100 tons (1000kn). For some perspective, that’s like dangling nine London buses on every single blade.

However, for reasons explained below, some of the Trent 1000 engine parts began to wear out sooner than we expected. Some of this was the result of different engineering demands – new and more efficient engine parts have presented new challenges. That’s just part of innovating. But detrimental environmental conditions over particular airports, the result of air pollution, also played a role.

Fortunately, we quickly identified the issues and began creating and then implementing solutions.

See below for our illustrated guide to each component challenge and each update:

Intermediate Pressure (IP) turbine blade enhanced environmental protection

Sulphidation is a chemical reaction that happens when contaminants meet air at high temperatures. The temperature inside the Trent 1000 engine reaches up to 2,300 degrees centigrade, roughly half the temperature on the surface of the sun. In short: it’s hot.

Over certain airports, new environmental conditions (largely the result of pollutants) are now more likely to cause sulphidation than in years prior, rendering the engine’s turbine blades more vulnerable to micro-cracks, thus reducing the blades’ lifespan.

The update

Rolls-Royce added a new base metal and introduced a new coating proven to protect these blades.

High Pressure (HP) turbine blade enhancement

HP turbine blades operate at a temperature 200 degrees centigrade above their melting point. One way of imagining this challenge is trying to stop an ice cube from melting in an oven – while it spins at 12,000 rpm.

To combat this temperature, we use a technology called ‘film cooling’ – which sees cooler air blown through tiny holes in the blade, each with its own size, direction and shape. The design of some of these holes wasn’t optimal, which meant the blade didn’t last as long as intended.

The update

Rolls-Royce has redesigned the blade and improved the manufacturing process so these cooling holes function more effectively. The new blade is now being installed in engines.

Intermediate Pressure (IP) compressor rotor resonance

Designed for maximum efficiency, the Trent 1000 has fewer fan blades than in most previous models capable of generating equivalent power. Under certain conditions – such as speed, temperature and altitude – the rotation of these blades can create a wake that excites IP compressor blades further down the line – a resonance akin to the vibrations of a tuning fork.

This resonant frequency can eventually lead to the kind of cracking we observed on our rotor 1 and 2 compressor blades.

The update

Rolls-Royce has designed new compressor blades which are now being installed in engines.

For more information and updates on the Trent 1000 durability issues

CLICK HERE