The American company General Electric has prepared a prototype of the next generation GE9X turbofan jet engine for the final stage of certification flight tests. In the near future, the power plant will be mounted on a flying laboratory Boeing 747-400. The final stage of certification flight tests will begin in November of this year and will end in the spring of 2019.
During development, the aircraft engines undergo a series of different tests, which are first carried out on special stands on the ground, and then on flying laboratories in the air. Such tests allow to evaluate the real characteristics of power plants, as well as to test the operation of all aircraft engine systems under various conditions. Flight tests, for example, allow testing of the engine performance under dynamic loads, varying intensity of incoming air flow, air temperature and hundreds of other conditions.
Based on the data obtained from ground-based and flight tests of new engines, experts will decide whether the power plant can be safely mounted on the aircraft for which it was designed. GE9X is created for the passenger airliner Boeing 777X. It will be the world’s largest twin-engine liner.
The GE9X certification tests have been conducted since May 2017. The first flight of the Boeing 777X is scheduled for March 2019.
The development of the GE9X has been underway since 2012. The fan diameter is 3.40 m, and the diameter of its air intake is 4.50 m. For comparison, the diameter of the GE9X is only 20 centimeters smaller than the diameter of the fuselage of the Boeing 767 airliner and 76 centimeters larger than the diameter of the fuselage of the Boeing 737 airliner. The new power plant can develop traction up to 470 kN. GE9X has an extremely high bypass ratio of 10:1. This indicator allows the engine to maintain high power, consuming significantly less fuel compared to other engines.
The length of the Boeing 777X , on which the GE9X will be installed, depending on the version, will be 69.80 m or 76.70 m, and the wingspan will be 71.80 m. The plane will receive a folding wing, thanks to which it can fit in a standard aircraft hangar. The span of the folded wing of the Boeing 777X will be 64.80 m. The maximum take-off weight of the liner will be 351.5 tons. The aircraft will be able to fly to a distance of 16,100 km.
