Engineers at GE Aerospace, one of the world’s biggest aircraft engine makers, have become among the heaviest users of two of the world’s fastest supercomputers over the past three years. Access to the machines at the US Department of Energy has helped them model the behaviour of a new kind of engine concept they believe could be a future mainstay of commercial air travel.
GE and its partner Safran, the French engine maker, are working on technologies for a revolutionary design called the “open fan” — an engine whose fan blades spin uncovered, rather than housed in a casing.
The pair’s joint venture, CFM International, thinks the open fan is the key to powering the next generation of narrow-body aircraft — the workhorses of the world’s airline fleets used for short- and medium-length flights. Both Airbus and Boeing are exploring plans for successors to their best-selling A320 and 737 Max jet families.