Comparison between

Rolls Royce TRENT1000

&
General Electric GEnx
Gas Turbine Aircraft Engines
Rolls Royce TRENT 1000 General Electric GEnx
General Characteristics TRENT 1000 family Genx family
Take off Thrust 53,000–75,000 lbf 69,800-76,100 lbf
Bypass Ratio(take off/top 11/10.8 9.3/8.8
of climb)
Overall pressure ratio 52 53.3
Air mass flow 2,400–2,670 lb/sec 2559-2658 lb/sec
Fan diameter 112 in 111.1 in
Base Engine length 186.5 in 184.7 in
Compressor 1/8/6 1/4/10
Stages(F/LP/HP)
Combustor single annular combustor Twin annular pre-swirl
with 18‐off fuel spray combustion system
nozzles
Turbine Stages 1/1/6 2/7
Control FADEC FADEC
Thrust to weight ratio 6.1 5.15
Engine design highlights
 The GE engines:
 Composite fan blades with titanium lining.
 GEnx have chevrons in both bypass and core nozzle.
 Twin annular pre-swirl combustion system.
 Titanium aluminide (Ti-Al) blades in the last two stages.
 Two spool configuration.

 The Rolls-Royce engines:

 Swept aero hollow-fan-blade technology.
 TRENT have chevrons in both bypass and core
nozzle.
 Single annular combustor with 18‐off fuel spray nozzles.
 Allow power to be extracted for each VFSG.
 Three-spool engine architecture.
Triple spool TRENT 1000 engines :

- Turbines run closer to optimum speeds

- More efficient
- Easier to start

Double spool GEnx engines :

3 spool configuration
- Lighter
- Simpler design
- Lower manufacturing cost

2 spool configuration
 A big diameter rotor can move a lot of air but cannot rotate as fast as a smaller diameter rotor.  As a result, a big rotor cannot
compress the air as much as a smaller faster one. 

If all the rotors (intake compressors or output turbines) were on a single shaft, then the smaller diameter rotors would not be
operating at their most efficient.  But if the inner rotors were on separate shafts they can spin at their more efficient faster rpm.

The biggest disparity in efficiency lies with the very large fan (or even a propeller or output shaft) coupled to a turbine for its
power.  If the fan were on the primary shaft, its max rpm governs the power turbine, making it and the rest of the spool rotate
too slow.  So the fan is on its own shaft and its own power turbine at the back.
The rest of the engine, on its own shaft or multiple shafts, rotate at their more efficient rpm and pressure ratios.

Multiple shafts also reduces the total number of rotors and their stators, and that reduces the length and diameter of the engine, 
allowing for a larger fan as well.

In fact even a fan on its own shaft and turbine becomes inefficient because the power turbine cannot rotate fast enough, hence
Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan, where a gear reduction is mounted to allow the turbine to spin much faster.

As for added weight of shafts, bearings and structure, these are dealt with by trading off the fact that far more and larger rotors
would be needed for a single or twin spool engine to deliver the needed power, and the far higher fuel consumption of a larger
inefficient engine.

 you would like to stage your power to extract maximum efficiency but that adds on weight. Hence, you accordingly optimize your
design. While RR's design point is optimized for 3 spools, GE does meet that efficiency in two spools only by introducing VSVs or
variable stator vanes. These help in controlling pressure ratios and hence meet efficiency target at multiple cycle conditions. This
also allows them to go ahead and design ultra-powerful engines such as GE90. On the other hand VSV's increase complexity and
no. of axial stages again adding weight.

Ultimately, both GE and RR meet the target with similar efficiency and weight. It depends on what was the philosophy of the
scientists/engineers who laid out the design.
 Variable stator vanes
 At design point the air angles are all matched. But at off design (say low compressor speed) the pressure falls at the discharge
of the compressor causing the velocity in discharge (HP ) stages to increase,  which can choke these stages. This causes the
front or LP stage of the compressor to increase in loading and can stall these stage causing compressor surge (a violent
aerodynamic compressor instability) at such low speed.  Closing variable stator vanes in the front stages will unload these
stages thus preventing the compressor from stalling

 The issue is that compressors are unstable at low massflows. They tend to stall as the incidence on to the aerofoils increases.
This can lead to a phenomenon called rotating stall and if the pressure rise is high enough surge of the engine. This forces the
shutting down of the engine if it occurs and can cause the plane to crash. Variable stators can be altered whilst the engin is
running this allows control of the flow angle and can ameliorate the effects of incidence making the compressor more stable
and adding to its "surge magin" the distance the compresor is away from the surge line

 The VSVs protect the compressor from surging hence improve the stabiltity of operation. In addition, if you compare a variable
geometry gas turbine with a fixed geometry gas turbine, the one with VSVs can reach a higher/lower power setting faster than
the fixed gometry one. The reason lies in the fact that shaft inertia is proportional to the response time of the engine, and the
VSVs enable the engine to increase/decrease its air mass flow rate faster.
Engine design highlights
 The GE engines:
 It has composite fan blades with titanium lining and casing adapted from GE90 with latest swept
aerodynamics and saves weight.
 Field the enhanced twin annular pre-swirl combustion system that achieves significant emission reductions while
preserving low pattern factor for turbine durability as well as excellent re-light characteristics.
 Introduce surface air-oil coolers to compactly reject the VFSG and engine oil heat.
 Titanium aluminide (Ti-Al) blades in the last two stages of the seven-stage low pressure turbine. Ti-Al achieves
significant weight savings over traditional nickel alloy.
 The Rolls-Royce engines:
 Incorporate the latest swept aero hollow-fan-blade technology evolved from the predecessor Trent 900 engine.
 Utilize the proven benefit of the Trent three-spool engine architecture. In the case of the Trent 1000, the three-
spool design affords intermediate pressure power off-take with demonstrated benefits in engine operability and
fuel consumption.
 Incorporate surface coolers for compact and efficient rejection of VFSG and engine oil heat.
 Design the Trent 1000 with the latest computational fluid dynamics-enabled 3D aerodynamics for high efficiency
and low noise.
 Allow power to be extracted for each VFSG through the second of the three engine shafts. This unique solution
using the Trent 1000 engine architecture brings with it lower engine idle speeds, which reduce fuel burn and
noise on the 787.