Chinese Engine Development

Tomboy

Senior Member
Registered Member
Could the AEP & AEJ designation come from more commercial oriented english acronym? something like Aero Engine Propeller & Aero Engine Jet?

Meanwhile the WS (Wo Shan - Turbofan) & WP (Wo Pen - Turbojet) designation are the legacy of the old Chinese aero engine industry that was military oriented, and therefore use chinese acronym?
AEJ Is not an actual designation, there are only AEP, AES and AEF which corresponds to turboprop, turboshaft and turbofan. WS, WJ, WZ and WP designations are still used as they are military designations while the AEP, AES and AEF series are all commercial. AEP400/500/380 in PLA service are all called WJ-10 which is likely due to them all sharing a common core.
 

The Observer

Junior Member
Registered Member
AEJ Is not an actual designation, there are only AEP, AES and AEF which corresponds to turboprop, turboshaft and turbofan. WS, WJ, WZ and WP designations are still used as they are military designations while the AEP, AES and AEF series are all commercial. AEP400/500/380 in PLA service are all called WJ-10 which is likely due to them all sharing a common core.

Yup, that would line up. English acronym for commercial, chinese acronym for military.

Though @by78 just posted the pics for AEJ20E, so was that a one off? Or maybe it's for turbojet?

After all, AEP, AES, and AEF have Prop/Propeller, Shaft, and Fan respectively, so it made sense to use AEJ for jet (turbojet).
 

BoraTas

Major
Registered Member
Eh. Ultrafan isn’t that innovative. Bigger fan is a low complexity approach. RISE is more interesting but it’s a lateral development path, not a forward one.
Open rotor will likely win in the end. As the shroud grows so are its drag and weight penalties. BPR 20 is about the end of the road for turbofans. For an even larger ratio of fan/core flow the shroud will have to be ditched in the end. It will be fun to watch how engine companies will argue their engines aren't actually advanced turboprops. In the 1990s they invented new terms for that. Propjet, propfan, open rotor turbofan :D
1762742289497.png

Note: A fan and a propeller are the same things from a scientific perspective. Both are dynamic axial compressors (the term for machines that add energy to a flow). The word fan came to describe propellers with a high disk loading and a shroud.
 

qwerty3173

Junior Member
Registered Member
Open rotor will likely win in the end. As the shroud grows so are its drag and weight penalties. BPR 20 is about the end of the road for turbofans. For an even larger ratio of fan/core flow the shroud will have to be ditched in the end. It will be fun to watch how engine companies will argue their engines aren't actually advanced turboprops. In the 1990s they invented new terms for that. Propjet, propfan, open rotor turbofan :D
View attachment 164265

Note: A fan and a propeller are the same things from a scientific perspective. Both are dynamic axial compressors (the term for machines that add energy to a flow). The word fan came to describe propellers with a high disk loading and a shroud.
Still, no clear way to avoid the thundering noise coming from an unshrouded fan. Passengers will get mad unless the engines are somehow placed a bit further than now.
 

Tomboy

Senior Member
Registered Member
Still, no clear way to avoid the thundering noise coming from an unshrouded fan. Passengers will get mad unless the engines are somehow placed a bit further than now.
Noise and most other factors could plausibly be lobbied or ignored in the face of high efficiency improvement assuming they can get it down to a reasonably acceptable level. Also, D-27s met stage 3 noise certification standards after a modification, though that only makes it about as good as the original 737.

Anyhow from what I've heard AECC Commercial dept is atleast looking into propfans. With a possible full scale prototype (though probably unrelated) tested by Zhuzhou.
 
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