Completion of a European Union project to investigate open rotor engines and alternative fuels is likely to slip to the end of 2011 from its proposed conclusion date of March.
The Dream project, launched in February 2008, is a three-year €40.2 million ($56.1 million) effort, partly funded by the EU and led by Rolls-Royce. Its major objective is to design a powerplant that is 27% greener than the engines built in 2000. This target is seven percentage points higher than that set out by the Advisory Council for Aeronautical Research in Europe.
R-R chief integration engineer open rotor technologies Uwe Fuss told the Royal Aeronautical Society's Greening of Aircraft Propulsion conference in London that "it is likely it will take until the end of next year" to complete the project.
Thereafter, a follow-on initiative could be launched. "There is potentially another programme coming after Dream - this is under discussion," says Fuss.
Source: Flight International
