The demonstrator, dubbed the Advance 3, is being assembled in the company’s Bristol, England, facility and will fire up for the first time in Derby in the August-September time frame, he adds.
...
The Advance demonstrator is a hybrid combining a Trent XWB-84 case and fan system and the LP turbine from a Trent 1000. “In the middle is the all-new core, both in terms of architecture as well as new technology [that] includes the two new compressors [HP and IP], a lean-burn combustor, ceramic matrix composite [CMC] seal segments and advanced cooled turbine blades. The demonstrator brings them together in a system context,” Newby says.

Compared to the current Trent family, the Advance core “changes the work split significantly,” says Newby. “We will do much more work on the HP compressor with a two-stage HP turbine driving it and a lightly loaded IP compressor. This allows us to grow the pressure ratio in a very efficient manner but also provides a core which leads us to the UltraFan.” Rolls believes the plan takes advantage of the three-shaft configuration in ways that have not been possible before. “You can have a very lightly loaded HP spool with a decent pressure ratio in the IP compressor because it runs at its optimum speed,” Newby says. This provides the launch platform for the UltraFan because “then you take the HP spool and combine that with a geared LP system, and it allows you to grow the bypass ratio as well.”

KarelXWB wrote:

RR is getting ready to fly the Advance 3 demonstrator, ahead of schedule.

Chief engineer and head of program for Advance 3, Andy Geer, said that the Advance 3 test engine would be trucked to Derby “in July” and would then be put on a test pylon before installing in one of the site’s large test cells. Tests will include water ingestion, noise surveys, X-ray examination, “rumble” survey and core zone thermal surveys, with the engine running at speeds of up to 15,000 rpm.

The Advance3 programme will not include a flying phase.

seahawk wrote:

Looks like a serious PiP for Trent 7000, XWB and Ten.

WIederling wrote:

seahawk wrote:

Looks like a serious PiP for Trent 7000, XWB and Ten.

The Trent 1000 TEN and thus Trent 7000 too already got TXWB and "Advance 3" elements implanted.

WIederling wrote:

The TEN already is a serious revamp. IMU only 25% parts commonality to the original model.
The TEN and 7000 will, Afaics, go forward with "simple" PIPs only. Another major revamp would be too expensive by far.

But I could see some major changes to the TXWB retracing the TEN redo.
On the other hand: the TXWB never appeared to be such a shortchanged design that the original
Trent1000 seems to have been. ( Same for the GEnX base engine.)
There may not be much pressure for change beyond further "simple" PIPs.

KarelXWB wrote:

You are right, Advance 3 demonstrator will not fly. I must have misinterpreted the tweet.

WIederling wrote:

From the horses echo chamber:
Combining Advance3 core technology and features from the Airbus A350’s Trent XWB program, the hybrid engine will become the standard Rolls 787 powerplant beginning this year.
ref: http://aviationweek.com/commercial-avia ... es-1639711 last paragraph.

Rolls-Royce is also poised to begin runs of the advanced low-pressure system (ALPS) engine, which, for the first time on one of the company’s powerplants, combines tests of a composite fan with a composite fan case. “We have just got to pop the fan blades in the front and we will be putting that on test later this year. That’s a good step forward because that is all about understanding not just the composite blade but also the performance of the composite case with the fan,” says Curnock. Testing is expected to be complete by year-end.

KarelXWB wrote:

Since when does Advance 3 demo has a gearbox?

The new core, which began tests in November in a hybrid demonstrator, will run initially in the Advance, a direct-drive turbofan with a fuel-burn level at least 20% better than the current Trent 700. However the Advance is a stepping-stone to the UltraFan, a very high bypass design that marries the same core to a large gear-driven fan to improve fuel burn by at least another 5% over the Advance.

“The Advance3 is doing really well. The technology is performing as we thought it would, and it has now run at full take-off power,” says Andy Geer, project director for the UltraFan demonstrator program. Although the UltraFan and the new core are scalable to thrust levels from 25,000 lb. up to 100,000 lb. and beyond, the Advance3 and initial UltraFan demonstrators are designed to run at 80,000 lb.-plus to take advantage of the existing Trent 1000 and Trent XWB hardware used to make the hybrid demonstrator powerplants in the test effort. Full power for the Advance3 is therefore set at 84,000 lb. to match the fan system of the Trent XWB-84 donor engine.

Advance is also a stepping stone to the UltraFan, a very high bypass design which marries the same core to a large gear-driven fan to improve fuel burn by at least a further 5%. The UltraFan is targeted at entry-into-service in the mid-2020s and is aimed at Boeing’s new midsize airplane (NMA), as well as next-generation Airbus twin-aisle designs.

On UltraFan, the manufacturer “recently passed through the Stage 1 exit gate,” says Geer. “This essentially means the concept for the engine is frozen and locked, so we can move to the next stage of more detailed design and then component manufacture. So, this is a significant and exciting time for the program.” Initial ground tests of the UltraFan are set to begin in 2021.