Above the clouds: turbomachinery of the future

Aircraft are becoming increasingly efficient, lower in emissions and quieter. The technology behind this is being co-developed and tested at TU Graz. The Wright brothers would have been impressed. The first aircraft engine of the aviation pioneers achieved a power of approx. Kilowatt - today's engines for modern passenger airliners are around 40 Megawatt, and the Eurofighter with two jet engines has a thermal power of 500 Megawatts during sea level high speed flight at almost the speed of sound. This is equal to the total output of the Mellach power station near Graz. Performance optimisation is not limited to the military sector. Civil jet engines for passenger planes, apart from being more reliable, are becoming lower in emissions, more efficient and quieter to protect residents in the vicinity of airports against noise and to lower CO₂ emissions and thus reduce fuel costs.