Leap into the Future – Brief Introduction into the CFM LEAP-1A Engine

Abstract

Development of aircraft engines has become an increasingly more complex task; a construction can play an important role for many decades before it can be replaced by a brand new design. CFM56, the highly successful high-bypass-ratio turbofan engine, which has been developed by a cooperation between GE and SNECMA and counts four major variants, has been superseded by a brand new type after more than three decades of manufacturing instead of further refinements. This is the LEAP engine, the name of which suggests a rather large change in contrast to conventional solutions. The developers have taken full advantage of the clean sheet design that has been not limited by constraints of any older solution. This can result easily in an other determinative engine type in commercial aviation in the following decades.