Climate-neutral aviation will require the use of alternative fuels such as Green Hydrogen and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) combined with the power density of an ultra-efficient gas turbine engine for the Short and Medium Range (SMR) aircraft market which corresponds to approximately 50% of the current share of air transport emissions. Rolls-Royce (represented within the HEAVEN project by RR-UK & RR-D) supported by key UK and European academia, industry and research centres are currently developing a new generation of very high bypass ratio geared engine architecture called UltraFan® which was started in 2014. From the beginning this ducted engine architecture has been designed to be scalable and meet the needs both of widebody and SMR markets. To achieve the necessary 20% fuel burn reduction Rolls-Royce proposes to significantly evolve the UltraFan design. The evolved engine architecture design will take the next steps in improving the efficiency of the gas turbine, take advantage of the properties of net zero carbon fuels such as Hydrogen to improve efficiency, combining this with Hybrid electric technology to reduce wasted energy. Numerous innovative enabling technologies already at TRL3 will be incorporated into this new architecture to improve the gas turbine efficiency. Together with work on Hydrogen in CAVENDISH (HRA-01) and Hybrid Electric in HE-ART (HER-01) Clean Aviation projects in conjunction with activities in national and regional programmes, this will be synergistically combined to validate up to TRL6 the highly innovative UltraFan design to support a 2035 EIS. HEAVEN brings together a highly specialised European industrial and academic consortium already strongly involved and familiar with the UltraFan programme. Additionally, the partner easyJet, European airline operator who have the largest fleet of European manufactured SMR aircraft operating in Europe, will bring an in depth knowledge of operational requirements and impact in this market.

The ENCOMPASS project principally aims to create a fully digital integrated design decision support (IDDS) system to cover the whole manufacturing chain for a laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process encompassing all individual processes within in. The ENCOMPASS concept takes a comprehensive view of the L-PBF process chain through synergising and optimising the key stages. The integration at digital level enables numerous synergies between the steps in the process chain and in addition, the steps themselves are being optimised to improve the capability and efficiency of the overall manufacturing chain. ENCOMPASS addresses the three key steps in the process chain: component design, build process, and post-build process steps (post-processing and inspection). The links between these stages are being addressed by the following five interrelations: 1. Between the design process and both the build and post-build processes in terms of manufacturing constraints / considerations to optimise overall component design 2. Between the design process and build process component-specific L-PBF scanning strategies and parameters to optimise processing and reduce downstream processing 3. Between the design process and the build and post-build processes in terms of adding targeted feature quality tracking to the continuous quality monitoring throughout the process chain 4. Between the build and post-build processes by using build specific processing strategies and adaptation based on actual quality monitoring data (for inspection and post-processing) 5. Between all stages and the data management system with the integrated design decision support (IDDS) system By considering the entire AM process chain, rather than the AM machine in isolation, ENCOMPASS will integrate process decision making tools and produce substantial increases in AM productivity, with clear reductions in change over times and re-design, along with increased ‘right-first time’, leading to overall reductions in production costs, materials wastage, and over-processing. This will lead to higher economic and environmental sustainability of manufacturing, and re-inforce the EU’s position in industrial leadership in laser based AM.

This proposal is in response to the call for International Cooperation in Aeronautics with China, MG-1.10-2015 under Horizon 2020 “Enhanced Additive Manufacturing of Metal Components and Resource Efficient Manufacturing Processes for Aerospace Applications”. The objectives are to develop the manufacturing processes identified in the call: (i) Additive manufacturing (AM); (ii) Near Net Shape Hot Isostatic Pressing (NNSHIPping) and (iii) Investment Casting of Ti alloys. The end-users specify the properties and provide computer-aided design, (CAD) files of components and these components will be manufactured using one or more of the three technologies. During the research programme, experiments will be carried out aimed at optimising the process routes and these technologies will be optimised using process modelling. Components manufactured during process development will be assessed and their dimensional accuracies and properties compared with specifications and any need for further process development identified. The specific areas that will be focussed on include: (a) the slow build rate and the build up of stresses during AM; (b) the reproducibility of products, the characteristics of the powder and the development of reusable and/or low cost tooling for NNSHIP; (c) the scatter in properties caused by inconsistent microstructures; (d) improving the strength of wax patterns and optimising welding of investment cast products. The process development will be finalised in month 30 so that state-of-the-art demonstrators can be manufactured and assessed by partners and end-users, during the final 6 months. The cost of the process route for components will be provided to the end-users and this, together with their assessment of the quality of these products, will allow the end-users to decide whether to transfer the technologies to their supply chain. The innovation will come through application of improved processes to manufacture the demonstrator components.

In line with the European Green Deal target of reaching carbon neutrality in the aviation industry by 2050, breakthrough technologies related to direct (100% hydrogen) combustion systems will be researched, prototyped and integrated onto a modern donor aeroengine for ground testing (starting in late 2024) in Project CAVENDISH. This aeroengine test on liquid hydrogen will be a first of a kind in Europe and the cornerstone to further in-flight demonstration, eventually leading to product development aimed at meeting Europe’s and the industry’s ambition for the entry in service (EIS) of commercial, mass-transport, hydrogen-fuelled aircraft in 2035. CAVENDISH’s second objective will be to work on system and powerplant aircraft integration with several established airframers and a supplemental type certificate organisation to define certification pathways and formulate a route to permit to fly. This activity will directly benefit the flight test of the donor engine scheduled for the next phase of the Clean Aviation programme. CAVENDISH will also explore alternative enabling technologies in the form of a dual fuel combustor system (capable of operating on 100% hydrogen and 100% SAF) and in the form of a cryo-compressed tank system. Both these technologies will offer flexibility and could ease the introduction of hydrogen in aviation. CAVENDISH brings together expertise-leading European organizations in aeronautics, power and propulsion, combustion, fuel and controls systems and aircraft. It builds on multiple national technology programmes heralding from the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, and is in effect the marriage and acceleration of these technology pathways into an early demonstration and a first minimum viable product (MVP) of a liquid hydrogen combusting aeroengine. The project is also connected to activities in other Clean Aviation calls, on SMR and Certification activities specifically, notably project proposals HEAVEN and CONCERTO.