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Re:A Little Gear That Could Reshape the Jet Engine by blobert on Monday October 19, 2015 @05:14PM (#10415827)
This idea would unfortunately negate one of the top benefits of a high-bypass turbofan. Noise reduction.
Re:A Little Gear That Could Reshape the Jet Engine by mhandley on Monday October 19, 2015 @05:33PM (#10415946)
Yes, but why is a high bypass turbofan quieter? If I understood correctly, it's because most of the thrust comes from the large slow moving fan, so you don't need to blast nearly so much air through the turbine as a turbojet to get the same thrust.

The whole purpose of decoupling the fans is to give you an even higher bypass ratio - two or three large electric fans driven from one turbine can have a larger swept area than a single large geared turbofan, so can run slower for the same thrust, and hence be quieter.

Re:A Little Gear That Could Reshape the Jet Engine by WalterBright on Monday October 19, 2015 @06:58PM (#10416368)
> Yes, but why is a high bypass turbofan quieter?

The noise comes from high speed air alongside slow moving air. A high bypass fan moves more air at slower speed to get the same push. The slower speed means less noise.

Re:A Little Gear That Could Reshape the Jet Engine by Gibbon1 on Monday October 19, 2015 @09:35PM (#10416927)
Actually would be a lot quieter, since the turbine wouldn't have a high velocity exhaust output. And the fans are fairly quiet.

One real advantage would be quick throttle response. Gas turbines are slow to ramp up output power which is a real problem when dealing with wind shear on takeoff and landing. A 30 knot wind shear turns your 140 knots air speed turns into 110 knots airspeed. An electric fan's response would be very fast, probably faster than a prop plane.

Re:A Little Gear That Could Reshape the Jet Engine by mschip on Monday October 19, 2015 @05:21PM (#10415875)
And noise reduction is actually a really important benefit of this engine as some airports have restrictions on noise.