Progress D-236

The Progress D-236 was an experimental aircraft engine, a hybrid between a turbofan and a turboprop known as a propfan. Also known as the Lotarev D-236T, the three-shaft geared engine was designed in the 1980s and 1990s to power proposed propfan aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu-334, Ilyushin Il-118, and Ilyushin Il-88.

D-236
The Progress D-236 propfan engine attached to the Yak-42E-LL testbed aircraft, on static display at the 1991 Paris Air Show.
Type Propfan
National origin Ukraine
Manufacturer Ivchenko-Progress
First run 1985[1][2]
Major applications Tupolev Tu-334
Ilyushin Il-88 and Il-118
Number built 5[2]
Developed from Lotarev D-36

Based on the core of the Ukrainian Progress D-36 turbofan, the D-236 was the first Soviet propfan, and as of 2019 it is still one of only four different unshrouded, contra-rotating propfan engines to have flown in service or in flight testing.

Design and development

The D-236, an engine with unshrouded contra-rotating propellers, was first investigated in 1979[3] as the powerplant for the first version of the Ukrainian Antonov An-70. The front propeller was tested on the Antonov An-32 military transport aircraft in 1980, as the An-32's normal Ivchenko AI-20DM engines had about half the rated power of the D-236. However, the anticipated improvements in takeoff performance and noise reduction did not materialize. The noise at cruise speeds reached 115 to 120 decibels, which was even higher than the noise levels produced by the lighter Aerosila AV-68DM propellers typically attached on the AI-20DM. The increased noise affected radio communications and crew working conditions, so the propeller testing was quickly ended.[4]

An early version of the contra-rotating propellers for the D-236 engine was shown at the Paris Air Show in June 1985. At that time, the propellers had 16 blades with a diameter of 4.56 metres (14.95 ft; 456 cm; 179.4 in).[5] The blades had a glass fiber and carbon fiber composite shell over a metal spar, and they had about 45 degrees of twist.[2] The propellers would rotate at 1,100 rpm at takeoff and 960 rpm at cruise. Soviet engineers claimed that the engine would be delivered by 1989 and help Antonov airliners meet the strictest U.S. community noise standards, although they were still working on a solution to lower cabin noise.[5] The gently curved blades were efficient up to a speed of Mach 0.7, which led some American engineers to claim that the contra-rotating propeller was not fast enough to be a propfan, and that it was simply an advanced propeller. The propfan/advanced propeller would power an unspecified Antonov airliner and be connected to the D-236 engine, which would be rated at 7,500 shaft kilowatts (10,000 hp). The engine was scheduled to start flight tests by the end of the year.[6]

Flight tests

However, the engine didn't fly until it was mounted on an Ilyushin Il-76 testbed in 1987.[3] By June 1989, it had accumulated 50 hours of flight tests on the Il-76, now traveling at speeds up to Mach 0.75 with good efficiency.[2] A model of the propfan testbed aircraft was displayed at the Paris Air Show that month.[7] The Ilyushin Il-76 with the D-236 engine was also flown to the Hannover ILA 90 airshow, with the engine now having eight blades on the front propeller and six blades on the back propeller. The Soviets claimed the D-236 had a true aerodynamic efficiency of 28 percent and a fuel savings of 30 percent over an equivalent turboprop. In addition, the Soviets revealed that the D-236 was intended for an unidentified four-propfan aircraft.[8] (This aircraft was probably the An-70, which in 1990 was altered to use four Progress D-27 engines instead of the previous quad-engine D-236 configuration.) In total, the D-236 flew 36 times for a total of 70 flight test hours on the Il-76.[7]

The D-236 engine also was tested in flight on a Yakovlev Yak-42E-LL starting on March 15, 1991. The engine now had a diameter of 4.2 m (14 ft; 420 cm; 170 in), a takeoff thrust of 10.5–11 tonnes-force (103–108 kilonewtons; 23,000–24,000 pounds-force), and an output power of 8,900 kW (12,000 hp), although it was limited to 7,050 kW (9,450 hp) on this testbed.[9] The Yak-42E-LL testbed aircraft was flown to the 1991 Paris Air Show as a demonstration for the planned Yak-46 aircraft with twin propfan engines.[10] The Yak-46 would have a base capacity of 150 seats, a range of 1,900 nautical miles (3,500 km; 2,200 mi), and a cruise speed of Mach 0.75[11] (460 kn, 850 km/h, 530 mph, 240 m/s, 780 ft/s).[12] The D-236 finished testing on the Yak-42E-LL testbed before the end of 1991.[13]

Other proposals

In addition, the Soviet Union considered using D-236 propfan engines on these publicly proposed aircraft:

  • The Tupolev Tu-334, a 126-seat aircraft that can travel 1,860 nmi (3,450 km; 2,140 mi) with 11,430 kg payload (25,200 lb; 11.43 t; 12.60-short-ton), which would be powered by two Progress (also known as Lotarev) D-236 propfans[14] with a specific fuel burn of 0.46 kg/kg-thrust/hour, a cruise thrust of 1.6 tonnes-force (16 kN; 3,500 lbf), and a static thrust of 8 to 9 tf (78 to 88 kN; 18,000 to 20,000 lbf)[15]
  • The Ilyushin Il-88, a successor to the four-turboprop Antonov An-12 Cub tactical transporter that would be powered by two 8,200 kW (11,000 hp) Progress D-236 propfans[16]
  • The Ilyushin Il-118, an upgrade to the four-turboprop Ilyushin Il-18 airliner; proposed in 1984, the aircraft would instead be powered by two D-236 propfans, with the eight-bladed front propeller on each engine rotating at a speed of 1,100 rpm and the six-bladed back propeller turning at 1,000 rpm to lower noise and vibration[17]

Although in November 1991, the Hamilton Standard propeller manufacturing division (and inventor of the propfan concept in the 1970s) of United Technologies was to meet with a Soviet aerospace delegation to discuss involvement in the D-236 project,[18] the engine never made it into service. Only the Tu-334 was built, but it was produced with D-436 turbofan engines instead of propfans. The breakup of the Soviet Union plunged the successor states into financial troubles, which prevented further development of the D-236 and aircraft that would use that powerplant. One post-Soviet aircraft would eventually enter service with propfans, but the Antonov An-70 aircraft would instead use the Progress D-27, which was a larger, more powerful, and more advanced propfan engine.

Applications

Specifications

General characteristics

  • Type: Propfan
  • Length: N/A
  • Width:
  • Height:
  • Propeller diameter: 4.2 m (14 ft; 420 cm; 170 in)[10]
  • Diameter:
  • Dry weight: Engine and gearbox: 1,600 kg (3,500 lb); Propeller: 900 kg (2,000 lb); Total: 2,500 kg (5,500 lb)[2]

Components

  • Compressor:

Performance

  • Maximum thrust: 10.5–11 tf (103–108 kN; 23,000–24,000 lbf)[9]
  • Specific fuel consumption: Takeoff: 0.2096 kg/hp/h (0.2811 kg/kW/h; 0.462 lb/hp/h); Cruise: 0.1628 kg/hp/h (0.2183 kg/kW/h; 0.359 lb/hp/h)[20]
  • Power-to-weight ratio:
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gollark: (The Future is most of it, though)
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gollark: Currently a shimmerscale has The Future, but I aim to get The Present and The Past and put them on time dragons.
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See also

Comparable engines

Related lists

References
  1. "History - Ivchenko Progress". Archived from the original on December 3, 2013.
  2. Fink, Donald E. (June 5, 1989). "Experimental tractor propfan flight tested on Ilyushin Il-76". Soviet Aerospace Industry. Aviation Week & Space Technology. Vol. 130 no. 23. Zaporozhye, USSR. p. 51. ISSN 0005-2175.
  3. Bellocq, Pablo (December 2012). Multi-disciplinary preliminary design assessments of pusher counter-rotating open rotors for civil aviation (PDF) (PhD thesis). Cranfield University. pp. 21–22.
  4. "Antonov An-32 Cline twin-engined turboprop military transport aircraft". AviaKollektsia (in Russian). No. 3. 2016. p. 10 – via Aviapress.
  5. DiMaria, Eugene (June 10, 1985). "Soviets claim advanced propfan delivery by '89". American Metal Market. Vol. 93. Euromoney Trading Limited. p. 12. ISSN 0002-9998 – via Gale Research.
  6. "Soviet propeller 'not a propfan'" (PDF). Paris Report. Flight International. Vol. 127 no. 3963. June 8, 1985. p. 12. ISSN 0015-3710.
  7. Komissarov, Dmitriy; Gordon, Yefim (2001). Ilyushin IL-76: Russia's versatile airlifter. Aerofax. pp. 43–45. ISBN 9781857801064. OCLC 47676935.
  8. "Soviets show Il-76 mounted 'propfan'" (PDF). Flight International. Vol. 137 no. 4217. May 23–29, 1990. p. 9. ISSN 0015-3710.
  9. Abidin, Vadim (March 2008). "ОРЛИНЫЙ ГЛАЗ ФЛОТА Самолет радиолокационного дозора и наведения Як-44Э" [Eagle eye fleet: Yak-44E radar patrol and guidance aircraft]. Oboronnyy Zakaz (Defense Order) (in Russian). No. 18. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 18, 2019 – via A.S. Yakovlev design bureau, Kryl'ia Rodiny (Wings of the Motherland) magazine.
  10. "Yak propfan pops into Paris" (PDF). Paris Show Report. Flight International. Vol. 140 no. 4272. June 26 – July 2, 1991. p. 16. ISSN 0015-3710.
  11. Postlethwaite, Alan (May 9–15, 1990). "Yakovlev strikes back: Propfan and other high-technology derivatives of the Yak-42 airliner (NATO codename Clobber) are planned". Flight International. Vol. 137 no. 4215. pp. 61–62, 65–66. ISSN 0015-3710.
  12. Rybak, Boris (May 22–28, 1991). "Yakovlev takes propfan lead: While development of fuel-saving propfan engines languishes in the West, work continues in the Soviet Union where recent fuel shortages have underscored the need for new engine technology". Commercial Engines. Flight International. Vol. 139 no. 4267. pp. 27–28. ISSN 0015-3710.
  13. Drozdov, Sergey (2013). "С.В. Дроздов. Авиационный «спецназовец» Ил-76" [Aviation 'commando' Il-76]. Kryl'ia Rodiny (in Russian). No. 3. pp. 39–45. ISSN 0130-2701. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 27, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2019 – via Ilyushin Aviation Complex.
  14. "TU-134 replacement decision due" (PDF). Moscow Aerospace '90. Flight International. Vol. 138 no. 4237. October 10–16, 1990. p. 28. ISSN 0015-3710.
  15. Postlethwaite, Alan (April 29, 1989). "Tupolev unveils propfan airliner" (PDF). Flight International. Vol. 135 no. 4162. Moscow, Soviet Union. p. 10. ISSN 0015-3710.
  16. "Ilyushin Il-276 (SVTS)". Ruslet: Great Encyclopedia of Russian and Chinese Aviation (in Russian). Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  17. Gordon, Yefim; Komissarov, Dmitriy (2003). Ilyushin IL-18/-20/-22: A versatile turboprop transport. Aerofax. p. 47. ISBN 9781857801576. OCLC 52195311.
  18. Norris, Guy (October 23–29, 1991). "Soviet/US engine deals take shape" (PDF). Air Transport. Flight International. Vol. 140 no. 4290. Los Angeles, California, USA. p. 11. ISSN 0015-3710.
  19. "Soviet Union may use own engines on BAe airliners". The Engineer. September 7, 1989. ISSN 0013-7758.
  20. "D-236". Airwar (in Russian). Archived from the original on October 9, 2018.

Bibliography
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