Blackstone
Brigadier
Frankenstein engines? Sounds farfetched.
J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread V
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manqiangrexue
Brigadier
I wouldn't say that. It's only natural that of the hundreds of thousands of technologies involved in the creation of each engine design that both engines have their strengths and weaknesses over each other. And since China has access to both of them, expertise on both designs, and they were designed to similar parameters/purposes, it is only natural that the strengths be consolidated into a new superior design. This should be much much easier than going back to the drawing board to try to squeeze every Newton out of a WS-10X from scratch.
I'm saying it makes sense, but I'm not saying that it's happening. I don't know that. But if they choose not to, I assume it's because they have things in the pipeline that are so much better, that the improvements of the aforementioned hybrid project do not merit even the relatively small amount of effort involved (as far as engine projects go).
Not really.
I believe the AL-31 used by the Chinese AF is assembled in china using mostly Chinese made parts, with only turbine blades being delivered from Russia. So the entire set of tooling required to manufacture most parts interface within the AL-31 is already available. So it shouldn't been too difficult to fabricate parts interface to allow the WS-10 to accept AL-31 parts.
WS-10 was at least inspired by the AL-31. So it is also reasonable to suppose the operating specifications of significant portions of the two engines are sufficiently similar so many parts of one engine can work adequately in the other.
The operating parameters and physical arrangement of the components are very different between the two engines from the frontal nosecone profile, numbers of fan blades, bypass ratio, mass flow rate, nozzle petal arrangement and design, reheat fuel injector design, etc. Whatever interchangeability there is, if any, between the two engines' components would be very limited.
The WS-10 was based on the core of the CFM56-2, with the WS-10B incorporating additional features from the CFM56-7. Mechanically speaking, it has negligible commonality with the AL-31 family. However, control system-wise, the WS-10A borrowed heavily from the AL-31F. The WS-10B has a new FADEC system so from that iteration onward, the AL-31 and WS-10 families are far apart.
vesicles
Colonel
First of all, I have no problem with the possibility of the Chinese integrating part of AL-31 with their WS-10. There is nothing wrong with learning from the best. If China had access to American engines, they should incorporate their best features too.
With that said, we always hear stories about China importing hundreds of AL-31 units. If they have the full assembly line for the engines, there would no need to keep importing complete units. So I doubt that they have the complete assembly line.
My understanding is when the Chinese import al-31, it is not the complete engine or a complete kit to assemble a engine. It is only some critical parts without which they engine can't be made, in exchange for a per unit license fee that is equal to a substantial percentage of a complete engine's sticker price.
But most of the finished engine actually assembled from Rusisan licensed, but Chinese made parts.
Engineer
Major
Actually, WS-10 is based on CFM56.
"Funny" that CCTV just deleted that episode (4/4) regarding the J-20 engine.
I saved the link before they deleted it.
https:// /watch?v=SUIr0mjfyXE
Here is a link to web site inside China, it still there.
At about 2:30, it says "J-20's engine component fabrication and assembly are all done in the Liming plant".
At about 24:52, its says "From 3rd generation Taihang to 5th generation Emei (W15), Chinese aviation engine industry has achieved historical leap".
There is no words about what specific engine is used by J-20.
A "Frankenstein-like" (thanks to Blackstone's perfect wording) AL31 produced in Liming for J-20 is possible, but too far stretched for me to believe due to all the reasons that others have mentioned.
The most likely candidate would be WS-10G, followed by WS-15. After all, WS-10G has been revealed publicly for a long time, two if I remember correctly.
I saved the link before they deleted it.
https:// /watch?v=SUIr0mjfyXE
Here is a link to web site inside China, it still there.
At about 2:30, it says "J-20's engine component fabrication and assembly are all done in the Liming plant".
At about 24:52, its says "From 3rd generation Taihang to 5th generation Emei (W15), Chinese aviation engine industry has achieved historical leap".
There is no words about what specific engine is used by J-20.
A "Frankenstein-like" (thanks to Blackstone's perfect wording) AL31 produced in Liming for J-20 is possible, but too far stretched for me to believe due to all the reasons that others have mentioned.
The most likely candidate would be WS-10G, followed by WS-15. After all, WS-10G has been revealed publicly for a long time, two if I remember correctly.
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