ME 11 Team: Gerard Finnegan, Cassandra Girvan, George Miyata, Patrick Moore
Advisor: Mark Lewis
Liaison:  Robert Stevenson

Our team is developing a concept for a variable area fan nozzle (VAFN) suited for application on large commercial aircraft engines, specifically the Boeing 737‐800. Variable area fan nozzles have been widely used in aerospace applications to adjust the operating point of the propulsion system to better align with various flight conditions that the vehicle will encounter. A turbofan jet engine’s thrust consists of two parts: the primary, or fan, flow and the secondary, or core, flow. Currently, commercial jet engines have a fixed area fan nozzle optimized for a balance between climb and cruise. This fixed area limits the efficiency of the engine’s thrust. A variable area fan nozzle would allow the primary, or fan, flow to be optimized for every flight condition, thus increasing engine performance and decreasing fuel consumption.

Download the research project's final report