The Pratt & Whitney PW4000 is a family of dual-spool, axial-flow, high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines produced by Pratt & Whitney as the successor to the JT9D. It was first run in April 1984, was FAA certified in July 1986, and was introduced in June 1987. With thrust ranging from 50,000 to 99,040 lbf, it is used on many wide-body aircraft.

Development

The 52,000–62,000 lbf (230–275 kN), 94 in -fan PW4000 made its first run in April 1984, was FAA certified in July 1986, and was introduced in June 1987. It powers the Airbus A300-600 and Airbus A310-300, Boeing 747-400 and 767-200/300, and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 widebodies. Development of the 64,000-68,000 lbf, 100 in-fan version began in December 1991 for the Airbus A330, was FAA certified in August 1993, and made its first flight two months later. It received 90min Extended-range Twin-engine Operations (ETOPS) approval at introduction in December 1994, and 180min ETOPS approval in July 1995. In January 2000, it was the A330 market leader with more than half of the installed base and one million hours, more than twice that of each competitor. The Advantage 70 upgrade package for the PW4168A, which powered around one-third of the active Airbus A330 fleet, was launched at the 2006 Farnborough Airshow, increasing thrust to 70,000 lbf (311 kN), and reducing fuel burn by about 1.2% as well as overall operating costs by as much as 20%. For the Boeing 777, the 84,000-98,000 lbf, 112 in-fan version development began in October 1990, achieved 100,000 lbf in May 1993, and was approved for 180min ETOPS at service entry in June 1995.The 777 launch engine, it entered service on 7 June 1995, with United Airlines. The 90,000 lbf PW4090 entered service in March 1997. The 98,000 lbf PW4098 received FAA certification in July 1998 and was introduced on the Boeing 777-300 in September 1999 but was a few years later discontinued due to core temperature problems and fuel burn that was not appealing to airlines.. In 2000, over 2,000 PW4000 engines had accumulated over 40 million hours of service with 75 operators. In 30 years between June 1987 and 2017, more than 2,500 engines have been delivered, logging more than 135 million flight hours.

Design

The PW4000 has a dispatch reliability rate of 99.96% and is approved for ETOPS 180. The average engine stays on wing 13,500 flight hours before a shop visit (a Shop Visit Rate of 0.073 per thousand hours). It is claimed to be cumulatively 3.4 dB quieter than other engines in its class. Like other modern aircraft power plants, it has a Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC), for better fuel economy and reliability. Furthermore, single-crystal alloys allows higher temperature capability and PW's Floatwall combustor liners improve durability and maintainability. Also, the Talon ("Technology for Affordable Low NOx") single-row combustor improves fuel-air mixing, for over 10% better NOx, CO, and HC emissions.

Variants and applications

The PW4000 series engine family uses a numbering systematic with the last three digits (PW 4XYZ) as identification of the application and thrust power: Example: A PW4090 identifies a PW4000 series engine certified for Boeing (777-200ER) and has a certified thrust of 90,000 lbf.

PW4000-94

Variants: PW4052, PW4056, PW4060, PW4062, PW4062A, PW4152, PW4156A, PW4156, PW4158, PW4460 and PW4462. Thrust range: 231–276 kN (52,000 lbf – 62,000 lbf) Applications:

PW4000-100

Variants: PW4164, PW4168, PW4168A and PW4170. Thrust range: 287–311 kN (64,500 lbf – 70,000 lbf) Applications: the engine variants are designed exclusively for Airbus A330-200 and -300 (Note that this does not include the A330neo: -800 or -900 nor the BelugaXL (A330-700)).

PW4000-112

Variants: PW4074/74D, PW4077/77D, PW4084/84D, PW4090 and PW4098. Thrust range: 329–436 kN (74,000 lbf – 98,000 lbf) Applications: the engine variants are designed exclusively for Boeing 777-200, -200ER, -300 (the first generation 777 or 777 Classics). (Note that this does not include the second generation 777 -200LR, -300ER or F which are powered exclusively by the GE90).

Accidents and incidents

Involving PW4000-112 series

Involving PW4000-100 series

Involving PW4000-94 series

Specifications

The PW4000 is produced in three distinct models, with differing LP systems to address different thrust needs.