Supports development of revolutionary technologies for more efficient flight
• Successfully competed for more than 3 million supercomputing hours since 2022
• Leads to faster technology development
• Capability keeps U.S. aviation industry at forefront of innovation
CINCINNATI – GE Aerospace (NYSE: GE) is now one of the largest users of U.S. Department of Energy exascale supercomputers, a breakthrough capability helping the company develop new jet engine technologies for commercial aviation.
GE Aerospace has successfully competed in the U.S. Department of Energy’s rigorous peer-reviewed proposal process for more than 3 million supercomputing hours since 2022. This includes time on two of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
Access to computer systems that can process more than an exaflop – billions upon billions of calculations per second – allows GE Aerospace engineers to conduct simulations that would previously have been impossible. This leads to faster technology development and improved designs.
“Developing next-generation aviation technologies for a safer, more energy efficient industry requires game-changing engineering capabilities. GE Aerospace is proud of its continued collaborations with the U.S. Department of Energy to advance the future of flight and keep one of the largest U.S. export industries competitive globally,” said Arjan Hegeman, vice president of commercial future of flight engineering at GE Aerospace.
Modeling Open Fan
GE Aerospace is using the Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., a U.S. Department of Energy user facility, to model integration of Open Fan engine architecture with an airplane. The project is in collaboration with Boeing and NASA. It was awarded hours on both Frontier and the Aurora supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, Ill., through the INCITE program.
Engineers are studying the aerodynamics of an Open Fan mounted on an aircraft wing in simulated flight conditions. This allows the engine design to be optimized for additional efficiency, noise, and other performance benefits. Open Fan architecture is a new design of jet engines that removes the traditional casing, allowing for a larger fan size with less drag to improve fuel efficiency.
Frontier was made available to researchers in 2022 and is currently the world’s second fastest supercomputer. Aurora was made available to researchers in January 2025 and is currently the world’s third fastest supercomputer.
These efforts build on a long history of collaboration. GE Aerospace and its research center in Niskayuna, N.Y., have worked with the Department of Energy for more than a decade to demonstrate the impact of high-performance computing on industrial design for flight.
CFM RISE program
Open Fan is one of a suite of technologies being advanced through CFM International’s Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE)* program. Unveiled in 2021, the CFM RISE program is one of the aviation industry’s most comprehensive technology demonstrators showing real progress with more than 250 tests completed.
Through the RISE program, CFM is developing advanced engine architectures like Open Fan, compact core and hybrid electric systems to be compatible with 100% or unblended SAF. The CFM RISE program targets more than 20% better fuel efficiency compared to the most efficient commercial engines in service today.
*RISE is a registered trademark of CFM International, a 50-50 joint company between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines.
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ABOUT GE AEROSPACE
GE Aerospace is a global aerospace propulsion, services, and systems leader with an installed base of approximately 45,000 commercial and 25,000 military aircraft engines. With a global team of approximately 53,000 employees building on more than a century of innovation and learning, GE Aerospace is committed to inventing the future of flight, lifting people up, and bringing them home safely. Learn more about how GE Aerospace and its partners are defining flight for today, tomorrow, and the future at www.geaerospace.com.
GE Aerospace media contact:
Chelsey Levingston
513-720-6458
[email protected]