Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The team, called ETU-Phoenix, won the competition, outpacing all its competitors in a redesign of the engine of Concorde, the legendary aircraft which flies twice as fast as sound, decommissioned in 2003 but is scheduled to resume flights in 2028.

The ETU-Phoenix team won the Let's Re-Engine Concorde competition organized by AIAA (The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), one of the most respected aerospace institutes in the world. The same department students under the guidance of Mechanical Engineering Department Professor Dr. Sıtkı Uslu consisted of Mert Battal Şen, Mustafa Cem Canbaz, Buğrahan Uysal, Yağız Ataberk Eriti, Tuna Kök, Muaz Tağ, Remzi Erdem Barış and Deniz Akbulut.

- There will be no sound burst with the new engine and there will be a significant decrease in fuel consumption

The only commercial passenger aircraft in the world to fly supersonic, the Concorde, was grounded in 2003 due to very high fuel consumption. At the time, the Concorde used the Olympus 593, an old turbojet engine. The most important way to reduce fuel consumption was to change the engine type from turbojet engine to turbofan engine, and a turbofan engine design was envisaged for the Concorde aircraft, which is expected to fly again in 2028.

Team ETU-Phoenix, working on the competition, has designed a turbofan engine that can be made to meet the requirements of the Concorde aircraft, that is, in a quieter and less fuel-consuming manner, without sound bursting during takeoff. The ETU-Phoenix engine, which completes its flight from London to New York at 3.5 hours at 16,000 meters (2,100 km/h), reduces total fuel consumption by 44 percent, saving $44,000 per flight compared to Concorde's original engine, the Olympus 593 engine.

In addition, engine weight has been optimized and reduced by 20 percent due to technological developments and material improvements expected to be in use by 2028. As a result of the optimization studies carried out by TOBB ETU students, a total profit of $63 million is expected on the basis of fuel consumption, according to the calculation based on the 5,000-hour life of the engine components.

- We work at TOBB ETU not only as engineers, but also with our artist hearts

ETU-Phoenix Team Advisor and TOBB ETU Mechanical Engineering Department Professor Dr. Uslu said about the competition:

“Our students did not only look at the project as a competition, they carried out their work with intensive work and great seriousness and gained international success. We are proud of all our students, as a university, as a faculty and as a department. A thinker says, ‘If you work with your hands, worker; if you work with your hands and your head, you are an artisan; if you work with your hands, your head and your heart you are an artist.” At TOBB ETU, we work not only as engineers, but also with our hearts as artists.”