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Aviation glossary

Engine core

Also: core engine, gas generator, core

Engines

Central part of a turbofan, essentially the high-pressure compressor, combustor and high-pressure turbine, through which the air that is burnt passes.

What it is

A turbofan handles two streams of air. The primary stream passes through the core, where it is compressed and burnt and drives the turbines; the secondary stream is pushed around it by the fan. The core is essentially a gas generator: it produces the energy that the low-pressure turbine then converts into rotation of the fan.

Advances in the core, making it more compact, hotter and with higher pressure ratios, improve the engine's thermal efficiency; advances in the fan and bypass improve its propulsive efficiency. Together they determine fuel burn.

The same core can serve more than one engine. The CFM56, for example, paired a fan and low-pressure turbine from Snecma, now Safran, with a core derived from General Electric's F101.

On Vuelopedia

CFM International

Related terms

CompressorSection of a turbine engine that raises the pressure of incoming air through successive rows of rotating blades and fixed vanes before it reaches the combustor. CombustorSection of a turbine engine where compressed air is mixed with fuel and burnt continuously, producing the hot gases that drive the turbine. TurbineSet of bladed wheels that extracts energy from the hot combustion gases to drive the engine's compressor, fan or propeller. Bypass ratioRatio between the mass of air that flows around a turbofan's core through the outer duct and the mass that passes through the core to be burnt. TurbofanJet engine in which a large front fan drives air around the core, producing most of the thrust with greater efficiency and less noise.
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Engine core. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/engine-core

MLA

“Engine core.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/engine-core. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Engine core.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/engine-core.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Engine core. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/engine-core (Accessed: 17 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_engine_core,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Engine core}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/engine-core},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/engine-core}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-17},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/engine-core |title=Engine core |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}

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