General Electric Company

John J Bourneuf

Larry W Plemmons

Dean Thomas Lenahan

Daniel Edward Demers

David R Abbott

John G Nourse

A turbine cooling supply circuit for a gas turbine engine is disclosed in which the flow of coolant through the engine is directed to minimize temperature rise prior to discharge into the turbine. Bleed air from an impeller stage of a compressor is channeled along a backwall thereof into a cavity disposed radially inwardly of a combustor casing. The cavity is divided by a lightweight tubular member having a circumferentially uniform contour into a non-flow zone proximate the casing and a flow zone proximate a rotor. Maintenance of a high tangential flow component in the bleed flow in the flow zone facilitates discharge of the flow through apertures in a rotor into a bore portion thereof, minimizing work input and temperature rise of the coolant. Further, the coolant is isolated from the hot casing wall and nonuniform structures disposed thereon, thereby reducing heat flux and temperature rise associated with aerodynamic drag caused by increased surface area, nonuniform interruptions in the stationary surface or any combination thereof. Features are incorporated in the tubular member to provide margin against buckling.

Gas turbine engine cooling supply circuit

The invention comprises a blade for a gas turbine engine including an airfoil portion having a non-linear stacking axis intersecting a reference radial axis that is effective for generating a compressive component of bending stress due to centrifugal force acting on the blade. The compressive component of bending stress is provided in a life-limiting section of the blade, which, for example, includes trailing and leading edges of the blade. Inasmuch as the stacking axis, which represents the locus of centers of gravity of transverse sections of an airfoil portion of the blade, is non-linear, an increased amount of a compressive, component of bending stress can be generated at a life-limiting section between a root and tip of the blade without substantially increasing bending stress at the root of the blade due to the non-linear stacking.

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Jamaica Plain, MA, United States of America

John J Bourneuf