General Electric Company

John Paul Urban

Edward Durell Benjamin

Jeffrey John Butkiewicz

Robert Randolph Berry

Emilio Fernandez

Hui Kuang

Pat Mohr

A method facilitates assembling a rotor assembly for gas turbine engine. The method comprises providing a first rotor blade that includes an airfoil having a leading edge and a trailing edge including a plurality of trailing edge openings, a platform, a shank, and a dovetail, wherein the platform extends between the airfoil and the dovetail and includes a radially outer surface, a radially inner surface, and a recessed area extending at least partially between the radially outer and inner surfaces. The method also comprises coupling the first rotor blade to a rotor shaft using the dovetail, and coupling a second rotor blade to the rotor shaft such that cooling air is substantially continuously channeled through the platform recessed area during engine operation to facilitate reducing stresses induced to at least a portion of the airfoil trailing edge.

Methods and apparatus for cooling gas turbine engine rotor assemblies

A bucket tip shroud in a gas turbine includes a seal rail having a cutter tooth at one end. Bucket tip shroud creep rate can be reduced by removing the cutter tooth from the bucket tip shroud seal rail after use or with a pre-groove honeycomb shroud. Preferably, the remaining geometry matches a geometry of the seal rail within a predetermined tolerance.

Gas turbine and method for reducing bucket tip shroud creep rate

The second stage buckets have airfoil profiles substantially in accordance with Cartesian coordinate values of X, Y and Z set forth Table I wherein X, Y and Z values are in inches. Z represents a distance in inches from and perpendicular to a plane passing through the engine centerline. X and Y are distances in inches which, when connected by smooth continuous arcs, define airfoil profile sections at each distance Z. The profile sections at the Z distances are joined smoothly with one another to form the complete airfoil shape. The X and Y distances and optionally the Z distance may be scalable as a function of the same constant or number to provide a scaled up or scaled down airfoil section for the bucket. The nominal airfoil given by the X, Y and Z distances lies within an envelop of &plusmn;0.016 inches.

Second stage turbine bucket airfoil

The shroud includes a seal extending continuously between leading and trailing edges of the shroud at the tip of the airfoil. A cutter tooth is provided substantially medially of the shroud and in substantial radial alignment with a line through the center of mass of the airfoil. In this manner, any moment arm generated by movement of the shroud is eliminated or minimized to reduce the stresses in the fillet region between the shroud and the airfoil tip and hence increase the creep life of the bucket.

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Greer, SC, United States of America

John Paul Urban