Fan Blades for Gas Turbine Engines with Reduced Stress Concentration at Leading Edge

摘要

A light weight fan blade for a gas turbine engine is disclosed. The disclosed fan blade has an increased chord length at a transition section between the inner edge or single tooth attachment portion of the fan blade that connects to the rotor disk and the airfoil. Increasing the chord length at the transition section substantially reduces the stress concentration when the fan blade is operated under normal operating conditions. Reducing the stress concentration enables engineers to design lighter fan blades and larger fan blades for larger gas turbine engines. By increasing the size of gas turbine engines, additional thrust can be provided without adding additional engines to the aircraft.

主权项

1. A fan blade comprising:
an airfoil connected to a single tooth attachment at a transition section; the airfoil, transition section and single tooth attachment each including leading and trailing edges; the airfoil and transition section defining a first chord at a junction of the airfoil and transition section, the transition section and single tooth attachment defining a second chord at a junction of the transition section and single tooth attachment, the leading and trailing edges of the single tooth attachment defining a length; the second chord is at least as long as the length of the single tooth attachment and the first chord is longer than the second chord.