Aircraft engine rotor assembly with gyroscopic stiffener

An aircraft engine comprising:

• a rotor assembly including a shaft mounted in bearings for rotation about a central axis, the rotor assembly including a compressor rotor and a turbine rotor mounted on the shaft for rotation therewith, the compressor rotor and the turbine rotor having respective blades exposed to a main gaspath of the aircraft engine;
• a gyroscopic disk mounted to the rotor assembly at an axial position thereon that is spaced apart from the bearings, the gyroscopic disk extending radially outward form the central axis within a plane disposed normal to the central axis in an unbent state of the rotor assembly, the gyroscopic disk being located radially inwardly from an inner gaspath boundary of the main gaspath;
• and
• wherein, in response to a bending of the rotor assembly during operation of the aircraft engine, the gyroscopic disk being actuated to:
• angularly tilt away from the plane by a precession deflection angle different than an angular deflection of the rotor assembly caused by the bending;
• and/or rotate relative to the rotor assembly at an angular velocity different than that of the shaft.

A method of stiffening a rotor spool in an aircraft engine, the rotor spool including a compressor rotor and a turbine rotor mounted to a shaft for rotation therewith about a central axis, the method comprising:

• providing a gyroscopic disk mounted to the rotor spool and extending radially away from the shaft in a plane normal to the central axis in an unbent state of the rotor assembly, the gyroscopic disk located at an axial position that is spaced apart from bearings supporting the shaft within the aircraft engine;
• and
• in response to a lateral displacement of the shaft of the rotor spool during operation of the aircraft engine:
• angularly tilting the gyroscopic disk away from the plane by a precession deflection angle different than an angular deflection of the shaft caused by the lateral displacement;
• and/or
• rotating the gyroscopic disk at an angular velocity different than that of the shaft.