Seal assembly including grooves in a radially outwardly facing side of a platform in a gas turbine engine

A seal assembly between a disc cavity and a hot gas path that extends through a turbine section of a gas turbine engine comprising:

• a stationary vane assembly including a plurality of vanes and an inner shroud;
• a rotating blade assembly downstream from the vane assembly and including a plurality of blades that are supported on a platform and rotate with a turbine rotor and the platform during operation of the engine, the platform comprising:
• a radially outwardly facing first surface;
• a radially inwardly facing second surface;
• a third surface facing an axial direction defined by a longitudinal axis of the turbine section, wherein the third surface of the platform extends radially inwardly from the first surface of the platform at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis such that the third surface of the platform also faces in the radial direction;
• and
• a plurality of grooves extending into the third surface, the grooves being arranged such that a space having a component in a circumferential direction is defined between adjacent grooves, the circumferential direction corresponding to a direction of rotation of the blade assembly, wherein the grooves are tapered from entrances thereof located distal from the first surface of the platform to exits thereof located proximate to the first surface of the platform such that the entrances are wider than the exits;
• wherein, during operation of the engine, the grooves guide purge air out of the disc cavity toward the hot gas path such that a flow direction of the purge air is generally aligned with the direction of hot gas flow through the hot gas path, which is generally parallel to an exit angle of a trailing edge of at least one of the vanes of the upstream vane assembly.

A seal assembly between a disc cavity and a hot gas path that extends through a turbine section of a gas turbine engine comprising:

• a stationary vane assembly including a plurality of vanes and an inner shroud;
• a rotating blade assembly downstream from the vane assembly and including a plurality of blades that are supported on a platform and rotate with a turbine rotor and the platform during operation of the engine, the platform comprising:
• a radially outwardly facing first surface;
• a radially inwardly facing second surface;
• a third surface facing an axial direction defined by a longitudinal axis of the turbine section, wherein the third surface of the platform extends radially inwardly from the first surface of the platform at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis such that the third surface of the platform also faces in the radial direction;
• and
• a plurality of grooves extending into the third surface, the grooves being arranged such that a space having a component in a circumferential direction is defined between adjacent grooves, the circumferential direction corresponding to a direction of rotation of the blade assembly, wherein circumferential spacing between adjacent groove entrances located distal from the first surface of the platform is less than circumferential spacing between adjacent groove exits located proximate to the first surface of the platform;
• wherein, during operation of the engine, the grooves guide purge air out of the disc cavity toward the hot gas path such that a flow direction of the purge air is generally aligned with the direction of hot gas flow through the hot gas path, which is generally parallel to an exit angle of a trailing edge of at least one of the vanes of the upstream vane assembly.