Patent ID: 7377742

Claim:
A method for assembling a gas turbine engine, said method comprising: coupling a rotor assembly including a plurality of rotor blades about a rotatable main shaft of the gas turbine engine aligned in an axial direction of the gas turbine engine; coupling a shroud assembly to the gas turbine engine, the shroud assembly comprising a plurality of shroud segments circumferentially coupled about the rotor assembly such that a shroud spacing gap is formed in the axial direction between adjacent shroud segments, wherein the shroud spacing gap extends from at least one of a radially inner edge and a radially outer edge of the shroud segment to a seal slot defined in an end face of the shroud segment, and wherein the seal slot extends from downstream of a leading edge of the shroud segment partially towards a trailing edge of the shroud segment; and coupling a cooling fluid source to each shroud segment such that cooling fluid is channeled through each shroud segment into a corresponding shroud spacing gap to facilitate positive purge flow through the shroud spacing gap.