Patent ID: 7217092

Claim:
A method of fabricating a rotor blade for a gas turbine engine, wherein the rotor blade includes an airfoil having a first sidewall and a second sidewall connected together at a leading edge and a trailing edge, such that a cavity is formed therebetween, said method comprising: forming a plurality of rib walls that extend at least partially between the first and second sidewalls, wherein the rib walls define a pressure side cooling circuit and a suction side cooling circuit that each include at least three cooling chambers, wherein a first of the cooling chambers within each circuit supplies cooling fluid to the airfoil cavity; and forming at least one row of openings within at least one of the rib walls extending between adjacent cooling chambers of each circuit, wherein each opening is adjacent one of an inner surface of the first sidewall and an inner surface of the second sidewall, such that the remaining cooling chambers are coupled in flow communication to the first cooling chamber via the openings.