Patent ID: 8769816

Claim:
A method of assembling a seal in a split plane gas turbine engine having a compressor section, a turbine section and a rotor assembly extending through said compressor section and said turbine section, said rotor assembly supporting a compressor blade assembly and a turbine blade assembly, and including a lower compressor casing and a lower turbine casing axially aligned along a horizontal longitudinal axis of said turbine engine during said assembling of said seal, said longitudinal axis defining a rotational axis of said rotor assembly during operation of said gas turbine engine, the method comprising: i) providing a seal ring extending axially from a forward face of said turbine blade assembly; ii) positioning said rotor assembly in association with said lower compressor casing and said lower turbine casing, said positioning including tilting said rotor assembly such that a longitudinal axis of said rotor assembly is at a predetermined angle relative to said longitudinal axis of said turbine engine and such that said compressor blade assembly is maintained at an elevated position relative to said turbine blade assembly; iii) positioning an upper turbine casing in engagement with said lower turbine casing and over the tilted rotor assembly, said lower turbine casing and said upper turbine casing including a circumferentially extending seal groove defining an axially facing cavity for receiving said seal ring, and said seal ring having an initial non-overlapping position in relation to said seal groove; iv) moving said rotor assembly in an axial direction toward said compressor section while maintaining said rotor assembly tilted at said predetermined angle to position said seal ring in axially overlapping relation within said seal groove; and v) further positioning said rotor assembly such that said longitudinal axis of said rotor assembly coincides with said longitudinal axis of said turbine engine, for effecting a further axial movement of an upper portion of said seal ring into said seal groove, said further positioning said rotor assembly including another tilting of said rotor assembly in which said longitudinal axis of said rotor assembly is tilted an opposite and equal amount to the tilting at the predetermined angle of step ii).