Patent ID: 8721278

Claim:
In a gas turbine engine, a flange connection for joining a turbine exhaust cylinder and a turbine exhaust manifold, the exhaust cylinder including a cylinder flange having an axial face extending radially and facing axially toward the exhaust manifold, the flange connection comprising: a stub flange attached to the exhaust manifold and configured to extend in a radial direction outwardly from a centerline of the exhaust cylinder, the stub flange having a first axial face for engagement with the axial face of the cylinder flange; a plate structure configured to provide axial retention of the stub flange to the axial face of the cylinder flange, the plate structure including a beam portion extending radially inwardly and engaging a second axial face of the stub flange; an engagement of the axial face of the cylinder flange and the beam portion of the plate structure with the stub flange forming an interference fit to provide two degrees of freedom of the stub flange relative to the exhaust cylinder; and wherein one of the degrees of freedom provided by the engagement of the stub flange between the plate structure and the cylinder flange comprises a rolling movement of the stub flange relative to the exhaust cylinder provided by the first axial face of the stub flange being defined as a curved surface having a radius about an axis orthogonal to the radial direction.