Patent ID: 7950233

Claim:
A combustor for a gas turbine engine, the combustor comprising a combustor liner defining a combustor chamber, a plurality of nozzle holes permitting fuel nozzles each having an end exit in a direction at an angle greater than zero with respect to an axial direction of the fuel nozzle, to communicate with the combustor chamber therethrough for producing a fuel/air swirl cone in the combustor chamber, and at least one smoke aperture defined in an area of the combustor liner defining a primary combustion zone and adjacent to each nozzle hole, the smoke aperture and said adjacent nozzle hole having respective central axes substantially parallel one with another, the smoke aperture being positioned only in one of four quadrant areas around the adjacent nozzle hole and the central axis of the smoke aperture offset from a plane axially crossing the combustor chamber on which the central axis of the adjacent nozzle hole is defined in use admit an air flow therethrough to substantially tangentially impinge the fuel/air swirl cone in a same direction as a swirl direction of the fuel/air swirl cone, wherein the quadrant areas are defined by two orthogonal axes, one of the axes defined substantially parallel to a central axis of the gas turbine engine.