Patent ID: 6923616

Claim:
A method for fabricating a rotor assembly for a gas turbine engine, said method comprising: providing a plurality of rotor blades that each include an airfoil, a dovetail, a shank, and a platform, wherein the platform extends between the shank and the airfoil, and wherein the dovetail extends outwardly from the shank, and wherein the shank includes a pair of opposed sidewalls connected together by an upstream rotor blade sidewall and a downstream rotor blade sidewall; and forming a cooling circuit within a portion of the shank to supply cooling air to the rotor blade for supplying cooling air to the rotor blade through a first opening for impingement cooling a portion of the rotor blade and for supplying cooling air to the rotor blade through a second opening for purging a cavity defined downstream from the rotor blade, wherein the second opening extends through one of the rotor blade downstream sidewall and the rotor blade upstream sidewall.