Patent ID: 8375699

Claim:
A gas turbine engine, comprising: a core engine including at least a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section disposed along a central axis; a fan coupled to be driven by the turbine section; a core nacelle around the core engine; a fan nacelle around the fan, the fan nacelle and the core nacelle defining a bypass passage there between; and a variable area fan nozzle (VAFN) extending at least partially around the central axis and defining an exit area of the bypass passage, the VAFN being selectively movable to vary the exit area, the VAFN including a body defining an airfoil cross-sectional shape, the body including a radially outer wall and a radially inner wall, at least one of the radially outer wall and the radially inner wall including a wall thickness distribution having local thick portions and local thin portions, the radially outer wall and the radially inner wall comprising a fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composite material.