Patent ID: 8047796

Claim:
A method of assembling a steam turbine including a rotor assembly, said method comprising: providing at least one turbine bucket including a dovetail that includes a plurality of crush surfaces, a plurality of non-contact surfaces, and at least one neck defined between one of the crush surfaces and one of the non-contact surfaces, wherein the at least one neck extends at a slant angle that is defined between the crush surface and the non-contact surface; providing a turbine wheel that includes at least one dovetail slot defined therein that is defined by a plurality of crush surfaces and a plurality of non-contact surfaces; forming in the dovetail a top bucket hook including two radii and a flat surface extending therebetween; forming, in the dovetail, a middle bucket hook including two radii and a flat surface extending therebetween, wherein the middle bucket hook radii are identical to the top bucket hook radii; and coupling the dovetail of the at least one turbine bucket within the turbine wheel slot such that the slant angle of the at least one neck facilitates a substantially uniform distribution of load between the dovetail and the at least one slot.