Patent ID: 7770378

Claim:
An aircraft bypass turbofan engine comprising an engine core and a casing surrounding at least a portion of the engine core, the casing including a plurality of thin walled hollow struts and a plurality of thin walled adjoining members having a V-shaped cross-section for providing a splitter between airflows paths through the engine core and bypass, the struts arranged in a circumferential array between an inner hub and the casing, the struts extending continuously from the inner hub to the casing to thereby mount the inner hub directly to the casing, the adjoining members arranged in a circumferential array and mounted between adjacent struts to thereby provide said splitter, each adjoining member having a first end welded to a sidewall of one of said adjacent struts and a second end welded to a sidewall of another of said adjacent struts, each of the struts adjoined to circumferentially adjacent struts by at least one of the members, each member comprising a hollow closed section, the closed section closed at each end by the strut sidewalls and further closed by at least one radially-extending annular segment element extending between adjacent struts, the element extending across the member and connected to both the member and the adjacent struts to thereby be configured to transmit a shear force into the struts when a torque is applied to the member.