Patent ID: 8540488

Claim:
A damping structure in a turbomachine rotor having a rotor disk and a plurality of blades, the damping structure comprising: an elongated snubber element including a first snubber end rigidly attached to a first blade and extending toward an adjacent second blade, and an opposite second snubber end positioned adjacent to a cooperating surface at least partly formed on the second blade; wherein the cooperating surface comprises a circumferentially facing side extending radially and circumferentially outwardly from a radially extending side surface of the second blade, forming an angle extending from the radially extending side surface, and the second snubber end has a surface extending radially outwardly at an angle similar to the angle of the cooperating surface; the snubber element having a centerline extending radially inwardly in a direction from the first blade toward the second blade along at least a portion of the snubber element between the first and second snubber ends; wherein the cooperating surface defines an axially extending area for accommodating axial movement of the second snubber end along the cooperating surface as the first and second blades untwist during rotor spin-up; and wherein rotational movement of the rotor effects relative movement between the second snubber end and the cooperating surface to position the second snubber end in frictional engagement with the cooperating surface with a predetermined damping force determined by a centrifugal force on the snubber element.