Patent ID: 8356468

Claim:
A gas turbine engine exhaust nozzle, comprising: a housing having a length which extends along a central longitudinal axis and comprising an interior surface and an exterior surface wherein the housing has a thickness that is substantially constant in cross-sectional stations forward of an aft end of the housing; and a row of chevrons extending from the aft end of the housing, the chevrons having a root region and a tip, wherein at least a portion of at least one of the interior surface or the exterior surface is scalloped proximate the root region of a chevron forming a scallop shaped region of reduced thickness relative to the rest of the chevron, and wherein the housing has a thickness that varies in cross-sectional stations proximate the root regions of the chevrons between a maximum thickness at a point along a longitudinal axis extending through the tip of each chevron to a minimum at a point along a longitudinal axis extending through the base of the chevron.