Patent attributes
A divergent flap assembly of a gas turbine engine includes a hotsheet, a backbone structure for supporting the hotsheet, and a plow portion secured to the backbone structure to bridge a gap between the hotsheet and an external flap. The plow portion is fabricated from CMC material and has external geometry to complement and substantially continue geometry of the external flap to minimize plane detection. The plow portion is attached to the backbone structure such that when the backbone structure thermally expands, the plow portion is shifted to minimize an offset between a trailing edge of the hotsheet and the plow portion. The plow portion is fastened to the backbone structure by a plurality of fasteners, which are arranged to minimize thermal stresses.