Browsing by Subject "labyrinth seal"
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Item Effects of operating damage of labyrinth seal on seal leakage and wheelspace hot gas ingress(Texas A&M University, 2007-09-17) Xu, JinmingThe labyrinth seal is widely used in turbomachinery to minimize or control leakage between areas of different pressure. The present investigation numerically explored the effect of damage and wear of the labyrinth seal on the turbomachinery flow and temperature fields. Specifically, this work investigated: (1) the effect of rubgroove downstream wall angle on seal leakage, (2) the effect of tooth bending damage on the leakage, (3) the effect of tooth "????????mushrooming"???????? damage on seal leakage, and (4) the effect of rub-groove axial position and wall angle on gas turbine ingress heating. To facilitate grid generation, an unstructured grid generator named OpenCFD was also developed. The grid generator is written in C++ and generates hybrid grids consisting primarily of Cartesian cells. This investigation of labyrinth seal damage and wear was conducted using the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) to simulate the flows. The high- Reynolds k - Model and the standard wall function were used to model the turbulence. STAR-CD was used to solve the equations, and the grids were generated using the new code OpenCFD. It was found that the damage and wear of the labyrinth seal have a significant effect on the leakage and temperature field, as well as on the flow pattern. The leakage increases significantly faster than the operating clearance increase from the wear. Further, the specific seal configuration resulting from the damage and wear was found to be important. For example, for pure-bending cases, it was found that the bending curvature and the percentage of tooth length that is bent are important, and that the mushroom radius and tooth bending are important for the mushrooming damage cases. When an abradable labyrinth seal was applied to a very large gas turbine wheelspace cavity, it was found that the rub-groove axial position, and to a smaller degree, rub-groove wall angle, alter the magnitude and distribution of the fluid temperature.Item Labyrinth Seal Leakage Equation(2010-07-14) Suryanarayanan, SaikishanA seal is a component used in a turbomachine to reduce internal leakage of the working fluid and to increase the machine's efficiency. The stability of a turbomachine partially depends upon the rotodynamic coefficients of the seal. The integral control volume based rotodynamic coefficient prediction programs are no more accurate than the accuracy of the leakage mass flow rate estimation. Thus an accurate prediction of the mass flow rate through seals is extremely important, especially for rotodynamic analysis of turbomachinery. For labyrinth seals, which are widely used, the energy dissipation is achieved by a series of constrictions and cavities. When the fluid flows through the constriction (under each tooth), a part of the pressure head is converted into kinetic energy, which is dissipated through small scale turbulence-viscosity interaction in the cavity that follows. Therefore, a leakage flow rate prediction equation can be developed by comparing the seal to a series of orifices and cavities. Using this analogy, the mass flow rate is modeled as a function of the flow coefficient under each tooth and the carry over coefficient, which accounts for the turbulent dissipation of kinetic energy in a cavity. This work, based upon FLUENT CFD simulations, initially studies the influence of flow parameters, in addition to geometry, on the carry over coefficient of a cavity, developing a better model for the same. It is found that the Reynolds number and clearance to pitch ratios have a major influence and tooth width has a secondary influence on the carry over coefficient and models for the same were developed for a generic rectangular tooth on stator labyrinth seal. The discharge coefficient of the labyrinth seal tooth (with the preceding cavity) was found to be a function of the discharge coefficient of a single tooth (with no preceding cavity) and the carry over coefficient. The discharge coefficient of a single tooth is established as a function of the Reynolds number and width to clearance ratio of the tooth and a model for the same is developed. It is also verified that this model describes the discharge coefficient of the first tooth in the labyrinth seal. By comparing the coefficients of discharge of compressible flow to that of incompressible flow at the same Reynolds number, the expansion factor was found to depend only upon the pressure ratio and ratio of specific heats. A model for the same was developed. Thus using the developed models, it is possible to compute the leakage mass flow rate as well as the axial distribution of cavity pressure across the seal for known inlet and exit pressures. The model is validated against prior experimental data.