Volume 19, Issue 1, January 2017, Pages 37–45
Mohamed KAMOUNI1
1 PERE Laboratory, Sidi Mohamed ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco
Original language: English
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Labyrinth seals are widely used to limit leakage flow between rotating and stationary parts of turbo machines. However, these elements often generate driving forces that may increase the unstable vibration of the rotor. Thus, an accurate prediction of the static and dynamic behavior of labyrinth seals is more required to improve turbomachines performance and design. In this paper, a numerical model based on CFD computation has been developed to predict the flow characteristics through an eccentric short labyrinth seal with four teeth fixed on the rotor. The realizable k-ε and k-ω SST turbulent models have been separately used in this computational model to compare predictions to experiments for the complex turbulent flow field within the seal. The pressure distribution around the seal is calculated in each cavity and the obtained results show that the k-ω SST turbulent model predictions are better than those of the realizable k-ε model. The Pressure contours and its distribution along the seal are also presented. Additionally, a parametric study of the circumferential velocity distribution assessed the use of bi-dimensional models to predict rotor dynamic characteristics of this kind of seals. Furthermore, influences of pressure ratio and inlet swirl on the leakage flow through the seal have been studied in this paper.
Author Keywords: Labyrinth seal, Rotor dynamic, leakage, CFD, eccentricity, inlet swirl, whirl frequency.
Mohamed KAMOUNI1
1 PERE Laboratory, Sidi Mohamed ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco
Original language: English
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Labyrinth seals are widely used to limit leakage flow between rotating and stationary parts of turbo machines. However, these elements often generate driving forces that may increase the unstable vibration of the rotor. Thus, an accurate prediction of the static and dynamic behavior of labyrinth seals is more required to improve turbomachines performance and design. In this paper, a numerical model based on CFD computation has been developed to predict the flow characteristics through an eccentric short labyrinth seal with four teeth fixed on the rotor. The realizable k-ε and k-ω SST turbulent models have been separately used in this computational model to compare predictions to experiments for the complex turbulent flow field within the seal. The pressure distribution around the seal is calculated in each cavity and the obtained results show that the k-ω SST turbulent model predictions are better than those of the realizable k-ε model. The Pressure contours and its distribution along the seal are also presented. Additionally, a parametric study of the circumferential velocity distribution assessed the use of bi-dimensional models to predict rotor dynamic characteristics of this kind of seals. Furthermore, influences of pressure ratio and inlet swirl on the leakage flow through the seal have been studied in this paper.
Author Keywords: Labyrinth seal, Rotor dynamic, leakage, CFD, eccentricity, inlet swirl, whirl frequency.
How to Cite this Article
Mohamed KAMOUNI, “Tridimensional analysis of a Turbulent Flow through an Eccentric Short Labyrinth Seal,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 37–45, January 2017.
