Leakage and Thermal Characterisation of Canted Labyrinth Seals
Labyrinth seals are the simple and most commonly used rotating seal in cold (compressor) and hot (turbine) regions of gas turbine engines. In order to achieve successful engine design estimating accurate leakage flow rates, windage heating and heat transfer coefficients are critical for rotor dynamic stability. The windage effect inside the flow creates direct loss of power also increase fluid temperature. In this paper numerical simulation of a canted stepped labyrinth seal is performed using commercial Fluent CFD code with 2D axisymmetric is used to study leakage flow and windage heating for various seal clearances for solid (smooth) stator land geometry. The 2D model is subsequently used to determine average heat transfer coefficients on the rotor and stator for heating and cooling situations.
