Labyrinth Seals - A Promising and Effective Design

Galina Ilieva

Abstract: Main task of this study is to fulfill numerical modeling and analysis of a labyrinth seals, which have geometry quite different than the ones applied up to now. The challenge was to arrive to a design for a seal that has good sealing properties, ease manufacturing, can sustain higher stress loading and perform increased loss of kinetic energy, as the idea is to stop the leaks. The fulfilled numerical analysis shows that the proposed geometry leads to high decrease of leakage flow rates and thus contributes to possibility to increase the efficiency performance of turbine stages as part of propulsion system.

Keywords: Discharge coefficient, Labyrinth seal, Numerical modeling, Vortex structure