Dynamic Coefficients of Stepped Labyrinth Gas Seals

2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Kwanka

Rotor-fluid interactions can cause self-excited shaft vibrations of high density turbomachinery. Often the amplitude of the vibrations reaches unacceptably high amplitudes and the scheduled power or running speed cannot be achieved. One of the most important sources of excitation is the flow through labyrinth seals. For a reliable design it is necessary to predict these forces exactly, including not only stiffness but also damping coefficients. As the forces in labyrinth gas seals are rather small only minimal experimental data is available for the comparison and validation of calculations. Meanwhile a new and easy-to-handle identification procedure enables the investigation of numerous seal geometrys. The paper presents dynamic coefficients obtained with a stepped labyrinth and the comparison with other seal concepts. [S0742-4795(00)00903-0]

Author(s):  
K. Kwanka

Rotor-fluid interactions can cause self-excited shaft vibrations of high density turbomachinery. Often the amplitude of the vibrations reaches unacceptably high amplitudes and the scheduled power or running speed cannot be achieved. One of the most important sources of excitation is the flow through labyrinth seals. For a reliable design it is necessary to predict these forces exactly, including not only stiffness but also damping coefficients. As the forces in labyrinth gas seals are rather small only minimal experimental data is available for the comparison and validation of calculations. Meanwhile a new and easy-to-handle identification procedure enables the investigation of numerous seal geometrys. The paper presents dynamic coefficients obtained with a stepped labyrinth and the comparison with other seal concepts.


Author(s):  
K. Kwanka

The flow through labyrinth seals of turbomachinery generates forces which can cause self-excited vibrations of the rotor above the stability limit. The stability limit is reached at a specific rotating speed or power. The continuous growth in of power density and rotating speed necessitates an exact prediction of the stability limit of turbomachinery. Usually the seal forces are described with dynamic coefficients. A new, easy-to-handle identification procedure uses the stability behavior of a flexible rotor to determine the dynamic coefficients. Systematic measurements with a great number of labyrinth seal geometries lead to reasonable results and demonstrate the accuracy and sensitivity of the procedure. A comparison of the various methods used to minimize the excitation indicates which seal is more stable and will thus improve the dynamic behavior of the rotor.


1997 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Kwanka

The flow through labyrinth seals of turbomachinery generates forces which can cause self-excited vibrations of the rotor above the stability limit. The stability limit is reached at a specific rotating speed or power. The continuous growth of power density and rotating speed necessitates an exact prediction of the stability limit of turbomachinery. Usually the seal forces are described with dynamic coefficients. A new, easy-to-handle identification procedure uses the stability behavior of a flexible rotor to determine the dynamic coefficients. Systematic measurements with a great number of labyrinth seal geometries lead to reasonable results and demonstrate the accuracy and sensitivity of the procedure. A comparison of the various methods used to minimize the excitation indicates which seal is more stable and will thus improve the dynamic behavior of the rotor.


Author(s):  
K. Kwanka ◽  
J. Sobotzik ◽  
R. Nordmann

Non-contacting labyrinth seals are still the most common constructive elements used to minimize leakage losses in turbomachinery between areas with high pressure and areas with low pressure. Unfortunately, the leakage flow through the labyrinth seal generates forces which can have a great impact on the dynamics of the turborotor. Particularly in cases of instability, the turbomachinery is restricted in its power or rotating speed because of violent self-excited vibrations of the rotor. The occurrence of self-excited rotor vibrations due to lateral forces must definitely be excluded. To consider the labyrinth forces in Finite-Element prediction, a set of preferably exact dynamic coefficients is required. Numerical approaches used to calculate the coefficients are based on Navier-Stokes equations. A comparison with experimental data is essential for a validation of the calculation. The experimental identification is difficult, because of the littleness of the forces to be measured in gas seals. Especially the non-conservative coefficients, cross-coupled stiffness and direct damping, show a good agreement in both magnitude and trend depending on the entry swirl of the seal.


Author(s):  
K. Kwanka

Abstract Fluid-induced forces in labyrinth seals can cause unstable self-excited vibrations of the turbomachine rotor. Generally, a linear approach employing dynamic coefficients is used to describe these forces. A new procedure for the identification of the coefficients which uses two excitation sources placed on a flexible rotor is presented. The change in the stability limit and vibrational frequency caused by the investigated labyrinth gas seal contains the dynamic coefficients. It is important that problems which may also occur in the real turbomachine are considered by the identification procedure. The conservative dynamic coefficients, such as the direct stiffness, influence the bending of the mode shapes and thus affect indirectly the stability limit. The magnitude of the exciting forces depends on the axial positioning of the excitation source and also on the mode shape bending. These two dependencies are investigated by experiment and considered in the identification procedure.


1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 1475-1478 ◽  
Author(s):  
A P. C. Warner ◽  
G. A. Ekama ◽  
G v. R. Marais

The laboratory scale experimental investigation comprised a 6 day sludge age activated sludge process, the waste sludge of which was fed to a number of digesters operated as follows: single reactor flow through digesters at 4 or 6 days sludge age, under aerobic and anoxic-aerobic conditions (with 1,5 and 4 h cycle times) and 3-in-series flow through aerobic digesters each at 4 days sludge age; all digesters were fed draw-and-fill wise once per day. The general kinetic model for the aerobic activated sludge process set out by Dold et al., (1980) and extended to the anoxic-aerobic process by van Haandel et al., (1981) simulated accurately all the experimental data (Figs 1 to 4) without the need for adjusting the kinetic constants. Both theoretical simulations and experimental data indicate that (i) the rate of volatile solids destruction is not affected by the incorporation of anoxic cycles and (ii) the specific denitrification rate is independent of sludge age and is K4T = 0,046(l,029)(T-20) mgNO3-N/(mg active VSS. d) i.e. about 2/3 of that in the secondary anoxic of the single sludge activated sludge stystem. An important consequence of (i) and (ii) above is that denitrification can be integrated easily in the steady state digester model of Marais and Ekama (1976) and used for design (Warner et al., 1983).


2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei-zhe Wang ◽  
Ying-zheng Liu ◽  
Pu-ning Jiang ◽  
Han-ping Chen

2000 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Schramm ◽  
K. Willenborg ◽  
S. Kim ◽  
S. Wittig

This paper reports numerical predictions and measurements of the flow field in a stepped labyrinth seal. The theoretical work and the experimental investigations were successfully combined to gain a comprehensive understanding of the flow patterns existing in such elements. In order to identify the influence of the honeycomb structure, a smooth stator as well as a seal configuration with a honeycomb facing mounted on the stator wall were investigated. The seal geometry is representative of typical three-step labyrinth seals of modern aero engines. The flow field was predicted using a commercial finite volume code with the standard k-ε turbulence model. The computational grid includes the basic seal geometry as well as the three-dimensional honeycomb structures.


1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Kato ◽  
Y. Hori

A computer program for calculating dynamic coefficients of journal bearings is necessary in designing fluid film journal bearings and an accuracy of the program is sometimes checked by the relation that the cross terms of linear damping coefficients of journal bearings are equal to each other, namely “Cxy = Cyx”. However, the condition for this relation has not been clear. This paper shows that the relation “Cxy = Cyx” holds in any type of finite width journal bearing when these are calculated under the following condition: (I) The governing Reynolds equation is linear in pressure or regarded as linear in numerical calculations; (II) Film thickness is given by h = c (1 + κcosθ); and (III) Boundary condition is homogeneous such as p=0 or dp/dn=0, where n denotes a normal to the boundary.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Goodwin ◽  
P. J. Ogrodnik ◽  
M. P. Roach ◽  
Y. Fang

This paper describes a combined theoretical and experimental investigation of the eight oil film stiffness and damping coefficients for a novel low impedance hydrodynamic bearing. The novel design incorporates a recess in the bearing surface which is connected to a standard commercial gas bag accumulator; this arrangement reduces the oil film dynamic stiffness and leads to improved machine response and stability. A finite difference method was used to solve Reynolds equation and yield the pressure distribution in the bearing oil film. Integration of the pressure profile then enabled the fluid film forces to be evaluated. A perturbation technique was used to determine the dynamic pressure components, and hence to determine the eight oil film stiffness and damping coefficients. Experimental data was obtained from a laboratory test rig in which a test bearing, floating on a rotating shaft, was excited by a multi-frequency force signal. Measurements of the resulting relative movement between bearing and journal enabled the oil film coefficients to be measured. The results of the work show good agreement between theoretical and experimental data, and indicate that the oil film impedance of the novel design is considerably lower than that of a conventional bearing.


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