scholarly journals The Effect of Inlet Swirl on Brush Seal Bristle Deflections and Stability

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxin Liu ◽  
John W. Chew ◽  
Michael J. Pekris ◽  
Xiaozhi Kong

Abstract This paper considers three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and structural modeling of brush seals, and investigates the effects of inlet swirl on the bristle pack. The model couples aerodynamic forces generated by CFD to a structural model that includes interaction between bristles. At a critical value of inlet swirl, aerodynamic forces cause circumferential slip of the upstream bristle row. In practice, this may lead to instability of the bristle pack and is consistent with anecdotal reports of seal behavior. The critical swirl velocity was reduced when the downstream pressure level was raised, keeping the same upstream total to downstream static pressure difference. This is caused by the increased dynamic head associated with the inlet swirl. Inclusion of a front plate in the seal design does not offer the intended protection to the bristle pack in highly swirling environments. This is associated with highly swirling flow impinging on the bristle tips. Fitting of roughness elements on the upstream face of the front plate could improve stability by reducing swirl of the flow impacting on the bristles. Increasing the bristle diameter and bristle stiffness does not necessarily prevent slip at higher inlet swirl velocities, but reduces the magnitude of slip of the upstream bristles.

Author(s):  
Yuxin Liu ◽  
John W. Chew ◽  
Michael J. Pekris ◽  
Xiaozhi Kong

Abstract This paper considers 3D CFD and structural modelling of brush seals, and investigates the effects of inlet swirl on the bristle pack. The model couples aerodynamic forces generated by CFD to a structural model that includes interaction between bristles. At a critical value of inlet swirl, aerodynamic forces cause circumferential slip of the upstream bristle row. In practice this may lead to instability of the bristle pack and is consistent with anecdotal reports of seal behavior. The critical swirl velocity was reduced when the downstream pressure level was raised, keeping the same upstream total to downstream static pressure difference. This is caused by the increased dynamic head associated with the inlet swirl. Inclusion of a front plate in the seal design does not offer the intended protection to the bristle pack in highly swirling environments. This is associated with highly swirling flow impinging on the bristle tips. Fitting of roughness elements on the upstream face of the front plate could improve stability by reducing swirl of the flow impacting on the bristles. Increasing the bristle diameter and bristle stiffness does not necessarily prevent slip at higher inlet swirl velocities, but reduces the magnitude of slip of the upstream bristles.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 7768
Author(s):  
Yuxin Liu ◽  
Benzhuang Yue ◽  
Xiaozhi Kong ◽  
Hua Chen ◽  
Huawei Lu

Advanced brush seal technology has a significant impact on the performance and efficiency of gas turbine engines. However, in highly inlet swirling environments, the bristles of a brush seal tend to circumferentially slip, which may lead to aerodynamic instability and seal failure. In this paper, seven different front plate geometries were proposed to reduce the impact of high inlet swirl on the bristle pack, and a three-dimensional porous medium model was carried out to simulate the brush seal flow characteristics. Comparisons of a plane front plate with a relief cavity, plane front plate with axial drilled holes, anti-“L”-type plate and their relative improved configurations on the pressure and flow fields as well as the leakage behavior were conducted. The results show that the holed front plate can effectively regulate and control the upstream flow pattern of the bristle pack, inducing the swirl flow to move radially inward, which results in decreased circumferential velocity component. The anti-“L” plate with both axial holes and one radial hole was observed to have the best effect on reducing the swirl of those investigated. The swirl velocity upstream the bristle pack can decline 50% compared to the baseline model with plane front plate, and the circumferential aerodynamic forces on the bristles, which scale with the swirl dynamic head, are reduced by a factor of 4. This could increase the bristle stability dramatically. Moreover, the front plate geometry does not influence the leakage performance significantly, and the application of the axial hole on the front plate will increase the leakage slightly by around 3.5%.


Author(s):  
Shouqing Huang ◽  
Shuangfu Suo ◽  
Yongjian Li ◽  
Yuming Wang

Based on a type of three-dimensional slice model of a brush seal combined with the commercial CFD software FLUENT, the study calculated the leakage flow of the brush seal. The aerodynamic forces applied on upstream and downstream bristles are analyzed and reduced to a smaller amount of point forces for analysis convenience. The frictional coefficient between the bristle material Haynes 25 and rotor material 1Cr14Mn14Ni are tested. Tip forces including normal reaction and frictional forces caused by aerodynamic forces are quantitatively investigated under conditions with and without frictions using the torque balance principle and nonlinear beam theory (by ANSYS simulations), respectively. Torques, frictional heats, and the temperature distributions of the rotor and bristle pack are studied further. Details and characteristics of the flow and temperature distributions inside the bristle pack are presented. In the experiments, besides traditional tests, such as leakage and torque tests, an infrared camera is employed to capture temperature distributions at the interface of the rotor, bristle pack and nearby zones under various pressure differentials and rotation speeds. The three-dimensional slice model is firstly verified by calculating the leakages, torques and temperature distributions of the brush seal and confirmed via experimentation. The influence of various frictional coefficients and pressure differentials on tip forces, torque and temperature distributions are also examined.


Author(s):  
Alex Wright ◽  
Zhijun Lei ◽  
Ali Mahallati ◽  
Mark Cunningham ◽  
Julio Militzer

This paper presents a detailed experimental and computational investigation of the effects of scalloping on the mixing mechanisms of a scaled 12-lobe turbofan mixer. Scalloping was achieved by eliminating approximately 70% of the lobe sidewall area. Measurements were made downstream of the mixer in a co-annular wind tunnel and the simulations were carried out using an unstructured RANS solver, Numeca FINE/Hexa, with k-ω SST model. In the core flow, the swirl angle was varied from 0° to 30°. At high swirl angles, a three-dimensional separation bubble was formed on the lobe’s suction surface penetration region and resulted in the generation of a vortex at the lobe valley. The valley vortex quickly dissipated downstream. Most of the swirl was removed by the lobes, but scalloping allowed residual swirl to persist downstream of the mixer. The interaction of the swirling flow and the vortices resulted in improved mixing rates for the scalloped mixer. Inlet swirl up to 10° provided improved mixing rates, reduced pressure loss and thrust loss for both mixers. High inlet swirl resulted in improved mixing but produced higher pressure and thrust losses as compared to the zero swirl case. At high swirl, the scalloped mixer resulted in better mixing and lower pressure losses than the unscalloped mixer, but at the expense of reduced thrust.


Author(s):  
Rodrigo Vidal Cabral ◽  
Andre Damiani Rocha

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hardial Singh ◽  
Bharat Bhushan Arora

Abstract An annular diffuser is a critical component of the turbomachinery, and its prime function is to reduce the flow velocity. The current work is carried to study the effect of four different geometrical designs of an annular diffuser using the ANSYS Fluent. The numerical simulations were carried out to examine the effect of fully developed turbulent swirling and non-swirling flow. The flow behavior of the annular diffuser is analyzed at Reynolds number 2.5 × 105. The simulated results reveal pressure recovery improvement at the casing wall with adequate swirl intensity at the diffuser inlet. Swirl intensity suppresses the flow separation on the casing and moves the flow from the hub wall to the casing wall of the annulus region. The results also show that the Equal Hub and Diverging Casing (EHDC) annular diffuser in comparison to other diffusers has a higher static pressure recovery (C p  = 0.76) and a lower total pressure loss coefficient of (C L  = 0.12) at a 17° swirl angle.


2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (12) ◽  
pp. i85-i86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youssef Ben Smida ◽  
Abderrahmen Guesmi ◽  
Mohamed Faouzi Zid ◽  
Ahmed Driss

The title compound, trisodium dicobalt(II) (arsenate/phosphate) (diarsenate/diphosphate), was prepared by a solid-state reaction. It is isostructural with Na3Co2AsO4As2O7. The framework shows the presence of CoX22O12(X2 is statistically disordered with As0.95P0.05) units formed by sharing corners between Co1O6octahedra andX22O7groups. These units form layers perpendicular to [010]. Co2O6octahedra andX1O4(X1 = As0.54P0.46) tetrahedra form Co2X1O8chains parallel to [001]. Cohesion between layers and chains is ensured by theX22O7groups, giving rise to a three-dimensional framework with broad tunnels, running along thea- andc-axis directions, in which the Na+ions reside. The two Co2+cations, theX1 site and three of the seven O atoms lie on special positions, with site symmetries 2 andmfor the Co,mfor theX1, and 2 andm(× 2) for the O sites. One of two Na atoms is disordered over three special positions [occupancy ratios 0.877 (10):0.110 (13):0.066 (9)] and the other is in a general position with full occupancy. A comparison between structures such as K2CdP2O7, α-NaTiP2O7and K2MoO2P2O7is made. The proposed structural model is supported by charge-distribution (CHARDI) analysis and bond-valence-sum (BVS) calculations. The distortion of the coordination polyhedra is analyzed by means of the effective coordination number.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuf A. Uskaner

Abstract This paper presents an aproach for the prediction of heat transfer augmentation in decaying swirling flow in a pipe by making an analogy between the increase in friction factor due to swirl and increase in heat transfer due to swirl. The proposed method can be used to predict heat transfer for decaying swirling flow in smooth and rough pipes which can be applied to different swirl generators based on the known inlet swirl conditions. An experimental study is performed regarding the swirling flow of air in smooth and rough pipes. The experimental study covered only the fluid dynamics of swirling flow. No heat transfer experiments were done. It is determined experimentally that in swirling flows degree of swirl decays continuously along the smooth and rough pipes and the total loss factor is the sum of friction factor for non-swirling flow and the swirl loss factor. Swirl loss factor is found to be a function of the degree of swirl and pipe relative roughness. Using the relations obtained experimentally for the variation of swirl strength and loss factor along the pipe, an equation is proposed to be used for the prediction of heat transfer in turbulent decaying swirling flows.


1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Namba ◽  
A. Ishikawa

A lifting surface theory is developed for unsteady three-dimensional flow in rotating subsonic, transonic and supersonic annular cascades with fluctuating blade loadings. Application of a finite radial eigenfunction series approximation not only affords a clear insight into the three-dimensional structures of acoustic fields but also provides mathematical expressions advantageous to numerical work. The theory is applied to oscillating blades. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate three-dimensional effects on aerodynamic characteristics. Three-dimensional effects in supersonic cascades are generally small and strip theory predicts local aerodynamic forces as well as total aerodynamic forces with good accuracy. In transonic flow, however, the strip theory approximation breaks down near the sonic span station and three-dimensional effects are of primary importance.


Author(s):  
Tomohiko Tsukuda ◽  
Toshio Hirano ◽  
Cori Watson ◽  
Neal R. Morgan ◽  
Brian K. Weaver ◽  
...  

Full three-dimensional CFD simulations are carried out using ANSYS CFX to obtain the detailed flow field and to estimate the rotordynamic coefficients of a labyrinth seal for various inlet swirl ratios. Flow fields in the labyrinth seal with the eccentricity of the rotor are observed in detail and the detailed mechanisms that increase the destabilizing forces at high inlet swirl ratios are discussed based on the fluid governing equations associated with the flow fields. By evaluating the contributions from each term of the governing equation to cross coupled force, it is found that circumferential velocity and circumferential distribution of axial mass flow rate play key roles in generating cross coupled forces. In the case that circumferential velocity is high and decreases along the axial direction, all contributions from each term are positive cross coupled force. On the other hand, in the case that circumferential velocity is low and increases along the axial direction, one contribution is positive but the other is negative. Therefore, cross coupled force can be negative in the local chamber depending on the balance even if circumferential velocity is positive. CFD predictions of cross coupled stiffness coefficients and direct damping coefficients show better agreement with experimental results than a bulk flow model does by considering the force on the rotor in the inlet region. Cross coupled stiffness coefficients derived from the force on the rotor in the seal section agree well with those of the bulk flow model.


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