This paper presents results from an extensive experimental study on the rubbing behavior of labyrinth seal fins (SFs) and a honeycomb liner. The objective of the present work is to improve the understanding of the rub behavior of labyrinth seals by quantifying the effects and interactions of sliding speed, incursion rate, seal geometry, and SF rub position on the honeycomb liner. In order to reduce the complexity of the friction system studied, this work focuses on the contact between a single SF and a single metal foil. The metal foil is positioned in parallel to the SF to represent contact between the SF and the honeycomb double foil section. A special test rig was set up enabling the radial incursion of a metal foil into a rotating labyrinth SF at a defined incursion rate of up to 0.65 mm/s and friction velocities up to 165 m/s. Contact forces, friction temperatures, and wear were measured during or after the rub event. In total, 88 rub tests including several repetitions of each rub scenario have been conducted to obtain a solid data base. The results show that rub forces are mainly a function of the rub parameters incursion rate and friction velocity. Overall, the results demonstrate a strong interaction between contact forces, friction temperature, and wear behavior of the rub system. The presented tests confirm basic qualitative observations regarding blade rubbing provided in literature.

The development and limitations of a numerical modelling framework applied to an aero-engine air/oil separator are presented here. Oil enters the device in the form of dispersed droplets and primary separation occurs by centrifuging larger droplets towards the outer walls, whereas secondary separation occurs by partially coalescing and centrifuging smaller droplets within a porous material, namely an open-cell metal foam. The work described here is part of a study led jointly by the University of Nottingham (UNott) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in the Engine Breakthrough Components and Subsystems (E-BREAK) project. The main objectives for UNott have been to define a CFD methodology able to provide an accurate representation of the air flow behaviour and a qualitative assessment of the oil capture within the air/oil separator. The feasibility of using the current state-of-the-art modelling framework is assessed. Experimental measurements of the overall pressure drop and oil capture performed at KIT are used to validate the simulations. The methodology presented here overcomes some limitations and simplifications present in previous studies. A novel macroscopic model for the secondary oil separation phenomena within metal foams is presented. Experiments and simulations were conducted for three different separator configurations, one without a metal foam, and two with metal foams of different pore sizes. For each configuration, a variation of air flow, shaft speed and droplet size was conducted. The focus was on the separation of droplets with a diameter smaller than 10 μm. Single-phase air flow simulation results showed that overall pressure drop increases with both increased shaft speed and air flow, largely in agreement with the experiments. Oil capture results proved to be more difficult to be captured by the numerical model. One of the limitations of the modelling set-up employed here is not capable of capturing droplet re-entrainment due to accumulation of oil inside the metal foam, which is believed to play a significant role in the separation phenomena.

This paper presents results from an extensive experimental study on the rubbing behavior of labyrinth seal fins and a honeycomb liner. The objective of the present work is to improve the understanding of the rub behavior of labyrinth seals by quantifying the effects and interactions of sliding speed, incursion rate, seal geometry and seal fin rub position on the honeycomb liner. In order to reduce the complexity of the friction system studied, this work focuses on the contact between a single seal fin and a single metal foil. The metal foil is positioned in parallel to the seal fin to represent contact between the seal fin and the honeycomb double foil section. A special test rig was set up enabling the radial incursion of a metal foil into a rotating labyrinth seal fin at a defined incursion rate of up to 0.65 mm/s and friction velocities up to 165 m/s. Contact forces, friction temperatures and wear were measured during or after the rub event. In total, 88 rub tests including several repetitions of each rub scenario have been conducted to obtain a solid data base. The results show that rub forces are mainly a function of the rub parameters incursion rate and friction velocity. Overall, the results demonstrate a strong interaction between contact forces, friction temperature and wear behavior of the rub system. The presented tests confirm basic qualitative observations regarding blade rubbing provided in literature.

For predicting primary atomization a numerical code has been developed based on the Lagrangian Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The advantage of this approach is the inherent interface advection. In contrast to commonly used grid based methods such as the Volume of Fluid (VoF) or Level Set method there is no need for costly and approximative interface tracking or reconstruction techniques which are required to avoid interface diffusion. It has been demonstrated by various test cases that the SPH method is capable to correctly predict single — as well as multiphase flows including the effect of surface tension. The goal of this work is to further develop the methodology with the intention to simulate primary atomization within airblast atomizers of jet engines. The authors present two test cases relevant for the simulation of primary atomization. The shear-driven deformation of a fuel droplet in a gaseous flow has been investigated and compared to data from literature. Moreover, the liquid film disintegration at the trailing edge of a planar prefilming airblast atomizer has been studied. The geometry has been derived from an existing test rig, where extensive experimental data have been acquired. Resulting droplet sizes and shear-off frequencies for different geometrical setups have been analyzed and compared to the experiment. The results reveal the promising performance of this new method for predicting primary atomization.

This paper presents experimental and numerical investigations of oil leakage across a conventional labyrinth seal commonly found in aero engine bearing chambers. Measurements and simulations were carried out in order to investigate the influence of chamber geometry and operating conditions on the reliability of the oil seal against leakage. The main goal of the experiments was to determine a minimum required pressure difference Δpleak to prevent oil from leaving the bearing chamber for any given operating point. To determine this variable, the pressure inside the test rig was continuously lowered from a high pressure difference until oil was found to leave the bearing chamber. Using two pressure supplies, this pressure could be negative or positive. The results show that the minimum pressure depends on component design and rotational speed. While certain component designs may increase this pressure at low rotational speeds, thereby creating a safety margin for oil leakage, the opposite effect can manifest itself at higher rotational speeds. Selected operating points were simulated using computational fluid dynamics employing the Volume-of-Fluid (VoF) approach. A comparison of the experimental and numerical results shows good qualitative agreement of the two phase flow phenomena inside the bearing chamber.