This paper systematically presents a complete leakage comparison for various types of wear experienced by labyrinth seals. Labyrinth seals used in turbine engines are designed to work at a clearance during steady-state engine operations. The tooth tip rubs the stator and wears either itself or the stator surface during transient operations, depending on the material properties of the tooth and stator. Any type of wear that increases clearance or deforms the tooth tip will cause permanent and unpredictable leakage degradation. This negatively affects the engine's overall efficiency, durability, and life. The teeth have been reported to wear into a mushroom profile or into a rounded profile. A rub-groove on the opposing surface may form in several shapes. Based on a literature survey, five rub-groove shapes are considered in this work. They are rectangle, trapezoid (isosceles and acute), triangle, and ellipse. In this work, leakage degradation due to wear is numerically quantified for both mushroomed and rounded tooth wear profiles. It also includes analyses on rounded teeth with the formation of five rub-groove shapes. All parameters are analyzed at various operating conditions (clearance, pressure ratio, number of teeth, and rotor speed). Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses are carried out by employing compressible turbulent flow in a 2D axisymmetrical coordinate system. CFD analyses show that the following tooth-wear conditions affect leakage from least to greatest: unworn, rounded, and mushroomed. These are for an unworn flat stator. It is also observed that rub-groove shapes considerably affect the leakage depending on the clearance. Leakage increases with the following groove profiles: triangular, rectangular, acute trapezoidal, isosceles trapezoidal, and elliptical. The results show that any type of labyrinth seal wear has significant effects on leakage. Therefore, leakage degradation due to wear should be considered during the engine design phase.

Developments in brush seal analyses tools have been covering advanced flow and structural analyses since brush seals are applied at elevated pressure loads, temperatures, surface speeds, and transients. Brush seals have dynamic flow and structural behaviors that need to be investigated in detail in order to estimate final leakage output and service life. Bristles move, bend and form a grift matrix depending on pressure load. The level of pressure load determines the tightness of the bristle pack, and thus, the leakage. In the CFD analyses of this work, the bristle pack is treated as a porous medium. Based on brush seal test data, the flow resistance coefficients (FRC) for the porous bristle pack are calibrated as a function of pressure load. A circular seal is tested in a static test rig under various pressure loads at room temperature. The FRC calibration is based on test leakage and literature based axial pressure distribution on the rotor surface and radial pressure distribution over the backing plate. The anisotropic FRC are treated as spatial dependent in axi-symmetrical coordinates. The fence height region and the upper region of bristle pack have different FRC since the upper region is supported by backing plate while bristles are free to move and bend at the fence height region. The FRC are found to be almost linearly dependent on the pressure load for investigated conditions. The blow-down is also calculated by incorporating test leakage and calibrated FRC.

This paper systematically presents a complete leakage comparison for various types of wear experienced by labyrinth seals. Labyrinth seals used in turbine engines are designed to work at a clearance during steady-state engine operations. The tooth tip rubs the stator and wears either itself or the stator surface during transient operations, depending on the material properties of the tooth and stator. Any type of wear that increases clearance or deforms the tooth tip will cause permanent and unpredictable leakage degradation. This negatively affects the engine’s overall efficiency, durability, and life. The teeth have been reported to wear into a mushroom profile or into a rounded profile. A rub-groove on the opposing surface may form in several shapes. Based on a literature survey, five rub-groove shapes are considered in this work. They are: rectangle, trapezoid (isosceles and acute), triangle, and ellipse. In this work, leakage degradation due to wear is numerically quantified for both mushroomed and rounded tooth wear profiles. It also includes analyses on rounded teeth with the formation of five rub-groove shapes. All parameters are analyzed at various operating conditions (clearance, pressure ratio, number of teeth, rotor speed). CFD analyses are carried out by employing compressible turbulent flow in a 2-D axi-symmetrical coordinate system. CFD analyses show that the following tooth-wear conditions affect leakage from least to greatest: unworn, rounded, and mushroomed. These are for an unworn flat stator. It is also observed that rub-groove shapes considerably affect the leakage depending on the clearance. Leakage increases with the following groove profiles: triangular, rectangular, acute trapezoidal, isosceles trapezoidal, and elliptical. The results show that any type of labyrinth seal wear has significant effects on leakage. Therefore, leakage degradation due to wear should be considered during the engine design phase.

In this paper, labyrinth seal leakage is numerically quantified for an acute trapezoidal rub-groove accompanied with a rounded tooth, as a function of rub-groove sizes and tooth-groove axial positions. Analyses parameters include clearance, pressure ratio, number of teeth, and rotor speed. Labyrinth seals wear during engine transients. Radial incursion and axial movement of the rotor-stator pair cause the labyrinth teeth to rub against the unworn stator surface. The labyrinth teeth and/or stator wear depending on their material hardness. Wear damage in the form of material loss or deformation permanently increases seal clearance, and thus, leakage. This leakage is known to be dependent on the shape and geometry of the worn tooth and the stator rub groove. There are two types of reported tooth tip wear. These can be approximated as a mushroom shape and a round shape. The stator rub-groove shapes can be approximately simulated in five forms: rectangle, trapezoid (isosceles and acute), triangle, and ellipse. In this paper, the acute trapezoidal rub-groove shape is specifically chosen, since it is the most similar to the most commonly observed rub-groove form. The tooth tip is considered to be rounded, because the tooth tip wears smoothly and a round shape forms during rub-groove formation. To compare the unworn tooth, the flat stator is also analyzed as a reference case. All analyzed parameters for geometric dimensions (groove width, depth, wall angle, tooth-groove axial position,) and operating conditions (flow direction, clearance, pressure ratio, number of teeth, rotor speed) are analyzed in their practical ranges. CFD analyses are carried out by employing a compressible turbulent flow solver in a 2-D axi-symmetrical coordinate system. CFD analyses show that the rounded tooth leaks more than an unworn sharp-edged tooth, due to the formation of a smooth and streamlined flow around the rounded geometry. This smooth flow yields less flow separation, flow disturbance, and less of vena contract a effect. The geometric dimensions of the acute trapezoidal rub-groove (width, depth, wall angle) significantly affect leakage. The effects of clearance, pressure ratio, number of teeth, and rotor speed on the leakage are also quantified. Analyses results are separately evaluated for each parameter.

Developments in brush seal analyses tools have been covering advanced flow and structural analyses since brush seals are applied at elevated pressure loads, temperatures, surface speeds, and transients. Brush seals have dynamic flow and structural behaviors that need to be investigated in detail in order to estimate final leakage output and service life. Bristles move, bend, and form a grift matrix depending on pressure load. The level of pressure load determines the tightness of the bristle pack, and thus, the leakage. In the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses of this work, the bristle pack is treated as a porous medium. Based on brush seal test data, the flow resistance coefficients (FRC) for the porous bristle pack are calibrated as a function of pressure load. A circular seal is tested in a static test rig under various pressure loads at room temperature. The FRC calibration is based on test leakage and literature-based axial pressure distribution on the rotor surface and radial pressure distribution over the backing plate. The anisotropic FRC are treated as spatial dependent in axisymmetrical coordinates. The fence height region and the upper region of bristle pack have different FRC since the upper region is supported by backing plate, while bristles are free to move and bend at the fence height region. The FRC are found to be almost linearly dependent on the pressure load for investigated conditions. The blow-down is also calculated by incorporating test leakage and calibrated FRC.