Enhancement of Labyrinth Seals Efficiency by Means of a Multi-Objective Optimization Technique

Abstract

A comprehensive study of several labyrinth seals has been performed in the framework of both single-objective and multi-objective optimizations with the main focus on the effect of stator grooves formed due to the rubbing during gas turbine engine operation. For that purpose, the developed optimization workflow based on the DLR-AutoOpti optimizer and ANSYS-Workbench CAE environment has been employed to reduce the leakage flow and windage heating for several seals. The obtained results indicate that the seal designs obtained from optimizations without stator grooves have worse performance during the lifecycle than those with the stator grooves, justifying the importance of considering this effect for real engineering applications.