Rotordynamic Coefficients of Short Labyrinth Gas Seals—General Dependency on Geometric and Physical Parameters

Abstract

It is absolutely essential to predict the forces generated in labyrinth seals of turbomachinery as accurately as possible, and it is helpful to clearly specify which options are available in order to improve the dynamic behavior of the seal. With regard to seals operated with compressible fluids, the few general overviews included in the technical literature are mostly based on results obtained by numeric calculations. By way of contrast, this article presents a summary of experimentally determined results explaining the dynamic behavior of commonly used labyrinth seals in dependence of the geometrical and physical boundary conditions. The consideration includes not only the stiffness, but also the damping, which allows a statement of the most significant tendencies to be made as well.

KEY WORD:

• Gas Seal
• Labyrinth Seal
• Stability

Acknowledgments

Presented at the STLE Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada May 17-20, 2004

Review led by Tom Lai