• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.87-93
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• 2016

In a Direct Connect(DC) mode altitude engine test, a labyrinth seal is set up between an air intake duct and an engine. The labyrinth seal plays a key role in mechanically isolating them, which contributes to the accurate measurement of thrust and the other component forces. However, when high vertical temperature gradient is generated in the supplied air in the duct, the isolation breaks down. In this paper, a labyrinth seal control device is designed and installed in an effort to eliminate the issue. Test result shows the device successfully gets rid of the contact problem even when high vertical temperature gradient is produced.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.572-582
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• 2017

It is definitely important to measure thrust during ground test when developing air-breathing engine, and in case of air-breathing engine, gross thrust should be calculated considering not only the measured thrust but also the force induced by the air flow of engine intake. Also, side thrust like yaw and pitch should be measured and analyzed using multi-component thrust measurement system. Engine performance was accurately evaluated by calculating the gross thrust of air breathing engine precisely which is analyzed from below serial procedure: labyrinth seal isolation, 1-axis gross thrust calculation, develop multi-component thrust measurement system, and side thrust analysis.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.61-71
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• 2023

This study proposes a procedure for designing a labyrinth seal that meets both leakage flow rate and rotordynamic performance criteria (effective damping, amplification factor, separation margin, logarithmic decrement, and vibration amplitude). The seal is modeled using a one control volume (1CV) bulk flow approach to predict the leakage flow rate and rotordynamic coefficients. The rotating shaft is modeled with the finite element (FE) method and is assumed to be supported by two linearized bearings. Geometry, material and operating conditions of the rotating shaft, and the supporting characteristics of the bearings were fixed. A single labyrinth seal is placed at the center of the rotor, and the linearized dynamic coefficients predicted by the seal numerical model are inserted as linear springs and dampers at the seal position. Seal designs that satisfy both leakage and rotordynamic performance are searched by modifying five seal design parameters using the multi-grid method. The five design parameters include pre-swirl ratio, number of teeth, tooth pitch, tooth height and tooth tip width. In total, 12500 seal models are examined and the optimal seal design is selected. Finally, normalization was performed to select the optimal labyrinth seal designs that satisfy the system performance requirements.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2022

In this research, the rotordynamic characteristics of the labyrinth seal with and without swirl brake were predicted using the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model. Based on previous studies, a simple swirl brake consisting of square vanes without stagger angle is designed and placed in front of the seal inlet. The rotating frame of reference is utilized to consider the whirling motion of the rotor in the steady-state analysis since the whirling motion is transient behavior in nature. CFD analysis was performed in the range of -1 to 1 pre-swirl ratio for a given seal and swirl brake design and operating conditions. The CFD analysis result shows that the swirl brake effectively reduces the pre-swirl since the circumferential fluid velocity of labyrinth seal with swirl brake was lower than that without swirl brake. The cross-coupled stiffness coefficient, which is greatly affected by the circumferential fluid velocity, increased with an increasing pre-swirl ratio in a seal without a swirl brake but showed a low value in a seal with a swirl brake. The change in the damping coefficient was relatively small. The effective damping coefficient of the labyrinth seal with swirl brake was generally constant and showed a higher value than the labyrinth seal without swirl brake.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.97-108
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• 2018

It is definitely important to measure thrust during ground test when developing air-breathing engine, and in case of air-breathing engine, gross thrust should be calculated considering not only the measured thrust but also the force induced by the air flow of engine intake. Also, side thrust like yaw and pitch should be measured and analyzed using multi-component thrust measurement system. Engine performance was accurately evaluated by calculating the gross thrust of air breathing engine precisely which is analyzed from below serial procedure: labyrinth seal isolation, 1-axis gross thrust calculation, develop multi-component thrust measurement system, and side thrust analysis.