• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1217-1225
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• 2001

The governing equations are derived for the analysis of a stepped labyrinth gas seal generally used in high performance compressors, gas turbines, and steam turbines. The bulk-flow is assumed for a single cavity control volume set up in a stepped labyrinth cavity and the flow is assumed to be completely turbulent in the circumferential direction. The Moodys wall-friction-factor model is used for the calculation of wall shear stresses in the single cavity control volume. For the reaction force developed by the stepped labyrinth gas seal, linearized zeroth-order and first-order perturbation equations are developed for small motion about a centered position. Integration of the resultant first-order pressure distribution along and around the seal defines the rotordynamic coefficients of the stepped labyrinth gas seal. The resulting leakage and rotordynamic characteristics of the stepped labyrinth gas seal are presented and compared with Scharrers theoretical analysis using Blasius wall-friction-factor model. The present analysis shows a good qualitative agreement of leakage characteristics with Scharrers analysis, but underpredicts by about 20%. For the rotordynamic coefficients, the present analysis generally yields smaller predictied values compared with Scharrers analysis.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.253-259
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• 2010

Leakage characteristics of two labyrinth seals with different configurations (straight vs stepped) were investigated. Leakage flows were predicted by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for the two configurations and compared with test data. A semi-analytical leakage prediction tool was also tried to predict the leakage. It was confirmed that the CFD gives quite good agreements with test data. The analytical tool also yielded similar leakage behaviors with test results, but the overall agreement with test data was not as good as that of the CFD. The effect of flow direction in the stepped seal on leakage flow was examined. The dependence of leakage performance, in terms of flow function, on the seal clearance size was investigated. Flow function decreased with decreasing clearance in the straight seal, while the trend was reversed in the stepped seal.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2000.06a
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• pp.1084-1089
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• 2000

The basic equations are derived for the analysis of a stepped labyrinth gas seal which are generally used in high performance compressors, gas turbines, and steam turbines. The Bulk-flow is assumed for a single cavity control volume and the flow is assumed to be completely turbulent in circumferential direction. Moody's wall-friction-factor formula is used for the calculation of wall shear stresses in the single cavity control volume. For the reaction force developed by the seal, linearized zeroth-order and first-order perturbation equations are developed for small motion about a centered position. Integration of the resultant first-order pressure distribution along and around the seal defines the rotordynamic coefficients of the stepped labyrinth gas seal. The leakage and rotordynamic characteristic results of the stepped labyrinth gas seal are presented and compared with Scharrer's theoretical analysis using Blasius' wall-friction-factor formula.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.56-61
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• 1986

Rotor dynamic response of pumps is greatly influenced by the nature of the hydraulic forces arising from wearing seal, balance drum and impeller, etc.. Therefore, rotor dynamic analysis should be conducted during the design stage in order to aleviate some of the vibrational problems which might occur during the operational life of pumps. Previsousely, the authors have proposed the method to obtain the dynamic seal coefficients of the annular plain seal, convergent and divergent tapered seals, parallel grooved seal, spiral grooved seal and annular stepped seal. On the basis of these results, this paper presents the investigated effect of seals on the stability behavior of a centrifugal pump. The results show the effects of seal geometry, pressure difference, clearance, length/diameter ratio, on stability behavior.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 1990.06a
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• pp.73-91
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• 1990

Incompressible turbulent flow in a single cavity of the stepped multi-cavity labyrinth seal is numerically analyzed to investigate an effect of the shaft speed on the leakage. SIMPLER algorithm is used to solve governing equations, and low-Reynolds k-$\varepsilon$ turbulence model as outlined by Launder and Sharma is adopted to predict turbulent flow. Pressure drops for the cavity with and without the groove are evaluated for four different Reynolds numbersand three different shaft speeds.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.27-33
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• 1990

Incompressible turbulent flow in a single cavity of the stepped multi-cavity labyrinth seal is numerically analyzed to investigate an effect of the shaft speed on the leakage. SIMPLER algorithm is used to solve governing equations, and low-Reynolds k-$\varepsilon$ turbulence model as outlined by Launder and Sharma is adopted to predict turbulent flow. Pressure drops for the cavity with and without the groove are evaluated for four different Reynolds numbers and three different shaft speeds.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.400-408
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• 2009

Optimization of seal geometries can reduce significantly the energetic losses in a hydraulic seal [1], especially for high head runner turbine. In the optimization process, a reliable prediction of the losses is needed and CFD is often used. This paper presents numerical experiments to determine an adequate CFD model for straight, labyrinth and stepped hydraulic seals used in Francis runners. The computation is performed with a finite volume commercial CFD code with a RANS low Reynolds turbulence model. As numerical computations in small radial clearances of hydraulic seals are not often encountered in the literature, the numerical results are validated with experimental data on straight seals and labyrinth seals. As the validation is satisfactory enough, geometrical optimization of hydraulic seals using CFD will be studied in future works.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.194-202
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• 2020

In this paper, experimental and numerical study on a combined sheet metal forming and plate forging of a seal part of a passenger car's hub bearing is conducted to develop the new process of which target is to remove machining process by plate forging and to achieve near-net shape manufacturing. The previous process of a sheet metal forming inevitably needed a machining process for making stepped sheet after conventional sheet metal forming in a progressive way. The stepped sheet is intended to be formed by plate forging in this study. Through the systematic way of developing the combined forming process using solid elements based-elastoplastic finite element method (FEM), several conceptual designs are made and an optimized process design in terms of geometric dimensioning and tolerance of straightness of the thin part is found, which is exposed to bending in metal forming of axisymmetric part. The predicted straightness measured by the slope angle of the tilted thin region is compared with the experimental straightness, showing that they are in a good agreement with each other. Through this study, a systematic approach to optimal process design, based on elastoplastic FEM with solid elements, is established, which will contribute to innovating the conventional small-scaled sheet metal forming processes which can be dealt with by solid elements.