Rim Seal Experiments and Analysis of a Rotor-Stator System with Nonaxisymmetric Main Flow

Abstract

To examine the simplified model to predict the ingress flow rate which was formerly proposed by the authors, the scaling characteristics of a shrouded rotor-stator system with a nonaxisymmetric main flow is studied using gas concentration measurements in the wheel-space. The predicted value for the sealing effectiveness as well as the minimum cooling air flow ratio necessary to prevent ingress is shown to be relatively in good agreement with the test results. It is also found that for the precise prediction of the sealing effectiveness, the circumferential static pressure distribution in the annulus is needed.