Theoretical and experimental investigation on maximum pressure loads of labyrinth seal’s teeth

Abstract

The pressure loads acting on the teeth of a labyrinth seal are usually not uniform. Sometimes, one tooth would take almost half of the total pressure difference, which is detrimental to the teeth’s working life and sealing effect. Therefore, the estimation of maximum pressure load on the teeth is helpful to design a sound structure of labyrinth seal. This article analyzes the influence of teeth number, boundary condition, clearances, and structure parameters on maximum pressure loads of labyrinth seal teeth in low pressure ratio conditions (PR≤ 0.5, PR = Pout/Pin). Both the computational fluid dynamics model and test results show that teeth number and pressure load are main factors influencing the maximum pressure load on teeth. Finally, a fitting equation is given to estimate the maximum pressure load on labyrinth seal teeth and its results are in good agreement with the computational fluid dynamics model.