Reducing labyrinth seal leakage with application of axially arranged baffles with increasing height

Abstract

Abstract For turbomachines, reducing seal leakage is beneficial for increasing the efficiency and reducing the energy consumption. This study proposes the design of the axially arranged baffles with increasing height to reduce the leakage of the labyrinth seal. Due to the existence of the axially arranged baffles with increasing height, the leakage fluid is guided to flow into the seal cavities. In each seal cavity, one large vortex is induced, and additional small vortexes are induced in the regions between adjacent baffles. The leakage flow resistance and kinetic energy dissipation of the leakage fluid are enhanced. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the new design, numerical comparisons are conducted between the labyrinth seals with and without axially arranged baffles with increasing height. Results show that the new seal can reduce the leakage flow rate by 37.7-38.8% compared with the labyrinth seal.