Numerical Investigation on Flow Characteristics and Aerodynamic Performance of a 1.5-Stage SCO2 Axial-Inflow Turbine with Labyrinth Seals

Abstract

The leakage problem of supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO2) axial-inflow turbine brings great challenges to the efficiency and security of the power system. Labyrinth seals are usually utilized to improve the leakage characteristics of the blade tip. In this paper, a 1.5-stage SCO2 axial-inflow turbine is established and labyrinth seals are arranged on the top of the first stage stator and rotor blades. The effects of seal clearance, groove on seal cavity surface and circle groove shape on flow characteristics and aerodynamic performance under different pressure ratio are investigated. Increasing seal clearance can significantly weaken the turbine performance. Arranging rectangle, circle and V-shaped grooves on the seal cavity surface near the outlet of the seal gap can enhance the energy dissipation, reduce the relative leakage and improve the power and efficiency. Increasing the groove width can improve the aerodynamic performance while the effect of the groove depth is weak. The configuration where the circle groove width is 50% of the pitch of seal tooth achieves the best performance with the relative leakage of stator1 and rotor, power and efficiency of 6.04 × 10−3, 8.09 × 10−3, 3.467 MW and 86.86% respectively. With an increase in pressure ratio, the relative leakage increases firstly and then remains almost constant. The power increases while the efficiency increases firstly and then decreases, reaching the peak value under the design condition.