Rotating Seal Rig Experiments: Test Results and Analysis Modeling

Abstract

Current and future gas turbine engines are subject to increasing performance requirements and improved fuel efficiencies. The resultant engine cycles increase core flow temperatures requiring additional cooling flow while requiring a reduction in parasitic leakage by 25%–50% to meet the performance goals. The achievement of the reduced leakage requires that seal design concepts be tested and improvements validated in engine like conditions before they are introduced into the gas turbine product. This paper describes the process of how a potentially low leakage seal design was evaluated and tested in an advanced seal test rig facility. How existing engine seal leakage rig data was used to validate physics based models (CFD) of baseline labyrinth seal configurations, then used to run back to back sensitivity studies to identify seal design characteristics that could provide low leakage seal designs. The paper discusses the use of an Advanced Seal Rig (ASR) facility to test seal design concepts for gas turbine engine applications. Test seal flow results are presented and compared to the base line seal tests. The differences between the new seal design flow test results and the base line seal flow test results are investigated. Further, seal test flow results are compared with the validated physics based model predictions (CFD) run at the advanced seal rig test conditions. Differences between rig data and analysis are discussed. Future seal testing and analysis work is suggested.