Labyrinth Seal Leakage Equation

A seal is a component used in a turbomachine to reduce internal leakage of the working fluid and to increase the machine's efficiency. The stability of a turbomachine partially depends upon the rotodynamic coefficients of the seal. The integral control volume based rotodynamic coefficient prediction programs are no more accurate than the accuracy of the leakage mass flow rate estimation. Thus an accurate prediction of the mass flow rate through seals is extremely important, especially for rotodynamic analysis of turbomachinery. For labyrinth seals, which are widely used, the energy dissipation is achieved by a series of constrictions and cavities. When the fluid flows through the constriction (under each tooth), a part of the pressure head is converted into kinetic energy, which is dissipated through small scale turbulence-viscosity interaction in the cavity that follows. Therefore, a leakage flow rate prediction equation can be developed by comparing the seal to a series of orifices and cavities. Using this analogy, the mass flow rate is modeled as a function of the flow coefficient under each tooth and the carry over coefficient, which accounts for the turbulent dissipation of kinetic energy in a cavity. This work, based upon FLUENT CFD simulations, initially studies the influence of flow parameters, in addition to geometry, on the carry over coefficient of a cavity, developing a better model for the same. It is found that the Reynolds number and clearance to pitch ratios have a major influence and tooth width has a secondary influence on the carry over coefficient and models for the same were developed for a generic rectangular tooth on stator labyrinth seal. The discharge coefficient of the labyrinth seal tooth (with the preceding cavity) was found to be a function of the discharge coefficient of a single tooth (with no preceding cavity) and the carry over coefficient. The discharge coefficient of a single tooth is established as a function of the Reynolds number and width to clearance ratio of the tooth and a model for the same is developed. It is also verified that this model describes the discharge coefficient of the first tooth in the labyrinth seal. By comparing the coefficients of discharge of compressible flow to that of incompressible flow at the same Reynolds number, the expansion factor was found to depend only upon the pressure ratio and ratio of specific heats. A model for the same was developed. Thus using the developed models, it is possible to compute the leakage mass flow rate as well as the axial distribution of cavity pressure across the seal for known inlet and exit pressures. The model is validated against prior experimental data

Generation of Laminar Vortex Rings by an Impulsive Body Force

It is shown that laminar vortex rings can be generated by impulsive body forces having particular spatial and temporal characteristics. The method produces vortex rings in a fluid initially at rest, and once generated, the flow field automatically satisfies the boundary conditions and is divergence-free. Numerical simulations and analytical models show that the strength of these rings can be accurately predicted by considering diffusion alone, despite the nonlinear nature of the generation process. A particularly simple model, which approximates the source of vorticity within vertical slabs, is proposed. This model predicts the ring circulation almost as accurately as a model which uses the exact geometry of the source of vorticity. It is found that when the duration of the force is less than a time scale based on the force radius and fluid viscosity, the ring circulation can be predicted accurately using an inviscid model.Comment: 37 pages, 11 figure

Free turbulent shear layer in a point vortex gas as a problem in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics

This paper attempts to unravel any relations that may exist between turbulent shear flows and statistical mechanics through a detailed numerical investigation in the simplest case where both can be well defined. The flow considered for the purpose is the two-dimensional (2D) temporal free shear layer with a velocity difference Delta U across it, statistically homogeneous in the streamwise direction (x) and evolving from a plane vortex sheet in the direction normal to it (y) in a periodic-in-x domain L x +/-infinity. Extensive computer simulations of the flow are carried out through appropriate initial-value problems for a ``vortex gas'' comprising N point vortices of the same strength (gamma = L Delta U/N) and sign. Such a vortex gas is known to provide weak solutions of the Euler equation. More than ten different initial-condition classes are investigated using simulations involving up to 32 000 vortices, with ensemble averages evaluated over up to 10(3) realizations and integration over 10(4)L/Delta U. The temporal evolution of such a system is found to exhibit three distinct regimes. In Regime I the evolution is strongly influenced by the initial condition, sometimes lasting a significant fraction of L/Delta U. Regime III is a long-time domain-dependent evolution towards a statistically stationary state, via ``violent'' and ``slow'' relaxations P.-H. Chavanis, Physica A 391, 3657 (2012)], over flow time scales of order 10(2) and 10(4)L/Delta U, respectively (for N = 400). The final state involves a single structure that stochastically samples the domain, possibly constituting a ``relative equilibrium.'' The vortex distribution within the structure follows a nonisotropic truncated form of the Lundgren-Pointin (L-P) equilibrium distribution (with negatively high temperatures; L-P parameter lambda close to -1). The central finding is that, in the intermediate Regime II, the spreading rate of the layer is universal over the wide range of cases considered here. The value (in terms of momentum thickness) is 0.0166 +/- 0.0002 times Delta U. Regime II, extensively studied in the turbulent shear flow literature as a self-similar ``equilibrium'' state, is, however, a part of the rapid nonequilibrium evolution of the vortex-gas system, which we term ``explosive'' as it lasts less than one L/Delta U. Regime II also exhibits significant values of N-independent two-vortex correlations, indicating that current kinetic theories that neglect correlations or consider them as O(1/N) cannot describe this regime. The evolution of the layer thickness in present simulations in Regimes I and II agree with the experimental observations of spatially evolving (3D Navier-Stokes) shear layers. Further, the vorticity-stream-function relations in Regime III are close to those computed in 2D Navier-Stokes temporal shear layers J. Sommeria, C. Staquet, and R. Robert, J. Fluid Mech. 233, 661 (1991)]. These findings suggest the dominance of what may be called the Kelvin-Biot-Savart mechanism in determining the growth of the free shear layer through large-scale momentum and vorticity dispersal