Experimentation and Modelling of Novel Adaptive Shaft Seals for use in Turbomachinery

与巴斯大学涡轮机械研究小组（TRG）合作开发新型燃气轮机轴封的实验和建模项目。高压和低压涡轮段之间的密封是涡轮机械和电动机的关键部件，可以减少泄漏。在大型旋转设备中经常出现的启动和关闭瞬态会导致不同的密封间隙。这对密封设计提出了挑战，以防止摩擦、减少泄漏和提高转子稳定性，这对实现净零推进至关重要。类似的密封设计包括：迷宫密封，由于成本低、速度快、耐压和耐温能力强而广泛使用，但存在摩擦和性能下降的问题。-刷式密封和叶式密封，分别使用柔性刷毛或叶片，比迷宫密封提高了一个数量级的泄漏性能，同时仍然受到摩擦性能下降的影响。自适应密封是一种正在开发的设计案例，旨在通过动态适应变化的间隙来适应启动和关闭期间较大的转子偏心。与同类密封设计相比，保持或改善了泄漏和稳定性能。该项目旨在通过使用现有的实验设施来告知和验证可用于影响设计的理论模型，从而促进对未来应用的自适应密封设计的理解。该设施能够复制和控制密封用例中的条件。该项目的共同资助赞助商是十字制造有限公司，该公司是航空航天和发电行业刷式密封部件的领先供应商。该项目将与Cross密切合作进行实验，并确保在公司实施有意义的结果。该项目的另一个期望是通过出版物传播研究成果，并在年度ASME Turbo Expo会议上展示。

Experimental and modelling project developing novel shaft seals for gas turbines with The Turbomachinery Research Group (TRG) at the University of Bath. Seals between high- and low-pressure turbine sections to reduce leakage are critical components in turbomachinery and electric motors.Start-up and shut-down transients often experienced in large rotating equipment lead to varying seal clearances. This poses a challenge in designing seals to prevent rubs, reduce leakage and improve rotor stability, critical for reaching net-zero propulsion.Comparable seal designs include:- Labyrinth seals, widely used due to low cost and high speed, pressure and temperature capabilities, but suffer from rubs and diminishing performance.- Brush seals and leaf seals, using flexible bristles or leaves respectively, improve leakage performance over labyrinth seals by an order of magnitude, whilst still suffering from diminishing performance from rubsAdaptive seals are an in-development design case aimed at accommodating larger rotor eccentricities during start-up and shut-down by dynamically accommodating for a changing clearance, whilst maintaining or improving the leakage and stability performance compared to comparable seal designs.This project aims to advance the understanding of adaptive seal designs for future applications by using the already existing experimental facility to inform and validate theoretical models that can then be used to influence design. The facility is capable of replicating and controlling the conditions in seal use-cases.The co-funding sponsor of this project is Cross Manufacturing Ltd., a leading supplier of brush seal components to the aerospace and power generation industries. The project will closely work with Cross to perform experiments and ensure that meaningful results are implemented at the company.It is an additional expectation of the project that research is disseminated through publications and presented at the annual ASME Turbo Expo conference.