Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2003

Power for Land, Sea, and Air

June 16–19, 2003, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

GT2003-38984

APPLICATION OF CFD ANALYSIS FOR ROTATING MACHINERY,

PART 2: LABYRINTH SEAL ANALYSIS

Toshio Hirano Zenglin Guo R. Gordon Kirk

Visiting Research Engineer Post-Doctorate Professor

Rotor Dynamics Laboratory

Mechanical Engineering Department
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA

ABSTRACT correction to have the analysis predictions match the

Labyrinth seals are used in various kinds of turbo
machines to reduce internal leakage flow. The working fluid
or, the gas passing through the rotor shaft labyrinth seals, often
generates driving force components that may increase the
unstable vibration of the rotor. It is important to know the
accurate rotordynamic force components for predicting the
instability of the rotor-bearing-seal system. The major goals
of this research was to calculate the rotordynamic force of a
labyrinth seals utilizing a commercial CFD program and to
further compare those results to an existing bulk flow
computer program currently used by major US machinery
manufacturers. The labyrinth seals of a steam turbine and a
compressor eye seal are taken as objects of analysis. For each
case, a 3D model with eccentric rotor was solved to obtain the
rotordynamic force components. The leakage flow and rotor
dynamics force predicted by CFX TASCFlow are compared
with the results the existing bulk flow analysis program
DYNLAB. The results show that the bulk flow program gives
a pessimistic prediction of the destabilizing forces for the
conditions under investigation. Further research work will be
required to fully understand the complex leakage flows in
turbo machinery.
Keywords: labyrinth, seals, leakage, stability, rotordynamics
INTRODUCTION
In 1980’s the analytical methods employing bulk flow
models were developed to estimate the instability of rotor
systems. They are still used in the rotating machinery
industries and have helped engineers to design stable rotating
machinery. The bulk flow models are so simplified that the
program applying them can be run on a personal computer
with standard memory. However, they require the empirical
experimental results [1-6].
Recently the progress of computer technologies makes it
possible to utilize a CFD program for predicting the
rotordynamic force of rotating machinery seals. With this
progress, the personal computer can have enough speed and
the required memory capacity for a 3D analysis of the
labyrinth seal. Rhode [7,8], Ishii [9] and Kwanka [10]
calculated the rotordynamic force of gas labyrinth seals using
the CFD programs they developed. Moore [11] used
SCISEAL, a CFD code specially developed for the analysis of
the seals, and compared the results with experiment results and
the bulk flow programs.
Currently, the CFD analysis for fluid-film bearings and
labyrinth seals has been carried out at the Virginia Tech Rotor
Dynamics Laboratory. A commercial CFD program, CFX-
TASCflow is mainly used for the analysis. In the previous
paper [12], the application of CFD in the calculation of
hydrodynamic and hydrostatic bearings is presented. The
results of the CFD analysis are compared to various standard
lubrication theory numerical calculation programs. The results
show reasonable agreement, but leave room for future work to
refine the methods of computation.
Another major goal of this research is to calculate the
rotordynamic force of gas labyrinth seals, from which the
dynamic stiffness and damping can be solved. Labyrinth
seals are used in various kinds of turbo machines to reduce
internal leakage flow. In this paper the labyrinth seals of a
steam turbine and a compressor eye seal are taken as objects of
analysis. For each case a 3D model with eccentric rotor is
solved to obtain the rotordynamic force. The leakage flow and
rotordynamic force from CFX-TASCflow are compared with

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 the results by an existing bulk flow analysis computer program Mesh Density Study
[4-6].
The simulation presented in this paper was conducted by The mesh density study is performed to investigate the effect
using the CFX-TASCflow 2.11.1[13]. For grid generation a of mesh density and to know how fine of a mesh is necessary
self-developed code were employed. It can generate a 3D for this calculation. The flow domain is divided into different
mesh for TASCflow from geometrical data such as the regions as shown in Figure 4. There are 3 regions (1~3) in a
diameter, the clearance, the pitch, etc. On the hardware side,
one Intel 2 × Pentium III 800 MHz CPU computer with 512
MB RAM, and three Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz CPU computers
with 2 GB RAM, all operating on the Windows NT 4.0/2000
systems, were utilized, respectively. The typical simulation
times ranged from a few minutes to several hours depending
on the complexity of the models and the parameters used for
the solver. More details of the required time of computation
with the CFD analysis will be given in the following
discussion of results.

COMPRESSOR EYE SEAL

Dimensions and Conditions Figure 3 Dimensions of compressor eye seal

Figures 1 and 2 show the labyrinth seal model for
calculation. It is called a straight seal and consists of a rotor
with flat surface and a stator with teeth. Table 1 and Figure 3
show the dimensions and conditions used for calculation.
This calculation assumes the fluid to be an ideal gas and
the entire flow to be turbulent. The k-ε model is used for
turbulence. The scalable log law wall function is applied to
wall boundary conditions. The swirl at the inlet is zero.

Figure 4 Regions

Table 1 Dimensions and conditions

Rotor Diameter 274.8 mm (10.82 ”)
Clearance at teeth 0.292 mm (0.0115 ”)
# of teeth 5
Figure 1 Typical compressor labyrinth configuration Rotation Speed 1162 rad/s (11,097 rpm)
Inlet Pressure 3.447 MPa (500 psi)
Outlet Pressure 1.724 MPa (250 psi)
Inlet Temperature 366.7 K (660 R)
Inlet Swirl 0
Compressible
Turbulent
Flow
k-ε
Figure 2 Analysis model for compressor eye seal Scalable Log Law wall function
Fluid Air (Ideal gas)

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 chamber and 1 region (4) between the tip of tooth and rotor. In
Figure 4, n1, n2 and n3 are the number of elements of the
region (1), (2) and (3), respectively, in radial direction. And n4
and n5 is the number of elements of regions (1),(2),(3) and (4)
in axial direction. The number of elements in circumferential
direction is n6.
First, n1, n2, n3, n4, n5 and n6 is set to 10, 10, 10, 20, 10
and 36, respectively, for the original mesh (CASE 0). Figure 5
shows the mesh of CASE 0 in the meridional plane. More
nodes are placed near the walls because the change of the flow
may be large. The nodes are distributed so that the ratio of the
length of each element and the adjacent one is the same. The
ratio is 1.1. A 3D mesh is built for the analysis with eccentric
rotor. The eccentricity of the rotor is 29.2µm (1.15mils), which
equals to 10% of the tip clearance. Computation time for this
model is 4 hours with the Pentium®4 1.7GHz processor.
Then, each parameter (n1~n6) is increased independently
and the leakage flow and the seal force of each case are
compared. Figure 6 shows the results of mesh density study.
The calculation with n1=25 does not converge. In this case, n4
has the largest effect, n1, n2, n5 and n6 have some, and n3 has
little.
For more accurate calculation, n1, n2, n3, n4, n5 and n6 is
set to 15, 15, 10, 50, 10 and 48, respectively. Total number of
nodes is 761,852. Figure 7 shows the mesh after adjustment. It
takes 3 hours 30 minutes for the calculation of this model, with
the initial value interpolated from the result of CASE 0.
To obtain the dynamic coefficients, the calculation with a
whirling rotor is necessary. Figure 8 shows the axial view of
rotor and stator. Here, it is assumed that the rotor is whirling

Figure 5 Mesh of CASE 0 Figure 7 Mesh after adjustment

Figure 6 Result of mesh density study

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 around the center of the seal and that the speed of spinning and the following equations.
whirling are ω and Ω, respectively. Fr / δ = − K − Ωc  (1)

Ft / δ = k − ΩC 
where
K : direct stiffness
k : cross-coupled stiffness
C : direct damping coefficient
c : cross-coupled damping coefficient
Fr : seal force in radial direction
Ft : seal force in tangential direction
δ : eccentricity

Figure 8 Axial view of rotor and stator
If they are observed from a stationary frame of reference,
the geometry of the rotor seems to be moving, so the moving
grid and transient analysis is necessary. But observed from the
frame of reference rotating with Ω, the rotor always stays at
the same place. In this case the analysis becomes steady state.
After solutions with various whirl speeds (Ω) are
obtained, the seal force of each case is calculated by
integrating the pressure on the rotor. Assuming the effect of
inertia is negligible, the dynamic coefficients are derived from
Results
Figure 9 shows the calculated velocity vectors. The
pattern of vectors at each chamber is similar. There are high-
speed jet at the tip of each tooth and a large vortex inside each
chamber. Figure 10 shows the streak lines that start from the
gap between the first tooth and rotor. The vortex becomes the
spiral flow because of rotation of the rotor. Figure 11 shows
the average swirl (the flow in the circumferential direction) at
each chamber by TASCFlow and existing bulk flow PC
analysis program [4]. In this figure the bulk flow program has
two kinds of results with different rotor surface roughness. In
all three results the swirl increases as the flow go downstream.
The increment of the swirl by TASCFlow is larger than that by
bulk flow program. Figure 12 shows the pressure distribution.

Figure 9 Vector plot Figure 10 Steak line

Figure 11 Average swirl Figure 12 Pressure distribution

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 The pressure drop mainly occurs at the tips of teeth and the (DYNLAB), though there is some difference for the results in
pressure inside each chamber is almost equal. the radial direction. The predicted seal forces by TASCFlow
Table 2 shows the calculated leakage flow. The leakage are smaller than those by DYNLAB. It means that TASCFlow
flow by TASCflow shows reasonably good agreement with the gives more stabilizing results. The inertia coefficients in both
result by the bulk flow analysis program [4]. directions are negligible because each plot is almost a straight
Figure 13(a) and (b) show the relation between the seal line. The dynamic coefficients derived from the intercept and
force and whirl speed. The seal force in the tangential direction slope of the graph are shown in Table 3.
by TASCFlow is close to those by the bulk flow program
Table 3 Dynamic characteristics
Table 2 Leakage
K k C c
Leakage Difference [N/m] [N/m] [Ns/m] [Ns/m]
Flow [kg/s]

CFD CFD 1.88 -7.20 1.60 1.24

1.08 0 (TASCflow) x106 x105 x103 x103
(TASCflow)
Bulk Flow Bulk Flow
(DYNLAB) 1.28 18.5% 3.76 -2.82 1.00 3.97
(DYNLAB)
-R:1.0, S:1.0 x105 x105 x103 x102
R:1.0,S:1.0
Bulk Flow
(DYNLAB) 1.28 18.5% Bulk Flow
3.75 -4.00 1.05 5.67
(DYNLAB)
-R:1.5, S:1.0 x105 x105 x103 x102
R:1.5,S:1.0

LABYRINTH SEAL FOR STEAM TURBINE

Analysis Model
Figure 14 shows the labyrinth seal model for this
calculation. This model is for the labyrinth seal between stages
of a steam turbine as shown in Figure 15. This model includes
the upstream section before the seal section. Table 4 shows the
dimensions and conditions used for calculation. They are
similar to the condition of the labyrinth seal between the 1st
and 2nd stage of the high pressure section of a large scale
steam turbine.

(a) radial direction

Figure 14 Analysis model

(b) tangential direction Result
Figure 13 Seal force vs. whirl speed Figure 16 shows the calculated velocity vectors. The flow
pattern at the seal section is similar to that of compressor eye

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 seal. There is reverse flow near the rotor surface at the
upstream section. It is because the tangential velocity is large
and the centrifugal force is also large.
Figure 17 shows the average swirl in each chamber. This
graph includes a result by TASCFlow and 4 results by the bulk
flow program [4] with various surface roughness. In the graph
R means the relative roughness of rotor and S means relative
roughness of stator. On the whole the results of TASCFlow
and the bulk flow program do not agree very well. It may be
because the reverse flow in the upstream section is not
considered in the bulk flow program.

Figure 15 Cross-section of steam turbine

Table 4 Dimensions and conditions

Rotor diameter 700 mm (27.6”)
0.6 / 0.7 / 0.8mm Figure 17 Average swirl
Clearance at teeth
(0.0236 / 0.0276 / 0.0315”)
Table 5 shows the dynamic characteristics. Figure 18
# of teeth 20
shows the relation between the seal force and whirl speed. The
difference of result between of TASCFlow and the bulk flow
Rotation speed 3600 rpm
program in this case is larger than that in compressor eye seal
case. This may be also due to the reverse flow in the upstream
Inlet Pressure 18 MPa (2611psi)
section. The advantage of using CFD programs, such as
TASCFlow, is that they can properly and more accurately deal
Outlet Pressure 15 MPa (2176psi)
with the various kinds of seal geometry found in real
machinery.
Inlet Temperature 500 °C (932 °F)
Table 5 dynamic characteristics
Fluid Steam
K k C c
[N/m] [N/m] [Ns/m] [Ns/m]

CFD 5.29 -4.86 1.50 3.06

(TASCflow) x106 x106 x104 x103

Bulk Flow
-1.52 4.49 2.41 2.36
(DYNLAB)
x107 x106 x104 x104
R:1.0,S:1.0
Bulk Flow
-1.45 8.81 2.96 2.38
(DYNLAB)
x107 x106 x104 x104
R:2.0,S:2.0
Bulk Flow
-1.50 1.59 2.02 2.12
(DYNLAB)
x107 x106 x104 x104
R:0.5,S:0.5
Bulk Flow
-1.46 2.07 2.12 1.58
(DYNLAB)
x107 x106 x104 x104
Figure 16 Velocity vector R:0.5,S:1.0

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(a) radial direction
(b) tangential direction
Figure 18 Seal force vs. whirl speed
CONCLUSIONS
It has been demonstrated that the general CFD code, CFX-
TASCflow can be used to simulate the flow of labyrinth seals
and predict the rotor dynamics force.
The labyrinth seals of a steam turbine and a compressor
eye seal were taken as objects of analysis. For each case, a 3D
model with eccentric rotor was solved to obtain the
rotordynamic force components. The leakage flow and rotor
dynamics force predicted by CFX TASCFlow were compared
with the results the existing bulk flow analysis program
DYNLAB. The results show that the bulk flow program gives
a pessimistic prediction of the destabilizing forces for the
conditions under investigation. The obvious advantage of the
bulk flow analysis is the 0.1 second run time per case,
compared to 4–19 hours for TASCflow. Further research
work will be required to fully understand the complex leakage
flows in turbo machinery.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors express their gratitude to the Virginia Tech
Rotor Dynamics Lab Industry Affiliates Group and Toshiba
Corporation, for their support to this research work.
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REFERENCES
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