Influences of Floating-ring Seal Parameters on Clearance Leakage

Abstract

For a type of floating-ring seal widely used in the fields of aeronautics and astronautics, power and energy, and petrochemical engineering, the influences of various parameters on clearance leakage behavior of floating-ring seal are analyzed using numerical method and by means of MATLAB programming. Based on Bulk-flow model, the governing equations of the flow field in the clearance of floating-ring seal are established. The finite difference method and the staggered grid are used to discretize the governing equations. The SIMPLE algorithm is used to solve the discretized equations. The self-locking position of the floating-ring is calculated by analyzing the equilibrium condition of the floating ring, and accordingly the leakage flowrate of the flow field in the clearance of the floating-ring seal are obtained. Finally, the influences of fluid viscosity, inlet swirl, width of floating ring, and relative roughness of floating-ring and rotor surface s on the leakage flowrate are discussed.