Investigation of Conjugate Heat Transfer in Brush Seals Using Porous Media Approach Under Local Thermal Non-Equilibrium Conditions

Abstract

As a type of contacting seal technology, brush seals provide superior sealing performance and flexible behavior. Brush seals have found increasing application in more challenging high-temperature locations in recent years. Thus, the frictional heat generation between the seal bristles and mating surfaces is becoming another major concern for stable operation of brush seals. This study presents detailed investigations on the conjugate heat transfer behavior of brush seals using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Method (FEM) approaches. A dual-energy equation was proposed to describe the conjugate heat transfer in the porous bristle pack region under local thermal non-equilibrium conditions. The heat transfer CFD model was established with consideration of anisotropic thermal conductivity and a radius-dependent porosity of the bristle pack. The frictional heat generation was calculated from the product of the bristle-rotor frictional force and sliding velocity. The bristle-rotor frictional force was obtained from the brush seal FEM model with consideration of internal friction and aerodynamic load on the bristles. The temperature distribution of the brush seal was predicted at various operational conditions using the iterative CFD and FEM brush seal model. The effects of pressure ratios and rotational speeds on the temperature distribution and bristle maximum temperature of the brush seal were investigated based on the developed numerical approach. The effect of frictional heat generation on brush seal leakage was also analyzed.