Shape Optimization of Labyrinth Seals to Improve Sealing Performance

Abstract

To reduce gas leakage, shape optimization of a straight labyrinth seal was carried out. The six design parameters included seal clearance, fin width, fin height, fin pitch, fin backward, and forward expansion angle. The CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) model was solved to generate the training and testing samples for the surrogate model, which was established by the least square support vector machine. A kind of chaotic optimization algorithm was used to determine the optimal design parameters of the labyrinth seal. As seal clearance, fin width, fin height, fin pitch, fin backward and forward expansion angles are 0.2 mm, 0.1 mm, 7 mm, 9 mm, 0°, and 15°, the discharge coefficient can reach its minimum value in the design space. The chaotic optimization algorithm coupled with least square support vector machine is a promising scheme for labyrinth seal optimization.