scholarly journals Discussion: “Eccentricity Effects on the Rotordynamic Coefficients of Plain Annular Seals: Theory Versus Experiment” (Marquette, O. R., Childs, D. W., and San Andres, L., 1997, ASME J. Tribol., 119, pp. 443–447)

1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Hendricks
1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. R. Marquette ◽  
D. W. Childs ◽  
L. San Andres

Reliable high-speed data are presented for leakage and rotordynamic coefficients of a plain annular seal at centered and eccentric positions. A seal with L/D = 0.45 was tested, and measured results have good signal-to-noise ratios. The influence on rotordynamic coefficients of pressure drop, running speed, and static eccentricity was investigated. There is an excellent agreement between experimental and theoretical results in the centered position, even for direct inertia terms, which have not shown good agreement with predictions in past studies. However, the rotordynamic coefficients are more sensitive to changes in eccentricity than predicted. These results suggest that, in some cases, annular seals for pumps may need to be treated more like hydrodynamic bearings, with rotordynamic coefficients which are valid for small motion about a static equilibrium position versus the present eccentricity-independent coefficients.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 422-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Weatherwax ◽  
Dara W. Childs

Test results for leakage and rotordynamic coefficients are presented for a honeycomb-stator/smooth-rotor annular seal for eccentricity ratios out to 0.5 using air as the test fluid. Tests were conducted at supply pressures up to 70 bars and running speeds up to 20200 rpm. The seal has a diameter of 115 mm, a cell width of 0.79 mm, and a cell depth of 3.10 mm. Tests were conducted for the back-pressure ratios of 0.35, and 0.5. Comparisons are made to predictions from an analysis due to San Andres. The test results show a minimal sensitivity of either leakage or rotordynamic coefficients to changes in the eccentricity ratio. The predictions generally agree well with measurements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 4237
Author(s):  
Mingjie Zhang ◽  
Jiangang Yang ◽  
Wanfu Zhang ◽  
Qianlei Gu

The elliptical orbit whirl model is widely used to identify the frequency-dependent rotordynamic coefficients of annular seals. The existing solution technique of an elliptical orbit whirl model is the transient computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Its computational time is very long. For rapid computation, this paper proposes the orbit decomposition method. The elliptical whirl orbit is decomposed into the forward and backward circular whirl orbits. Under small perturbation circumstances, the fluid-induced forces of the elliptical orbit model can be obtained by the linear superposition of the fluid-induced forces arising from the two decomposed circular orbit models. Due to that the fluid-induced forces of circular orbit, the model can be calculated with the steady CFD method, and the transient computations can be replaced with steady ones when calculating the elliptical orbit whirl model. The computational time is significantly reduced. To validate the present method, its rotordynamic results are compared with those of the transient CFD method and experimental data. Comparisons show that the present method can accurately calculate the rotordynamic coefficients. Elliptical orbit parameter analysis reveals that the present method is valid when the whirl amplitude is less than 20% of seal clearance. The effect of ellipticity on rotordynamic coefficients can be ignored.


2017 ◽  
Vol 140 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farzam Mortazavi ◽  
Alan Palazzolo

Circumferentially grooved, annular liquid seals typically exhibit good whirl frequency ratios (WFRs) and leakage reduction, yet their low effective damping can lead to instability. The current study investigates the rotordynamic behavior of a 15-step groove-on-rotor annular liquid seal by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), in contrast to the previous studies which focused on a groove-on-stator geometry. The seal dimensions and working conditions have been selected based on experiments of Moreland and Childs (2016, “Influence of Pre-Swirl and Eccentricity in Smooth Stator/Grooved Rotor Liquid Annular Seals, Measured Static and Rotordynamic Characteristics,” M.Sc. thesis, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX). The frequency ratios as high as four have been studied. Implementation of pressure-pressure inlet and outlet conditions make the need for loss coefficients at the entrance and exit of the seal redundant. A computationally efficient quasi-steady approach is used to obtain impedance curves as functions of the excitation frequency. The effectiveness of steady-state CFD approach is validated by comparison with the experimental results of Moreland and Childs. Results show good agreement in terms of leakage, preswirl ratio (PSR), and rotordynamic coefficients. It was found that PSR will be about 0.3–0.4 at the entrance of the seal in the case of radial injection, and outlet swirl ratio (OSR) always converges to values near 0.5 for current seal and operational conditions. The negative value of direct stiffness coefficients, large cross-coupled stiffness coefficients, and small direct damping coefficients explains the destabilizing nature of these seals. Finally, the influence of surface roughness on leakage, PSR, OSR, and stiffness coefficients is discussed.


Author(s):  
Dara W. Childs ◽  
George F. Kleynhans

Abstract A study which compares theoretical predictions of experimental rotordynamic and leakage results is presented for short (L/D = 1/6) honeycomb and smooth annular pressure seals. A computer code used in this comparison has been developed from a theory that employs a perturbation analysis of the governing equations flow and uses Moody’s pipe friction relationship for the surface friction of the rotor and stator. This study was undertaken to investigate how well an existing code could predict these characteristics with input provided from recorded test data and independent flat-plate tests. The results examine the effect that the following independent test parameters have on the experimental measurements and theoretical predictions: inlet preswirl, rotor speed, inlet pressure, pressure ratio across seal, seal clearance, and honeycomb cell width. Experimental results show that leakage is reduced by decreasing the honeycomb cell width. Rotordynamically, the short seals are stabilizing over all test parameter ranges. However, the short seals did not perform as favorably as longer (L/D = 1/3) seals. In general, the theory overpredicts rotordynamic coefficients and leakage.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 180101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lulu Zhai ◽  
Zhang Zhenjie ◽  
Chi Zhonghuang ◽  
Guo Jia

Annular seals have significant effects on the hydraulic and rotordynamic performances of turbomachinery. In this paper, an analysis method for calculating the leakage flow rates and dynamic characteristics of liquid annular seals with herringbone grooves on the rotor is proposed and verified. Leakage flow rates and dynamic characteristics of the model seals under different operating conditions are theoretically analysed and compared with those of plain and spiral-grooved seals of the same size. In addition, the influence of geometric parameters such as spiral angle and the lengths of the constituent parts on the sealing and rotordynamic coefficients of seals with herringbone grooves are also discussed. The results show that seals with herringbone grooves have better sealing performance, while providing better support actions and damping characteristics than the other two seal types under the same operating conditions. The seal geometric parameters including spiral angle, the lengths of the constituent parts and the clearance value have a significant influence on the dynamic characteristics of seals with herringbone grooves.


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