The Inter-Bristle Pressure Field in a Large-Scale Brush Seal

Joshua Bowen, Matthew Jenkins, Aaron Bowsher, Peter Crudgington, Carl Sangan, James Scobie

Research output: Chapter or section in a book/report/conference proceedingChapter in a published conference proceeding

Abstract

Brush seals promise improvements to the widely used labyrinth seal in regulating turbomachinery leakages. Enhanced resistance to the flow is provided by a static ring of densely packed fine wire bristles that are angled in the direction of rotation and flex to accommodate rotor excursions. A large-scale brush seal was constructed to study the leakage characteristics in direct relation to the pressure field within and surrounding the bristle pack for multiple clearance conditions, therefore developing the understanding of brush seal fluid dynamic behaviour.

The governing parameter controlling leakage behaviour transitioned from pressure ratio for a large clearance, to pressure load for a line-on-line configuration. In all cases, leakage flow converged to an asymptotic value once maximum levels of bristle blow-down and pack compaction were attained. For both clearance configurations, this occurred at a pressure ratio corresponding to that at which axial distributions of pressure converged; equivalent behaviour was noted for the line-on-line configuration with pressure drop. Comparatively small changes were experienced in leakage behaviour and to the inter-bristle pressure field with increasing pressure drop for the line-online brush seal. This indicated that brush seal performance is more influenced by changes in bristle blow-down than bristle pack compaction.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHeat Transfer - General Interest/Additive Manufacturing Impacts on Heat Transfer; Internal Air Systems; Internal Cooling
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
ISBN (Electronic)9780791886045
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Oct 2022
EventASME Turbo Expo 2022 - Rotterdam, Netherlands
Duration: 13 Jun 202217 Jun 2022

Publication series

NameProceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo
Volume6-B

Conference

ConferenceASME Turbo Expo 2022
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityRotterdam
Period13/06/2217/06/22

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, under the grant number EP/P008232/1. The authors wish to thank Paul Frith, Andrew Langley, Terry Warder and James Cansell for their assistance with the manufacture and assembly of the test rig.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 by ASME.

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