Quantifying the heat transfer effect of the axial turbine stator well cavity

A Thermal-Fluid-Structural model is presented for quantifying the heat

generation by the labyrinth seal in the low-pressure turbine stator well

cavity. The method combines windage heating and convective heat transfer

effects for labyrinth seal design, making it possible to use the heat

transfer boundary condition instead of adiabatic to do the computational

fluid dynamic calculation. The solutions illustrate how the outlet total

temperature may change depending on the seal pressure ratios, windage

heating, and heat transfer coefficient. It is further demonstrated that with

a fixed seal pressure ratio, the thermal boundary condition has little

influence on the leakage flow rate of the seal. The total temperature rise

is dependent on the thermal boundary conditions, including the stator/rotor

wall temperature, heat transfer coefficient, and windage heat caused by air

friction.