(Project concluded on November 30, 2020)
Labyrinth seals are essential for sealing rotating parts subject to high temperatures. Currently, 60% of methane emissions are caused by leakage of turbines and pneumatic devices. Due to the growth of the demand for lower pollutant emissions and the demand for more efficient devices, leakage of labyrinth seals are becoming more critical. Thus, this project intends to develop a methodology to design labyrinth seals to minimize the leakage problem. The main concept of the labyrinth is based on two requirements. First, there is always a gap between the parts, so the shaft can rotate without any contact, avoiding any premature wear on the system. Then, there is recirculation chambers in order to maximize the turbulence flow and, as a result, minimize the fluid flow. However, its design is not very obvious, because the interaction fluid-structure, which occurs in this region, brings the challenge of developing a robust and systematic methodology to the labyrinth seals design. Therefore, this work contains numerical analysis, such as FENICS, with Topology Optimization, which is a computational optimization method that allows the design of structures with two or more materials in an optimized shape, so the objective function can be maximized or minimized. The project intends to maximize the pressure drop or the energy flow in the labyrinth seals, including some restrictions, in order to make possible the manufacture of the found solutions by using 3D printers.
TEAM
Project Coordinator
Bruno Caldas de Souza (POLI-USP)
Hélio Emmendoerfer Junior
Renato Picelli (EPUSP)
Shahin Ranjbarzadeh (EPUSP)