On the Leakage and Dynamic Force Coefficients of a Novel Stepped Shaft Pocket Damper Seal: Experimental and Numerical Verification

High-performance turbomachinery favors annular seals with a large damping coefficient to ensure rotor system stability. Pocket damper seals (PDSs), a variation of labyrinth seals with axial blades (ribs) and adding circumferential partition walls (ridges), produce a favorable damping performance. To further enhance the damping characteristic and reduce leakage, a novel stepped shaft PDS is hereby introduced. The invention has a unique arrangement of steps on the rotor surface, each facing an upstream rib in a pocket row. Thus, the step and a blade tip form a tight clearance (c₁), while the rotor surface and the downstream blade tip make a larger clearance (c₂). The convergence–divergence variation of cross-sectional areas along the flow direction increases the PDS damping coefficient. To validate the performance of the novel design, a stepped shaft PDS (c₁/c₂ = 0.5) with four axial ribs and eight circumferential pockets is built and tested. A comprehensive investigation, experimental and computational, produces the seal leakage and dynamic force coefficients for the stepped shaft PDS, as well as similar performance characteristics for an identical PDS with a smooth rotor surface (c₁/c₂ = 1, i.e., a uniform clearance PDS). The stepped shaft PDS operates with air at supply pressure (P_S) ranging from 1.1 bar to 3.2 bar. The measured leakage for the stepped shaft PDS is 50% of that for the uniform clearance PDS. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and bulk flow model (BFM) predictions of leakage agree well with the test data. For P_S = 2.3 bar, the test damping coefficient (C) for the stepped shaft PDS is ~1.5 times greater than the one for the uniform clearance PDS. With an increase in P_S to 3.2 bar, the stepped shaft PDS shows a two and one half increase in damping coefficient. In comparison to the test data, a CFD model overestimates C by 29% for operation at P_S = 3.2 bar, though capturing the variation trend versus whirl frequency. The BFM largely underpredicts C for the stepped shaft PDS and is abandoned for future work. Both the test data and CFD predictions demonstrate the superior damping performance of the stepped shaft PDS, thus providing a novel alternative seal configuration for turbomachinery usage.