CFD Analysis on Honeycomb Labyrinth Seal Parameters

The main challenge for the next generation of aircraft propulsion systems is a more sustainable aircraft engine. A crucial feature of the new engine should be a higher efficiency, leading to the consequent decrease in both fuel consumption and emissions. This aim could be reached through the optimization of the main engine parts, particularly focusing on issues as the leakage flow reduction between rotating components. In Low Pressure Turbines (LPT), this objective can be fulfilled by improving labyrinth seals performances. Labyrinth seals with honeycomb land, employed in the aerospace field, were widely investigated in the past, although, due to manufacturing limits, few attentions were focused on the honeycomb stator part. The labyrinth seal flow field was investigated through the Computational Fluid-Dynamics (CFD) methodology. The present work focuses on an extended numerical analysis of the most influencing honeycomb stepped labyrinth seal parameters on discharge coefficient. The obtained results will be presented and discussed both for convergent and divergent flow conditions. The numerical results were compared to numerical and experimental data acquired from literature.