A Method for Estimating the Influence of Time-Dependent Vane and Blade Pressure Fields on Turbine Rim Seal Ingestion

A method of estimating the turbine rim seal ingestion rates was developed using the time-dependent pressure distributions on the hub of turbines and a simple-orifice model. Previous methods use the time-averaged pressure distribution downstream of the vanes to estimate seal ingestion. The present model uses the pressure distribution near the turbine hub, obtained from 2D time-dependent stage calculations, and a simple-orifice model to estimate the pressure-driven ingress of gas-path fluid into the turbine disk cavity and the egress of cavity fluid to the gas path. The time-dependent pressure distribution provides the influence of both the vane wakes and the bow wave from the blade on the pressure difference between the hub pressure at an azimuthal location and the cavity pressure. Results from the simple-orifice model are used to determine the effective Cd that matches the cooling effectiveness at radii near the rim seal with the amount of gas-path-ingested flow required to mix with the coolant flow. Cavity ingestion data from rim seal ingestion experiments in a 1.5-stage turbine and numerical simulations for a 1 vane, 2-blade sector of the 16-vane, 32-blade turbine were used to evaluate the method. The experiments and simulations were performed for close-spaced and wide-spaced half stages between both the vane and blade and between the blade and a trailing teardrop-shaped strut. The comparison of the model with a single Cd for axial gap seals and the experiments showed a reasonable agreement for both close- and wide-spaced stages.