Abstract
This research was dedicated toward measuring the potential of a new hybrid seal design between a two-bladed PDS and a metal mesh element, which is used as the exit blade of this PDS. The goals were to reduce leakage of the PDS, enhance damping and counteract the negative stiffness of the PDS. To achieve these goals, two sets of experiments namely, the no-air and with-air experiments were conducted on a static test rig. The first set was designed to evaluate the effect of varying the clamping force, the metal mesh density and the amplitude of vibration of the seal journal on the metal mesh dynamic response. The second set was designed to check the effect of varying these three parameters in addition to the effect of varying the inlet pressure to the seal. The performance of the new seal will be evaluated by extracting the rotordynamic coefficients for each experimental setup and compare them to those of the PDS. Two methods were used for extracting the rotordynamic coefficients namely, the classical goo-curve fitting method and a nonlinear regression model. Furthermore, the leakage rate of the new seal was measured for a range of inlet air pressures to evaluate the reduction in the leakage rate.
Burshid, Sami Muhammad (1999). Experimental evaluation of rotordynamic coefficients for hybrid metal mesh pocket damper seals in turbomachinery. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1999 -THESIS -B94.