A theoretical and numerical study of turbine rim seal ingestion

To study the ingestion in the turbine stage of aero engine, a theoretical method concerning the flow pattern at rim seal clearance was raised, followed by numerical simulations employing a 360° model. According to this theoretical method, the effects of rotor, cooling flow and main flow can be characterized by three characteristic velocities and their interactions can be featured with velocity ratios. The simulation results show that as the velocity ratios change, the flow pattern at the rim seal clearance varies from ingestion along the stator to non-ingestion and ingestion along the rotor. Through vast simulations, rules have been extracted, which can be used to assess the ingestion level and determine the minimum cooling flow initially.