Swirl Flow and Heat Transfer in a Rotor-Stator Cavity with Consideration of the Inlet Seal Thermal Deformation Effect

In the typical structure of a turboshaft aero-engine, the mass flow of the cooling air in the rotor-stator cavity is controlled by the inlet seal labyrinth. This study focused on the swirl flow and heat transfer characteristics in a rotor-stator cavity with considerations of the inlet seal thermal deformation effect. A numerical framework was established by integrating conjugate heat transfer (CHT) analysis and structural finite element method (FEM) analysis to clarify the two-way aero-thermo-elasto coupling interaction among elastic deformation, leakage flow, and heat transfer. Simulation results showed that the actual hot-running clearance was non-uniform along the axial direction due to the temperature gradient and inconsistent structural stiffness. Compared with the cold-built clearance (CC), the minimum tip clearance of the actual non-uniform hot-running clearance (ANHC) was reduced by 37–40%, which caused an increase of swirl ratio at the labyrinth outlet by 5.3–6.9%, a reduction of the Nusselt number by up to 69%. The nominal uniform hot-running clearance (NUHC) was defined as the average labyrinth tip clearance. The Nusselt number of the rotating disk under the ANHC was up to 81% smaller than that under the NUHC. Finally, a clearance compensation method was proposed to increase the coolant flow and decrease the metal temperature.