Finger seals are a new type of seal with good sealing performance and long service life. The noncontacting feature relies on the gas film force. However, when the seal works in an unsuitable environment or its design parameters are not reasonable, the lifting pad may not be able to generate sufficient air film force. This causes contact between the fingers and the rotor, resulting in a reduced service life of the seal. In view of this situation, this paper proposes a method that can quickly determine whether there is enough gas film force to lift the sealing finger at the design stage. The aeroelastic coupling characteristics of the noncontacting finger seal are studied in conditions where contact exists between the fingers and the rotor. The influences of various environmental and key structural parameters on the number of contact fingers, leakage, bearing force, and friction moment are studied. The results show that the pressure difference, eccentricity, and key design parameters have important effects on the number of contact fingers. The effect of rotation speed is relatively small. This paper provides a time-efficient tool for the design of noncontacting finger seals, which can quickly predict the performance of the sealing system.
Finger seals are widely investigated because of their excellent sealing performance. The finger beam can deform to adapt to the rotor radial vibration when working. The seal is in contact with the rotor surface. Such nonlinear contact forces induce instability and high-order independent nonlinear vibrations, which are harmful to the rotor system. Previous research has usually focused on the finger itself, while the impact of a particular finger end, called the foot, has not drawn much attention. In this paper, a nonlinear finger seal force model considering the interaction between the feet of adjacent laminates is established. It is characterized by coupling rotor displacement and seal deformation and agrees well with the finite element simulation. Based on the Timoshenko beam theory and short bearing assumption, a rotor-bearing-finger seal system is established. The nonlinear dynamic characteristics of the system are analyzed through spectrum cascades, bifurcation diagrams, Poincaré maps, etc. The effects of rotational speed, eccentricity, pressure difference, and the number of seal laminates are studied. The period doubling evolution of the nonlinear vibrations is discussed. High-order independent nonlinear vibrations are discovered, and their detailed nonlinear mechanisms are revealed. This research provides a theoretical basis for the rotor-bearing-finger seal system.
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