Measurement and Analysis of Ingestion Through a Turbine Rim Seal

Experimental measurements from a new single stage turbine are presented. The turbine has 26 vanes and 59 rotating blades with a design point stage expansion ratio of 2.5 and vane exit Mach number of 0.96. A variable sealing flow is supplied to the disk cavity upstream of the rotor and then enters the annulus through a simple axial clearance seal situated on the hub between the stator and rotor. Measurements at the annulus hub wall just downstream of the vanes show the degree of circumferential pressure variation. Further pressure measurements in the disk cavity indicate the strength of the swirling flow in the cavity, and show the effects of mainstream gas ingestion at low sealing flows. Ingestion is further quantified through seeding of the sealing air with nitrous oxide or carbon dioxide and measurement of gas concentrations in the cavity. Interpretation of the measurements is aided by steady and unsteady computational fluid dynamics solutions, and comparison with an elementary model of ingestion.