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Modeling the rubbing contact in honeycomb seals

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Abstract

Metallic honeycomb labyrinth seals are commonly used as sealing systems in gas turbine engines. Because of their capability to withstand high thermo-mechanical loads and oxidation, polycrystalline nickel-based superalloys, such as Hastelloy X and Haynes 214, are used as sealing material. In addition, these materials must exhibit a tolerance against rubbing between the rotating part and the stationary seal component. The tolerance of the sealing material against rubbing preserves the integrity of the rotating part. In this article, the rubbing behavior at the rotor–stator interface is considered numerically. A simulation model is incorporated into the commercial finite element code ABAQUS/explicit and is utilized to simulate a simplified rubbing process. A user-defined interaction routine between the contact surfaces accounts for the thermal and mechanical interfacial behavior. Furthermore, an elasto-plastic constitutive material law captures the extreme temperature conditions and the damage behavior of the alloys. To validate the model, representative quantities of the rubbing process are determined and compared with experimental data from the literature. The simulation results correctly reproduce the observations made on a test rig with a reference stainless steel material (AISI 304). A parametric study using the nickel-based superalloys reveals a clear dependency of the rubbing behavior on the sliding and incursion velocity. Compared to each other, the two superalloys studied exhibit a different rubbing behavior.

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Acknowledgements

This work is part of the research project WE 2351/14–1, funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). We would like to thank MTU Aero Engines for their technical input and the constructive cooperation, given by Dr. Beate Schleif.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Materials Science and Mechanics of Materials, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748, Garching, Germany

    Tim Fischer, Sarah Welzenbach, Felix Meier & Ewald Werner

  2. Metals and Alloys, University of Bayreuth, Ludwig-Thoma-Straße 36b, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany

    Sonun Ulan kyzy

  3. Institute of Thermal Turbomachinery, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstraße 12, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Oliver Munz

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  1. Tim Fischer
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  2. Sarah Welzenbach
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Correspondence to Tim Fischer.

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Communicated by Andreas Öchsner.

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Fischer, T., Welzenbach, S., Meier, F. et al. Modeling the rubbing contact in honeycomb seals. Continuum Mech. Thermodyn. 30, 381–395 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00161-017-0608-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00161-017-0608-4

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