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The labyrinth seal is widely used in turbo machines to reduce leakage flow. The stability of the rotor is influenced by the labyrinth seal because of the driving forces generated in the seal. The working fluid usually has a circumferential velocity component before entering the seal; the ratio of circumferential velocity and shaft synchronous surface velocity is defined as pre-swirl rate. It has been observed that pre-swirl rate is an important factor affecting driving forces in the labyrinth seal thus affecting the stability of the rotor. Besides the pre-swirl, the eccentricity, the clearance, and the configuration of tooth locations are all factors affecting the rotordynamic properties of the labyrinth seal. So it is of interest to investigate the exact relationships between those factors and the seal's rotordynamic properties. In this research, three types of labyrinth seals have been modeled: the straight eye seal, the stepped eye seal, and the balance drum seal. For the straight eye seal, a series of models were built to study the influence of eccentricity and clearance. The other two seals each have only one model. All models were built with Solid Works and meshed with ANSYS-ICEM. Flows in those models were simulated by numerically solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in the ANSYS-CFX and then rotordynamic coefficients for each seal were calculated based on the numerical results. It had previously been very difficult to generate a pre-swirl rate higher than 60% in a numerical simulation. So three ways to create pre-swirl in ANSYS-CFX were studied and finally the method by specifying the inlet velocity ratio was employed. Numerical methods used in this research were introduced including the frame transfer, the k-ε turbulence model with curvature correction, and the scalable wall function. To obtain the optimal mesh and minimize the discretization error, a systematical grid study was conducted including grid independence studies and discretization error estimations. Some of the results were compared with previous bulk-flow or experimental results to validate the numerical model and method. The fluid field in the labyrinth seal must be analyzed before conducting rotordynamic analysis. The predicted pressure distributions and leakages were compared with bulk-flow results. A second small vortex at the downstream edge of each tooth was found in the straight eye seal. This has never been reported before and the discovery of this small vortex will help to improve seal designs in the future. The detailed flows in discharged region and in chambers were also discussed. Radial and tangential forces on the rotor were solved based on the fluid field results. It is shown that the traditional first-order rotordynamic model works well for low pre-swirl cases but does not accurately reflect the characteristics for high pre-swirl cases. For example compressor eye seals usually have pre-swirl rates bigger than 70% and the second order model is required. Thus a second-order model including inertia terms was built and applied to the rotordynamic analysis in this research. The influence of pre-swirl, eccentricity and clearance were studied using the straight eye seal model. The rotordynamic characteristics of the stepped eye seal and the balance drum seal were studied considering high pre-swirl rates. Some relationships between influencing factors and the four rotordynamic coefficients were concluded. The results also showed that for all the three seals higher pre-swirl leads to higher cross-coupled stiffness which is one of the main factors causing rotor instability. The rotor stability analysis was conducted to study the influence of drum balance seal on the stability. The rotor was designed with typical dimensions and natural frequencies for a centrifugal compressor rotor. The parameters for bearing and aerodynamic force were also set according to general case in compressors to minimize the effects from them. The result shows that the high pre-swirl rate in balance drum seal leads to rotor instability, which confirmed the significant effect of pre-swirl on the seal and the rotor system. / Ph. D.

Inom den marina industrin har ett allt större fokus riktats mot att hitta lösningar för att minska fartygens energiförbrukning. Delvis till följd av globala trender såsom ökad miljömedvetenhet och högre bränslepriser, men framför allt på grund av nya internationella regelverk som begränsar de tillåtna utsläppen från fartyg. En åtgärd för att öka fartygs framdrivningseffektivitet är genom att installera energibesparande enheter (ESD). En Pre-Swirl Stator (PSS) är ett exempel på en sådan enhet, som består av ett antal statorblad som monteras framför propellern för att skapa en mer fördelaktig flödesregim och optimera propellerns arbetsmiljö. I denna studie genomförs en numerisk undersökning av en PSS som en potentiell lösning för att förbättra framdrivningseffektiviteten genom eftermontering på ett chemfartyg. Genom att analysera interaktionen mellan skrovets medströmsfält, statorbladen och propellern fås insikter kring hur olika designparametrar på PSS:n påverkar inflödet till propellern. Resultaten från CFD-analysen jämförs med och utan PSS i full skala för att avgöra om PSS:n har en positiv eller negativ effekt på propellerverkningsgraden. De designparametrar som undersökts är antal statorblad/designorientering, stigningsvinkel och NACA-profil. För designarbetet av PSS:n har CAD NX och CFD-programvaran STAR-CCM++ genom Kongsbergs egna HullProp Interface tillämpats. Resultaten visar att en PSS kan påverka chemfartygets framdrivningseffektivitet, där PSS:ns designparametrarna har en stor inverkan på om propellerverkningsgraden ökar eller minskar. Genom att installera en PSS kan framdrivningseffektiviteten förbättras och den största verkningsgradsökningen på 0,94 % erhölls för en asymmetrisk design. För att uppnå ökad framdrivningseffektivitet ska PSS:n kunna interagera med det inkommande flödet utan att skapa för stort motstånd. Samtidigt bör en jämn och stabil strömning av vatten genereras in mot propellern. Designparametrarna bör justeras för att undvika flödesseperation på statorbladen, eftersom detta leder till ökat motstånd och ojämn strömning in till propellern. Anfallsvinkeln mot propellerbladen får heller inte bli för stor till följd av statorbladen, då detta kan orsaka flödesseperation på propellerbladen, vilket resulterar i minskad tryckkraft och verkningsgrad. För vidare studier rekommenderas användning av mer avancerade CFD-metoder för att få en tydligare bild av den komplexa flödesdynamiken och verifiera resultaten. Detta kan leda till en bättre förståelse för flödet kring PSS och dess interaktion med propellern, innan en mer omfattande parameterstudie genomförs.

Due to global warming, all industries must do everything they can to prevent temperature increases. In this bachelor thesis, the reader will get a description of how the marine industry is tackling the environmental problem and more precisely what a vessel can be equipped with to reduce fuel consumption.   The thesis deals with how different energy saving devices (ESD) affect the propulsion efficiency of a chemtanker sailing on the sea. The thesis will address the following three different concept: Pre-swirl stator, Pre-swirl duct, Pre-duct. The work will step-by-step describe the different optimization parameters that need to be adjusted and what impact these parameters have on the wake field of the propeller plane.  The work addresses some different devices that will reduce the fuel consumption of ships and that these devices not only reduce fuel consumption, but also have a positive impact on cavitation. The result of this thesis was that ESD will reduce the power needed to reach the desired speed of the vessel and after post-processing was made, the best result, which was Pre-swirl stator, showed an energy saving percentage of as much as 3.15% and the risk of cavity occurring at the propeller tip was also reduced.