Some Numerical Simulations and an Experimental Investigation of a Finger Seal

Finger seals (FS) are compliant seal configurations. Unlike brush seals, they exhibit hydrodynamic lifting capabilities which allow non-contact sealing between stationary and rotating members. The compliance combined with the non-contacting feature allows both axial and radial adjustment of the seal to the rotor excursions without endangering the integrity of the former. The embodiment of a two-layer finger seal with high pressure (1c) and low pressure (1b) laminates is shown in Figure1. In this paper we shall analyze the thermo-hydraulic and mechanical performance (axial and radial deformations and displacements) of a representative repetitive cell that contains four high pressure and four low-pressure fingers arranged axially in a staggered configuration, and subject to rotation and an axial pressure drop. We shall also present experimental results pertaining to the seal deformation under axial pressure differential and rotation.