Rotordynamic Force Coefficients for a New Damper Seal Design

The objective of the following work was to determine frequency-dependent rotordynamic force coefficients for a new annular gas damper seal design. Both rotating and nonrotating experimental tests are presented for inlet pressures at $1000psig$$(69bar)$⁠, a frequency excitation range of $20-300Hz$⁠, and rotor speeds up to $15,200rpm$⁠. Two different testing methods were used for determining coefficients: (1) dynamic pressure response method and (2) mechanical impedance method. The dynamic pressure method required the measurement of internal seal cavity pressure modulations in combination with the vibratory motion, whereas the mechanical impedance method used the measurement of external shaker forces, accelerations, and motion of the mechanical system. In addition to the new fully partitioned damper seal (FPDS) tests, the same experiments were conducted for a conventional pocket damper seal (PDS) design. Results of the frequency-dependent force coefficients and the internal seal dynamics for the two different gas damper seals are compared. The conclusions of the tests show that the FPDS design possesses significantly more positive direct damping and direct stiffness compared to the conventional PDS. The experiments also show the measurement of same-sign cross-coupled (cross-axis) stiffness coefficients for both seals, which indicate that the seals do not produce a destabilizing influence on rotor-bearing systems.