On Pressure Distribution and Leakage Under a State of Imperfect Throttling of Axial Flow Labyrinth Glands

Abstract

Equations for calculating the pressure distribution along the labyrinth gland, the critical condition of the last throttling and the leakage of fluid through the gland are derived taking the state of imperfect throttling into consideration for the straight through type axial flow labyrinth gland. The calculated values from those equations are in good agreement with the experimental values obtained by the equipment with various geometrical dimensions.
The flow coefficient of the labyrinth fins and the imperfect throttling factor of the expansion chamber are evaluated from the experimental results. A method of obtaining the most effective number of throttling fin for a given gland length is also presented and compared with the experimental values.