Swirl brake influences the static and rotordynamic characteristics of labyrinth seal which are important in the prediction of turbomachine stability. To study the influence of the swirl brakes on improving seal stability, the effects of swirl brakes on the static and rotordynamic characteristics of labyrinth seals were investigated by the combination of numerical simulation and experiment. First, it was performed to the effects of swirl brake on the static flow characteristics of labyrinth seal with swirl ratio and pressure distribution based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). And then a comparison between leakage predicted by the CFD model and measurement was presented to verify the accuracy of the simulation. Moreover, an experiment was implemented to analyze the rotordynamic characteristics of labyrinth seal using an improved impedance method based on an unbalanced synchronous excitation method on a rotor test rig. The influences of swirl brake density, length, inlet/outlet pressure ratio, and rotating speed were measured and discussed, respectively. The CFD numerical results show that the swirl brake effectively reduces the seal swirl ratio (∼60–75% less), circumferential pressure difference (∼25–85% less) so that the seal destabilizing forces decrease. With the increasing of the swirl vanes density and length, the seal leakage drops (∼8–20% less). The experimental rotordynamic characteristics results show that it is more obvious to reduce the cross-couple stiffness (∼50–300% less) and increase the direct damping (∼50–60% larger) with the increasing in the number and length of the swirl vanes, and thus the swirl brake improves the seal rotordynamic stability. The efforts of this paper provide a useful insight to clearly understand the effects of swirl brakes on the labyrinth seal static and rotordynamic characteristics, which is beneficial to improve the design of annular seals.

The aim of this paper was to develop a master–slave model with fluid-thermo-structure (FTS) interaction for the thermal fatigue life prediction of a thermal barrier coat (TBC) in a nozzle guide vane (NGV). The master–slave model integrates the phenomenological life model, multilinear kinematic hardening model, fully coupling thermal-elastic element model, and volume element intersection mapping algorithm to improve the prediction precision and efficiency of thermal fatigue life. The simulation results based on the developed model were validated by temperature-sensitive paint (TSP) technology. It was demonstrated that the predicted temperature well catered for the TSP tests with a maximum error of less than 6%, and the maximum thermal life of TBC was 1558 cycles around the trailing edge, which is consistent with the spallation life cycle of the ceramic top coat at 1323 K. With the increase of pre-oxidation time, the life of TBC declined from 1892 cycles to 895 cycles for the leading edge, and 1558 cycles to 536 cycles for the trailing edge. The predicted life of the key points at the leading edge was longer by 17.7–40.1% than the trailing edge. The developed master–slave model was validated to be feasible and accurate in the thermal fatigue life prediction of TBC on NGV. The efforts of this study provide a framework for the thermal fatigue life prediction of NGV with TBC.

The target of this paper is to develop an enhanced flow-thermo-structural (FTS) model with high computational accuracy, to perform the integrated analysis of film cooling nozzle guide vane (NGV). An efficient turbulence model and weak spring approach are utilized in the enhanced FTS model. In respect of the power balance principle of aeroengine rotor shaft and temperature test of a typical combustor, the mean temperature inlet and five normalization temperature curves were confirmed, respectively. The temperature-sensitive paint (TSP) technology was used to verify the numerical simulation. From this study, we find that the predicted temperature caters for the TSP test well, between which the maximum error is less than 6%, and the maximum thermal stress is 758 MPa around the hole edges and the location of stress concentration keeps the consistency with that of the cracks. The maximum thermal stress increases by 10% with the increasing inlet temperature and reduces by about 16% with the shifting of flame peak from the outer to inner hub. The prediction provides general information on the initiation of cracks on a vane segment. The developed enhanced FTS model is validated to be workable and precise in the integrated analysis of film cooling NGV. The efforts of this study provide an integrated analysis approach of film cooling NGV and are promising to provide guidance for the integrated design of film cooling components besides NGV.

There is a complex dynamic interaction between the aero-engine bearing and the rotor, and the resulting time-varying system parameters have an impact on the nonlinear dynamic characteristics of the rolling bearing-flexible rotor system. In this study, the interaction between the time-varying stiffness of the rolling bearing and the transient response of the flexible rotor is considered. The Newmark-β integral method is used to solve the dynamic equation, and the relationship between the time-varying characteristics of bearing stiffness and load and the dynamic characteristics of the rotor is studied. The relationship between bearing stiffness and vibration strength is analyzed, and the influence of damage size on the time domain signal energy of the disc is analyzed. The results show that the model established in this paper can accurately reflect the dynamic interaction between the bearing and the rotor. With the extension of the bearing damage, the dynamic stiffness of the bearing attenuates, the intensity of the excitation force increases, and the vibration is transmitted to the disc, which affects the motion stability and vibration response of the disc.

High-temperature strain gauges are widely used in the strain monitoring of the hot-end components of aero-engines. In the application of strain gauges, the calibration of the gauge factor ($GF$) is the most critical link. Evaluating the uncertainty of $GF$ is of great significance to the accuracy analysis of measurement results. Firstly, the calibration test of the $GF$ of the Pt-W high-temperature strain gauge was carried out in the range of 25 °C to 900 °C. The real test data required for the uncertainty evaluation were obtained. Secondly, the guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM) and the Monte Carlo method (MCM) were used to evaluate the uncertainty of $GF$ calibration test. The evaluation results of GUM and MCM were compared. Finally, the concept of the weight coefficient $W$ was proposed to quantitatively analyze the influence of each input on the uncertainty of the output $GF$. The main uncertainty source was found, which had important engineering practical significance. The results show that the mean value of $GF$ decreases with the increase in temperature nonlinearly. At 25 °C, $GF$ is 3.29, and at 900 °C, $GF$ decreases to 1.6. Through comparison and verification, the uncertainty interval given by MCM is closer to the real situation. MCM is superior to GUM, which only uses prior information for uncertainty assessment. MCM is more suitable for evaluating $GF$ uncertainty. Among multiple uncertain sources, the weight coefficient $W$ can effectively analyze $\Delta \epsilon$ as the main uncertain source.