Development of Laminated Seals for Stator-Stator Sealing in Gas Turbines

This paper describes the development of laminated seals for stator-stator sealing in gas turbines. Cloth seals were introduced as stator-stator seals in the 1990’s and resulted in a significant improvement in sealing performance over the rigid seals then in service. Laminated seals presented here are proposed as an improvement to the existing cloth seals. They demonstrate improved leakage performance over cloth seals in aligned and offset conditions. Several versions of laminated seals were developed and tested before arriving at a seal geometry that satisfied the leakage, manufacturability and assembly requirements. These seals therefore provide an alternative to cloth seals that leak less and are durable, cost-effective and robust in assembly.