Computational fluid mechanics utilizing the variational principle of modeling damping seals

A computational fluid dynamics code for application to traditional incompressible flow problems has been developed. The method is actually a slight compressibility approach which takes advantage of the bulk modulus and finite sound speed of all real fluids. The finite element numerical analog uses a dynamic differencing scheme based, in part, on a variational principle for computational fluid dynamics. The code was developed in order to study the feasibility of damping seals for high speed turbomachinery. Preliminary seal analyses have been performed.