Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 8-10, 2016 Impact of the geometrical parameters of labyrinth seal on the efficiency of gas pumping unit Abderrahmane Bellaouar Department of Process Engineering Amar TelidjiUniversity of Laghouat BP 37G 03000 Laghouat, Algeria [email protected] VolodimirB. Kopey Department of Computer-Aided Production Engineering Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, Ivano-Frankivsk, 76019, Ukraine [email protected] Mokhtar Aouissi Mechanical Engineering Laboratory Amar TelidjiUniversity of Laghouat BP 37G 03000 Laghouat, Algeria [email protected] Abstract In compression stations, the efficiency of gas transport system is strongly dependant on the operating quality of the gas pumping unit (GPU). Since labyrinth seal is an important element used to reduce leakages in the GPU, it is believed that the optimization of the seal geometrical parameters and operational factors do enhance the unit efficiency. The impact can be assessed by the flow pressure drop and velocity gradient throughout the seal. A parametric computer model for labyrinth seals in a finite element analysis system is created. The application of a modeling parameters method developed by the authors allowed the study of the labyrinths function by flow behavior in different GPU operating modes and different wear degree of labyrinths peaks and ridges on the shaft. Consequently, the geometrical parameters needed for the optimization of the main labyrinth seal structure were defined. The Gauss-Seidel optimization method was used to determine the leakage at the end of the labyrinth and to find mathematical models which describe the dependency of the leakage with the geometrical parameters. Key words: gas-pumping unit, labyrinth seal, geometrical parameters, pressure, efficiency. Biography Abderrahmane Bellaouar is currently an associate Professor of Master of Gas engineering in the department of Process Engineering, also Master of Power Engineering and Master of Mechanical Construction in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Amar Thelidji University of Laghouat (Algeria). Mr Bellaouar holds a Engineer of State degree (Master2) in Mechanical of the Petrochemical Units from University Mohamed Bougarra of Boumerdes (Algeria), and diploma of Russian language from Odessa National Polytechnic University (Ukraine) and Master of Science in Mechanical Eng. Spec. Equipment of Processing and Food Productions from Odessa National Academy of Food Technologies (Ukraine), and Ph.D in Pipeline Transport, Oil and Gas Storage from Ivano-Frankivsk 1727 © IEOM Society International