Seals for managing thermal distortion in a turbomachine and methods for building the same

A seal assembly for a component of a turbomachine, the seal assembly comprising:

• at least one mating face positioned adjacent to the component;
• and
• a seal coupled to the at least one mating face, the seal comprising:
• an outer shell defining an interior space;
• an inner matrix filling the interior space comprising a plurality of unit cells comprising one or more metamaterials, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of unit cells are identical, and wherein the plurality of unit cells are repeated throughout the inner matrix;
• and
• one or more support struts extending throughout the inner matrix.

A method for building a seal assembly, the seal assembly comprising at least one mating face and a seal, wherein the seal comprises an outer shell defining an interior space, an inner matrix filling the interior space comprising a plurality of unit cells comprising one or more metamaterials, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of unit cells are identical, and wherein the plurality of unit cells are repeated throughout the inner matrix, and one or more support struts extending throughout the inner matrix, the method comprising:

• selecting a first material for the outer shell, the first material defining a shell coefficient of thermal expansion;
• and
• selecting the one or more metamaterials for the inner matrix based on the first material,
• wherein the one or more metamaterials define a net coefficient of thermal expansion,
• wherein at least one of selecting the first material for the outer shell and selecting the one or more metamaterials for the inner matrix based on the first material comprises:
• adjusting an effective Poisson's ratio of the inner matrix to 0.05 or less;
• and
• adjusting a functional property gradient, the functional property gradient comprising one or more regions within the inner matrix.