The rotordynamic characteristics of gas turbine seals have been investigated in numerous previous studies. However, the effects of centrifugal growth were often ignored; and no extensive studies have been reported. To this end, the present work examines numerically the influence of centrifugal growth on the rotordynamic characteristics of a typical rotating labyrinth gas turbine seal. A computational framework developed based on combined 3D FE/CFD methodology along with an appropriate rotordynamic model has been employed. For a given seal clearance and eccentricity, various flow and operating conditions are investigated covering a range of pressure ratios and rotational speeds. A substantial variation in both the cross-coupled stiffness and direct damping is noticed and the influence increases with rotational speed. The stability characteristics reveal that centrifugal growth of the seal has a detrimental effect at relatively low pressure ratio and high rotational speed combinations. The computational approach is validated against a typical labyrinth seal results reported in the literature. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.