A closed-form contact model for gas face seals during the opened operation
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
ISSN: 0036-8792
Article publication date: 7 August 2018
Issue publication date: 17 August 2018
Abstract
Purpose
Face contact has a strong impact on the service life of non-contacting gas face seals; the current research which mainly focuses on the face contact had appeared during the startup or shutdown operation. This paper aims to present a closed-form contact model of a gas face seal during the opened operation.
Design/methodology/approach
Referring to the axial rub-impact model of rotor dynamics, a closed-form contact model is developed under a nonparallel plane contact condition that corresponds to the local face contact of sealing rings arising from some disturbances during the opened operation. The closed-form contact model and a direct numerical contact model are performed on Gaussian surfaces to compare the contact behavior.
Findings
The closed-form contact model is in a good agreement with the direct numerical contact model. However, the closed-form contact model cannot involve the influence of grooves on the sealing ends. The error is eliminated in some other types of gas face seals such as coned gas face seals. Besides non-contacting face seals, the closed-form model can be applied to the axial rub impact of rotor dynamics.
Originality value
A closed-form contact model of a gas face seal is established during the opened operation. The closed-form contact model is validated by a direct numerical contact model. The closed-form contact model also suits for axial rub-impact of rotor dynamics.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2017M621458), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11632011), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11572192) and the National Science and Technology Support Plan Project (Grant No. 2015BAA08B02).
Citation
Hu, S., Brunetiere, N., Huang, W., Shi, X., Peng, Z., Liu, X. and Wang, Y. (2018), "A closed-form contact model for gas face seals during the opened operation", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 70 No. 6, pp. 1110-1118. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-07-2017-0208
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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