Open AccessA Thermo-hydrodynamic lubrication model of a mechanical seal modified by equivalent film thickness
Author(s) -
Xiuying Wang,
Dapeng Zhi,
Chen Yu,
Yu Chen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
mechanics and industry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.256
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 2257-7777
pISSN - 2257-7750
DOI - 10.1051/meca/2020096
Subject(s) - lubrication , finite element method , materials science , seal (emblem) , finite volume method , mechanical engineering , fluid bearing , response surface methodology , composite material , mechanics , computer science , structural engineering , engineering , physics , art , visual arts , machine learning
An effective way to improve the combined performance of mechanical seals is to optimize their surface textures using multi-objective optimization method. For compatibility with the multi-objective optimization algorithm, the theoretical performance of a mechanical seal is often determined using the finite-difference method (FDM). However, compared with the finite-volume method (FVM) and finite-element method (FEM), FDM is weaker for dealing with the issue of discontinuous film thickness for a textured surface. In the present study, the thermo-hydrodynamic lubrication model of a mechanical seal is modified by means of an equivalent-thickness treatment, and the accuracy of the modified lubrication model is assessed by comparing its predictions for film pressure and temperature with published FVM and FEM results, showing that the equivalent-thickness lubrication model is effective for addressing the issue of discontinuous film thickness. The present work is important in that it improves the simulation accuracy of multi-objective optimization for textured mechanical seals.