Numerical Analysis Of Steady Characteristics Of Liquid Film Seal Considering The Effects Of Cavitation

Considering the influence of the different shapes of face and operation during the working process of non-contact fluid film seal,as well as cavitation occurs in a diverging area of the textured seal face in the fluid-lubricated mechanical face seal,leading to negative pressure which is lower than the saturated vapor pressure at the working temperature.Therefor,it's quite necessary to conduct research on the cavitation which has a great influence on the stability and performance of the fluid film.In this paper,the fluid film between the two faces of non-contact seal was studied and analyzed on the basis of Fluent which fully considering the mass conservation Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model.The influence to the cavitation and the stability of the seal which generated by operation parameters of the seal and geometry of the face was analyzed.Moreover,the differences of performance between considering and without considering cavitation were presented.The results are shown below.The opening force,pumping rate and liquid film stiffness increase along with the increasing speed.Cavitation leads to the deteriorating stability of fluid film.The cavitation effect increases,then decreases following the rising temperature,reaching the weakest point at about 65?.As the groove depth increases,the opening force,pumping rate and liquid film stiffness all reach the peak value.The cavitation area reduced,the liquid film stiffness changed dramatically considering the effects of cavitation.The opening force,pumping rate and liquid film stiffness increase as the number of groove increases.Considering the effects of cavitation,the cavitation area reduced,the liquid film stiffness changed dramatically at early stage,but the results are similar at later stage with or without consideration of cavitation.As the spiral angle increases,the opening force,pumping rate and liquid film stiffness decrease and the cavitation area increases.As the seal dam decreases,the opening force reaches peak value when ? is 0.92.The pumping rate reaches inflection point when ? is 0.85.Considering the effects of cavitation,the cavitation area come to maximum value when ? is 0.33.Besides,the cavitation area kept constant when ? is in the interval from 0.6 to 0.9.As the seal weir decreases,the liquid film stiffness decreases slowly and the cavitation area increases.The opening force reaches peak value when ? is 0.5.The pumping rate reaches peak value when ? is 0.7.Considering the effects of cavitation,the liquid film stiffness is minimum when ? is 0.45,the liquid film stiffness was maximum when ? is 0.7.Conclusions above offer references and advice to the optimization design of non-contact fluid film seal.