A Semi-Analytical Model of Spiral-Groove Face Seals: Correction and Extension

ABSTRACTThis article presents a semi-analytical model of spiral-groove face seals. Based on Muijderman's spiral-groove bearing theory for parallel faces, a one-dimensional radial discretization method is proposed to process the radial variations of different parameters of face seals. For each discrete element, the geometric parameters of the faces (e.g., film thickness, groove shape) and the physical parameters of the lubricant (e.g., density, viscosity) can be assigned to reflect the radial nonuniformity of these parameters. Furthermore, a correction of the end effect is introduced to improve the model's precision. Errors in this model under various operating conditions and with different design parameters are analyzed by comparison with the traditional one-dimensional difference model and the two-dimensional numerical model. The calculation results indicate that the proposed model is more accurate than the traditional one-dimensional difference model under various conditions. Furthermore, it is shown th...