Keywords

Mechanical Seals, Spiral Grooves, Reynolds Equation

Two Phase Flow in a Mechanical Seal 

This paper presents a numerical analysis of a two-phase flow analysis in a mechanical seal. Usually, mechanical seals are used to separate two mediums containing different fluids: for example water and air or oil and air. Even if there is pressure gradient from one side to the other, the fluid located at the low pressure side can enter the contact because of local depressions in the fluid film which can suck the fluid inside. In the present model, the Reynolds equation for a homogeneous mixture is solved as well as a transport equation used to determine the proportion of both fluids at each point. The effect of the two phase flow on the seal performance is analysed trough a parametric study.

Authors and Company/Institution

Noel Brunetiere, Institut Pprime - CNRS, Universite de Poitiers, Futuroscope Chasseneuil, Cedex, France