Influence of squeezing behavior on cavitation characteristics and performance parameters of mechanical seals with an efficient mass-conserving algorithm

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of squeezing and traction effects on the sealing performance of spiral groove mechanical seals. Firstly, a modified algorithm is proposed to solve the Reynolds equation with squeeze term and mass-conserving boundary conditions, which could effectively improve the calculation efficiency with high accuracy. Then, squeeze effect is put forward to analyze the cavitation characteristic at different boundary conditions and pressure distribution with various squeeze velocities. Finally, the squeeze effect on seal performance, i.e., fluid bearing capacity, clearance flow and cavitation region, under different operating conditions and structural parameters, is discussed. Results indicate that the traction effect has relatively apparent impact than squeeze effect on pressure and flow rate variation. Squeeze effect becomes less visible when the rotational speed exceeds 3000 r/min and film thickness or groove depth exceeds 20 μm. This result would contribute to revealing the feature of transient flow and dynamic response during unsteady conditions.