K.

Ayadi1
Departement Genie Mecanique et
Système Complexes,
Institut Pprime,
CNRS-Universite de Poitiers-ENSMA
(UPR 3346),
Futuroscope Chasseneuil 86962, France
e-mail: khouloud.ayadi@univ-poitiers.fr
Experimental Thermal Analysis
N. Brunetière of a Mechanical Face Seal
Departement Genie Mecanique et
Système Complexes, An experimental study quantifying the thermal behavior of a mechanical seal is per-
Institut Pprime, formed. Temperature measurements are obtained using embedded thermocouples within
CNRS-Universite de Poitiers-ENSMA the stator at different locations, and the tests are carried out at different sealed fluid pres-
(UPR 3346), sures and rotary shaft speeds. Furthermore, an inverse method is used to calculate the
Futuroscope Chasseneuil 86962, France heat transfer from the measured local temperatures. The Nusselt number is calculated
along the wetted surface as a function of operating conditions; the obtained values are
B. Tournerie discussed in comparison to previous works. Our results demonstrate that the amplitude of
Departement Genie Mecanique et the thermal effects is highly dependent on the operating conditions. The temperature rise
Système Complexes, being increased by 600% when the rotating speed is raised from 1000 to 6000 rpm and
Institut Pprime, the fluid pressure from 1 to 5 MPa. Moreover, the temperature can vary by several
CNRS-Universite de Poitiers-ENSMA degrees when the distance from the wetted diameter (cooled by convection) and the fric-
(UPR 3346), tion face (heat source) is varied from less than 2 mm. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4033212]
Futuroscope Chasseneuil 86962, France

A. Maoui
CETIM P^ole Technologies de l’Etancheite 74,
route de la Jonelière-BP 82617,
Nantes 44326, France

1 Introduction (viz., water and oil). The experiments showed that the temperature
at the friction faces increases in the radial direction of leakage.
A mechanical seal is one of the most common and efficient
Moreover, the temperature level increases with the rotational
dynamic sealing components for rotating shafts. The sealing is
speed. Tournerie et al. [2] adopted infrared thermography to
realized by the plane-to-plane frictional contact of two metallic
obtain experimental temperature maps of the rotating face through
annular faces in relative rotation. To reduce the undesirable
a transparent stator in calcium fluoride, using an infrared camera.
effects of friction (i.e., wear, overheat, power loss inter alia), it is
This measurement technique was improved by Reungoat and
required that a lubricant fluid film is correctly formed between
Tournerie [3] and applied by Brunetière et al. [4] in the case of oil
the two contact surfaces. This lubricant film characterizes the
lubrication. The same test bench was modified by Migout et al.
mechanical seals’ performance, and it depends on several physical
[5] in order to observe fluid vaporization within the interface.
phenomena that are coupled together. During operation of the
Pressurized hot water was considered as the sealed fluid and the
mechanical seal, the lubricating film can be highly sheared due to
calcium fluoride disk was replaced by a sapphire ring, better
the shaft rotation effect, thus resulting in temperature rises. Fric-
adapted to the defined test conditions.
tion between asperities also contributes to the heat generation.
However, despite the information provided by these methods,
The heat dissipated in the friction faces during operation and
they are not suitable to industrial mechanical face seals that are
mechanical loading may have a significant influence on the seal-
the subject of our study. Indeed, the use of transparent rings con-
ing performance because of the induced thermal deformation of
siderably modifies the real operating conditions. For real seals, the
the annular faces and the thermoviscous behavior of the lubricant
main difficulty in experimental thermal analysis is measuring tem-
fluid. These phenomena explain why it is important to have a
perature at the contact faces. Usually, the temperatures of
good understanding of heat transfer concepts in mechanical seals.
mechanical seals are measured by thermocouples embedded in the
In order to investigate experimentally the thermal behavior of
stator, as performed by Doane et al. [6]. They used a balanced me-
mechanical seals, several techniques were used, such as consider-
chanical seal tested with water for rotational speed values varying
ing a modified mechanical seal with a transparent face adapted to
between 1500 and 3000 rpm. By means of extrapolation, they
contact visualization [1–5].
were able to determine the temperature at the contact surface and
In 1969, Orcutt [1] presented an experimental setup using a
the local distribution of the heat fluxes, which are not directly
mechanical seal with a rotor composed of a transparent disk,
accessible with thermocouples. Phillips et al. [7] also used embed-
offering the possibility of radial temperature profile measure-
ded thermocouples.Their work showed that the highest tempera-
ments. The temperature distribution at the interface was acquired
tures was occurred near the inner diameter in the case of outer
with an infrared pyrometer. The tests were carried out over a wide
pressurized mechanical seals. This fact is due to a low level of
range of rotational speeds, and using various values of the operat-
heat transfer in the confined space between the ring and the shaft.
ing pressure and temperature, with two different sealed fluids
The largest portion of the heat flow generated in the contact is
transferred to the rotor in the silicon carbide and then to the water.
1
Corresponding author. In addition, they were able to calculate heat fluxes by mean of
Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division of ASME for publication in the
JOURNAL OF THERMAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS. Manuscript received
polynomial extrapolation. Lebeck et al. [8] performed an experi-
September 12, 2015; final manuscript received March 10, 2016; published online mental study for a wide range of operating conditions with two
May 3, 2016. Assoc. Editor: Sandra Boetcher. types of fluid: water and oil. The temperature in the stator was

Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications SEPTEMBER 2016, Vol. 8 / 031011-1
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 also measured by thermocouples. Experiments have shown that spindle is driven by a synchronous motor by means of a flexible
the temperature of fluid that surrounds the seal is approximately safety shaft that allows filtering torsional vibrations. This spindle
uniform. Small increases have been, however, observed near the contains a double-conical hybrid bearing to ensure accurate rotat-
friction face whose values are higher for oil. ing motion of the shaft. The first double-hydrostatic conical bear-
According to Lebeck [9], the most significant part of the heat ing is located between the shaft and the stator; the second one
generated at the interface was removed by convection between the between the stator of the experimental cell and the stator of the
rings and the sealed fluid. A good prediction of the temperature in spindle. The stator of the experimental cell thus has a rotational
the seal rings required the correct value of the heat transfer coeffi- degree-of-freedom with respect to the static part. A force sensor is
cient between the solid parts and the fluid. Usually, Nusselt num- used to block this rotation and measure the torque applied to the
bers were calculated from empirical formulae established for stator of the experimental cell.
Taylor–Couette flow between two concentric cylinders [10–12] or The experimental cell is designed to receive simultaneously
for a cylinder rotating inside a tank [13].The correlations were two industrial seals mounted back-to-back to remove the axial
dependent on the fluid flow regime [14], which could be laminar, load due to the sealant pressure. The test cell is fed in water by a
laminar with Taylor vortices, turbulent with Taylor vortices, or pressurized hydraulic loop (Fig. 2). During the experiments, the
fully turbulent [12]. Heat transfer was also influenced by the axial calculated Froude number exceeds 25 and therefore the results are
flow [10,12,14]. Although mechanical seals are not perfect cylin- independent of device orientation.
ders and comprise a stationary part, they can be considered, to a
first-order approximation, as a rotating cylinder in a concentric 2.2 Tested Mechanical Face Seals. The tested mechanical
cylindrical housing. seals (Fig. 3) are balanced seals (Bh ¼ 0.876) with a floating stator.
The temperature measurements performed on real seals [6,8] Their characteristics are shown in Table 1. The stator is made
allowed verification that the measured Nusselt numbers were in from carbon with antimony impregnation and the rotor is in sili-
agreement with empirical laws for rotating cylinders. However, con carbide (SiC). The pressurized water is located at the outer
the comparison was limited to a small range of Reynolds radius of the seals and the inner pressure is equal to atmospheric
numbers. pressure.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) offers the possibility to
calculate heat transfer between solids and fluids. Several authors
used this approach [15,16] and showed that the Nusselt number is
not constant along the wetted rotor and stator surfaces. In 2009,
Brunetière and Modolo [17] used CFD to propose a heat transfer
law for an inner pressurized seal in a laminar flow regime that
they were able to experimentally validate. During the same
period, Luan and Khonsari proposed correlations for laminar flow
[18] and turbulent flows [19], which were numerically derived
from a CFD study of an industrial seal. In the case of turbulent
flows, they obtained very different Nusselt correlations for the
rotating and static rings. Moreover, the latter was very different to
the empirical relations usually employed in mechanical seals
[10,13]. However, this work needs to be validated by experimen-
tal data over a wide range of Reynolds numbers.
The objective of this study is to analyze the thermal effect of a
mechanical seal by measuring temperatures within the static ring
for different operating conditions. An original inverse method is
used to compute heat transfer with the surrounding fluid. The
validity of the usual empirical laws for the static seal ring will be
discussed.

2 Experimental Apparatus
2.1 Test Rig. Figure 1 presents a general view of the test rig.
One piece of additional equipment not shown on this figure is the
fluid circulating loop, which supplies water to the mechanical seal
through the experimental cell. Fig. 2 Sectional view of the experimental cell
The test rig is composed of a horizontal precision spindle with
a special test cell enclosing the mechanical seals to be tested. The

Fig. 1 General view of the test rig Fig. 3 Tested mechanical seal

031011-2 / Vol. 8, SEPTEMBER 2016 Transactions of the ASME

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 Table 1 Design parameter of the tested mechanical seals
Rotor: silicon carbide Stator: carbon with antimony impregnation
Rir (m) 0.042 Ris (m) 0.04605
Ror (m) 0.052 Ros (m) 0.05145
er (m) 0.0155 es (m) 0.012
Conductivity 125 Conductivity 13
(W m1 K1) (W m  1 K1)
2.3 Temperature Measurement. In order to study the ther-
mal behavior of the mechanical seals, the stator placed at the left
end of the test cell has nine blind holes, located at different
heights (z1, z2, and z3), and radial depths (R1, R2, and R3) distrib-
uted around the ring circumference (Fig. 4(a)). Metal sheathed
thermocouples of type T with a diameter of 0.5 mm are embedded
into these holes to measure the stator temperature. We designate
by Tij the nine thermocouples placed in positions according to zi
height and Rj depth. The thermocouples are stuck by a fluorosili-
cone sealant after being calibrated. The conductivity of the sealant
is about 0.2 W/m K. For a stator with smooth and flat faces, the
temperature distribution can be considered to be axisymmetric. It
is thus possible to place all the measurements on the same plane
(Fig. 4(b)). Three additional thermocouples are used to measure
the fluid temperature within the experimental cell.
During the calibration process, done by comparison to a high
precision thermometer in a thermally regulated bath, the accuracy
of the temperature measurement has been evaluated to 60.5  C.
According to the work of Satyamurthy et al. [20], the error
induced by the heat conduction along the thermocouple is less
than 10% of the measured temperature rise. Moreover, there is an
additional error due to the modification of the heat transfer in the
stator induced by the presence of the thermocouple. This last error
has not been estimated. Note that no correction has been per-
formed on the data after measurement.
Fig. 4 Thermocouple locations: (a) 3D and (b) in the plane
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Table 2 Operating parameters during the tests
Sealed fluid: water at T ¼ 40  C
Circulation flow rate (l/min) 30 Pressure (MPa) 1 to 5
l (mPa s) 0.65 Cp (kJ/kg K) 4.18
q (kg/m3) 1000 kf (W/m K) 0.61
Operating conditions
Rotation speed (rpm) 1000–6000
2.4 Experimental Procedure. The operating parameters are
presented in Table 2. Tests were carried out for a speed range
varying from 1000 rpm to 6000 rpm and a fluid pressure between
1 MPa and 5 MPa.
The test system is equipped with a computer-controlled meas-
uring system, which enables full control of the test and online
monitoring of all the performance parameters during the test.
Results are recorded during a 100 s period once steady state is
reached for each pressure and speed value. The data are then
time-averaged. After several experiments, it was found that the
thermal steady state is reached in a time period shorter than
10 min. Therefore, a 10 min operation is performed before record-
ing data. Each test has been repeated five times without disassem-
bling the seals.
During the tests, the flow rate was held constant at 30 l/min.
The shaft speed and pressure of the sealed water were varied.
3 Experimental Results
In Secs. 4 and 5, we will consider the temperature rise to indi-
cate the temperature of the system. This corresponds to the differ-
ence between the temperature T measured by the thermocouple
and the temperature Tf of the sealed fluid. Tf is the average fluid
temperature of the three measured values.
Figure 5 shows the temperature measured by each thermocou-
ple for a rotational speed of 6000 rpm for different pressures
(from 1 to 5 MPa). The temperature increases with the pressure
that controls the level of the load in the contact. The temperature
also depends on the location of the thermocouple, in particular the
distance from the friction surface and from the surface cooled by
the sealed fluid. The lowest temperatures are recorded closest to
the cooled surface and the farthest from the friction surface and
vice versa for the highest temperatures (see Fig. 4). The differen-
ces between each thermocouple can be of several degrees while
the interval between sensors is only of a few millimeters.
Figure 6 shows the variation of the temperature rise measured
by thermocouple T13 as a function of the rotational speed for dif-
ferent pressure values of the sealed fluid. The choice of thermo-
couple T13 is justified by the fact that it measures the highest
temperature. Whatever the value of the fluid pressure, the
Fig. 5 Evolution of the temperature measured by the different
thermocouples for x 5 6000 rpm
SEPTEMBER 2016, Vol. 8 / 031011-3

Fig. 6 Evolution of the temperature measured by the thermo-
couple T13 for different feeding pressures at Tf 5 40  C
Fig. 7 Evolution of thermal figure of merit for different fluid
pressure values
Fig. 8 Experimental and analytical maps of temperature rise in the stator for
x 5 6000 rpm and P 5 1, 3, and 5 MPa
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temperature increases with rotational speed with a lower rate at
high speed. For a sealed fluid pressure of 1, 2, and 3 MPa, the
measured temperature rises are close in magnitude to one another.
For pressure values of 4 and 5 MPa, significant increases are
observed. This difference is due to variation in friction in the seal-
ing interface according to the sealed fluid pressure. More details
on the friction results can be found in Ref. [21]. The results pre-
sented in Fig. 6 were averaged from the five conducted tests. The
error bars indicate the minimum and maximum values recorded.
The size of the error bar increases with pressure. This is due to
variation in the tribological behavior from one test to another at
high pressure values.
As the solid behavior is linear, the temperature rise DT at one
point should be proportional to the heat flow q entering the face
and thus to the thermal power. The ratio of these two parameters
is the thermal figure of merit E of the mechanical seal
Cf x
E¼ (1)
DT
It is considered that the thermal power generated by the friction is
equal to the product of the frictional torque Cf multiplied by the
rotation speed x. The temperature rise at the seal faces is not
available; so we use the temperature measured by thermocouple
T13 (Fig. 6). The evolution of the thermal figure of merit is
shown in Fig. 7 as a function of the rotational speed for the five
pressure values considered in this work. The results are the aver-
age of the five conducted tests. The error bars show the minimum
and maximum measured values. As can be seen, the fluid pressure
only has a minimal effect on this parameter. This was expected,
since it characterizes a thermal property of the seal as well as the
cooling efficiency of the surrounding fluid. The differences
between the curves could be due to local variation in heat flow
distribution on the seal faces, which could affect the local temper-
ature value measured by thermocouple T13. The thermal figures
of merit curves have a positive gradient, indicating that cooling is
more effective at high rotational speeds. Furthermore, the rise of
feeding temperature leads to a higher thermal efficiency of the
stator.
Transactions of the ASME
 4 Heat Transfer solution, the temperature and the heat flux at the outer radius can
be expressed as
To study the heat transfer in the static ring, an extrapolation
method is used to obtain the temperature distribution in the ring
Tðr ¼ Ros ; zÞ ¼ ½u1 J0 ðu4 Ros Þ þ u2 Y0 ðu4 Ros Þ ½ eu4 z þ u3 eu4 z 
from the measured values. This method allows the determination
of the temperature and heat flux on the surface cooled by convec- (10)
tion with the sealed fluid. It will then be possible to evaluate the
Nusselt number. @T
qðr ¼ Ros ; zÞ ¼ k ðRos ; zÞ
@r
¼ u4 k½u1 J1 ðu4 Ros Þ þ u2 Y1 ðu4 Ros Þ ½ eu4 z þ u3 eu4 z 
4.1 Heat Transfer Model. An accurate estimation of heat
flow and temperature at the friction surfaces from the thermocou- (11)
ple measurement requires a heat transfer model. Doane et al. [6]
and Philips et al. [7] have both considered polynomial curve fit- where k is the thermal conductivity of the seal ring. The ratio of
these two terms gives the heat transfer coefficient hc along the
ting with extrapolation. However, the polynomial functions can be
wetted wall (water side where the cooling of the seal occurs)
inaccurate and could lead to temperature values that do not respect
the heat diffusion equation. For this reason, we decided to use a
qðr ¼ Ros ; zÞ u4 k½u1 J1 ðu4 Ros Þ þ u2 Y1 ðu4 Ros sÞ
function that is a solution of the heat transfer equation. In the case hc ¼  ¼ (12)
of steady state and an axially symmetrical distribution of tempera- T ðr ¼ Ros ; zÞ u1 J0 ðu4 Ros Þ þ u2 Y0 ðu4 Ros Þ
ture, the conductive heat transfer equation can be written as [17]
This ratio is constant, indicating that the calculated convection
   
1@ @T @ @T coefficient will be constant along the wall. This is due to the sim-
r þ ¼0 (2) ple function used here, which contains only four parameters.
r @r @r @z @z
However, it has the advantage of being robust because of its lim-
ited number of parameters.
Using the separation of variables method, the temperature can be
expressed as follows:
4.2 Validation. Temperature maps obtained experimentally
Tðr; zÞ ¼ pðrÞ wðzÞ (3) and analytically (using Eq. (7)) for three values of pressure and a
rotation speed of 6000 rpm are plotted on the same graph (Fig. 8).
These two equations combine to give The actual position of the thermocouples measured on the stator
has been used to trace these distributions, which explains why the
p0 ðr Þ 1 p00 ðr Þ w00 ðzÞ domain is not rectangular. The position measurement has been
þ ¼ ¼ u4 2 (4)
pðr Þ r pðr Þ wðzÞ done with a depth gauge and a numerical height gauge and
repeated three times after disassembling the thermocouples. The
According to Blasiak et al. [22], the solutions to the two previous position variation is due to manufacturing uncertainties. Despite
equations are the fluid pressure, the temperature fields verify that the tempera-
ture of the stator increases approaching the friction surface and
pðrÞ ¼ u1 J0 ðu4 rÞ þ u2 Y0 ðu4 rÞ (5) decreases upon approaching the cooled surface.
We can observe a good agreement between the measurements
wðzÞ ¼ eu4 z þ u3 eu4 z (6) and the calculated temperatures. The existing disturbance may be
due to the uncertainty of the location of the thermocouple. The
where the coefficients (u1 to u4) are the function parameters. analytical solution can be used to extrapolate the temperature, but
Equation (5) contains Bessel functions of the first and second not too far from the area where the thermocouples are located. For
orders, respectively, J0 and Y0. The temperature can be written as example, along the atmosphere side, the analytical solution would
indicate that some heat enters the contact, which is not realistic.
Tðr; zÞ ¼ ½u1 J0 ðu4 rÞ þ u2 Y0 ðu4 rÞ ½ eu4 z þ u3 eu4 z  (7) According to Philipps et al., this wall should be considered adia-
batic [7]. For this reason, the present model will be only used to
The method of least squares is used to determine the unknown calculate the Nusselt number and not to extrapolate temperature
coefficients (u1 to u4). The sum of square deviations is computed or heat flux on the friction face, which are both too far from the
by calculating the difference between the values measured by the measuring area.
thermocouples Ti and the theoretical values Tðri ; zi Þ given by Phillips et al. [7] gave thermocouple values and locations
Eq. (7). (Fig. 9). The present heat transfer model is used to calculate the
Nusselt number. The calculated values are compared to the values
X
n obtained by polynomial extrapolation [7] and CFD simulation of a
R¼ ðTi  Tðri ; zi ÞÞ2 (8) similar problem studied by Merati et al. [16] (Fig. 10). Our model
i¼1 gives an average Nusselt number in good agreement with the CFD
solution. Phillips et al. [7] were able to calculate Nusselt number
The coefficients are determined so as to minimize the residual. values for each z location. Their values are compatible with the
However, as the functions are nonlinear, the Newton–Raphson averaged value given here. This agreement confirms that the heat
method is used. The obtained system of equations is then solved transfer model can be used with confidence.
with the Gauss method
" #  
@2R   @R 4.3 Results. The convection coefficient hc is used to quantify
d uj ¼  (9) the heat transferred by convection. This term connects the heat
@ui @uj @ui flux q exchanged to the temperature difference DT between the
wall and the central region of the flow
The coefficients ui are updated at each iteration and the resolution
is repeated until convergence. To be sure that the residual q ¼ hc DT (13)
decreases from one iteration to the other, the Wolfe rule is applied
[23]. Once the values of the coefficients ui are determined, it is This coefficient can be presented in a dimensionless form using
possible to plot temperature maps on the seal ring. From this the Nusselt number

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 The Prandtl number (Pr) of the fluid is defined as follows:

Cp l
Pr ¼ (18)
kf

A very similar expression was found by Becker [13] when study-

ing heat transfer around a rotating cylinder in a tank.
2=3
Nu ¼ 0:133 ReD Pr1=3 (19)

However, these formulae were obtained for rotating cylinders. In

Fig. 9 Nusselt number from the data of Phillips et al. [7]
our work, the heat transfer coefficient was calculated on the stator
of the seal, which is obviously stationary. The heat transfer is
enhanced by the turbulence induced by the rotation of the rotor,
but the mechanisms could be different. Doane et al. [6] proposed
a theoretically derived formulation that they compared to their
measurement on a mechanical stator

Nu ¼ 0:0207 Re0:8
D Pr
1=3
(20)

The dependence on the Reynolds number is different to what is

found for rotating cylinders. By using CFD, Luan and Khonsari
[19] derived another empirical correlation

Nu ¼ 0:363 Re0:545
D Pr0:056 Re0:041
m (21)

where Rem is the Reynolds number of the flushing flow uses to

ensure a stable temperature of the fluid around the seal. The power
of the Reynolds number is different from the three other laws.
Our results will be compared to these empirical laws. The data
used for the calculation are given in Table 3. Note that the refer-
ence diameter is the outer diameter of the stator.
Figure 10 presents the evolution of the Nusselt number as a
function of the Reynolds number. The experimental values
Fig. 10 Comparison of experimental Nusselt number values to
different empirical correlations
obtained here are the blue dots. Each point is the average of ten
measurements, the error bars correspond to the standard deviation.
The experimental Nusselt number obviously increases with the
Reynolds number but the gradient is lower than the one given by
hc D empirical correlations for rotating cylinders (Eqs. (17) and (19))
Nu ¼ (14)
kf and by the theoretical law of Doane et al. [6], (Eq. (20)). For the
Reynolds number range analyzed here, these three formulae over-
where D is the reference diameter and kf is the conductivity coef- estimate the Nusselt number. The empirical law (Eq. (21)) pro-
ficient of the fluid. The value of the Nusselt number depends on posed by Luan and Khonsari [19] for stationary seal rings has a
the flow regime around the seal. In the case of the flow between similar gradient, but underestimates the Nusselt number by about
an inner rotating cylinder and an outer stationary cylinder, the 60%. This difference could be due to the flushing flow which is
flow regime depends on the following Reynolds number axial in Ref. [19] and radial in the present work.
By curve fitting of our data, the following correlation was
qxD2 found:
ReD ¼ (15)
2l
Nu ¼ 0:9 Re0:542
D (22)
and on the Taylor number [12,14]
Since the Prandtl number was not varied during our experiments,
 3=2
2
 3=2 the dependence on Pr is not included in this law. The power coef-
qxD d d
Ta ¼ ¼ ReD (16) ficient of our law is equal to 0.542, which is close to the one found
2l D D by Khonsari and Luan by CFD.
An interesting point is that Eq. (22) was derived for Re number
where l is the fluid viscosity, q the fluid density, and d the radial values ten times higher than in previous experiments [6,7]
clearance between the two cylinders. When the Taylor number is
lower than 104, some Taylor vortices could exist around the rotat-
ing cylinder. If the Taylor number is higher than this limit [12] Table 3 Parameters for the heat transfer calculation
and the Reynolds number higher than 2000, the flow is fully tur-
bulent. During our experiments, the Taylor and the Reynolds Parameter Value
numbers were higher than 105 and 8  105, respectively, which
corresponds to a fully turbulent flow. D ¼ 2 Res (mm) 0.1029
In this case of flow, an experimental correlation of Nusselt d/D 0.2915
number with Reynolds and Prandtl numbers was obtained by Pr 4.48
Tachibana and Fukui [12] Rem 69,530
Stator conductivity k (W m1 K1) 13
2=3 Water conductivity kf (W m1 K1) 0.61
Nu ¼ 0:116 ReD Pr1=3 (17)

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 reported in Fig. 10. The maximum Reynolds number value is u1, u2, u3, u4 ¼ temperature function parameters
5  106. The experimental point of Phillips et al. [7] is close to the Zi ¼ height i (m)
present correlation. On the other hand, the data of Doane et al. [6] d¼ radial clearance (m)
exhibit a steeper gradient even if it is the average. Note that these DT ¼ temperature rise (K)
experiments were performed at different Prandtl number values, l¼ fluid viscosity (Pas)
respectively, 5.4 in Ref. [6] and 5.87 in Ref. [7]. q¼ fluid density (kg/m3)
x¼ rotational speed (rad/s)
5 Conclusions
In this work, an experimental analysis of heat transfer in a References
mechanical seal has been performed. Nine thermocouples were [1] Orcutt, F., 1969, “An Investigation of the Operation and Failure of Mechanical
embedded in the stator of a mechanical seal operating at different Face Seals,” ASME J. Lubr. Technol., 91(4), pp. 713–725.
rotation speeds and fluid pressures. Generally speaking, the tem- [2] Tournerie, B., Reungoat, D., and Fr^ene, J., 1991, “Temperature Measurements
by Infrared Thermography in the Interface of a Radial Face Seal,” ASME J.
perature increases with operating speed and fluid pressure. More- Tribol., 113(3), pp. 571–576.
over, significant thermal gradients can be observed in the seal ring [3] Reungoat, D., and Tournerie, B., 1994, “Temperature Measurement by Infrared
with low temperature close to the diameter in interaction with the Thermography in a Lubricated Contact: Radiometric Analysis,” Eurotherm
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Acknowledgment Experimental Results,” Tribol. Trans., 41(4), pp. 411–422.
[9] Lebeck, A., 1991, Principle and Design of Mechanical Face Seals, Wiley, New
The authors would like to acknowledge the “Sealing Technolo- York.
gies Department” of the CETIM for supporting this research pro- [10] Gazley, G., 1958, “Heat-Transfer Characteristics of the Rotational and Axial
ject through the open Lab LERDED. Flow Between Concentric Cylinders,” Trans. ASME, 80, pp. 79–90.
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Cp ¼ thermal capacity (J/kg K) tal Cylinder Rotating in a Tank of Water,” Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 6(12),
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[14] Childs, P., and Long, C., 1996, “A Review of Forced Convective Heat Transfer
E¼ thermal figure of merit (W/K) in Stationary and Rotating Annuli,” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., Part C, 210(2),
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es ¼ stator length (m) [15] Shirazi, S., Soulisa, R., Lebeck, A., and Nygren, M., 1998, “Fluid Temperature
and Film Coefficient Prediction and Measurement in Mechanical Face Seals—
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kf ¼ fluid thermal conductivity coefficient (W/m K) Computational Investigation of Flow and Thermal Behavior of Mechanical
Nu ¼ Nusselt number Seal,” Tribol. Trans., 42(4), pp. 731–738.
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Seal,” Int. J. Therm. Sci., 48(4), pp. 781–794.
Pr ¼ Prandtl number [18] Luan, Z., and Khonsari, M., 2009, “Heat Transfer Correlations for Laminar
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Ri ¼ inner radius (m) [19] Luan, Z., and Khonsari, M., 2009, “Analysis of Conjugate Heat Transfer and
Turbulent Flow in Mechanical Seals,” Tribol. Int., 42(5), pp. 762–769.
Rir ¼ inner rotor radius (m) [20] Satyamurthy, P., Marwah, R., Venkatramani, N., and Rohatgi, V., 1979,
Ris ¼ inner stator radius (m) “Estimation of Error in Steady-State Temperature Measurement Due to Con-
Ros ¼ outer stator radius (m) duction Along the Thermocouple Leads,” Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 22(7), pp.
Ror ¼ outer rotor radius (m) 1151–1154.
ReD ¼ Reynolds number [21] Ayadi, K., Brunetière, N., Tournerie, B., and Maoui, A., 2015, “Experimental
and Numerical Study of the Lubrication Regimes of a Liquid Mechanical Seal,”
Rem ¼ Reynolds number of the flushing flow Tribol. Int., 92, pp. 96–108.
T¼ temperature measured by the thermocouple ( C) [22] Blasiak, S., Laski, P., and Takosoglu, J., 2013, “Parametric Analysis of Heat
Ta ¼ Taylor number Transfer in Non-Contacting Face Seals,” Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 57(1),
pp. 22–31.
Tf ¼ sealed fluid temperature ( C) [23] Bonnans, J., Gilbert, J., Lemarechal, C., and Sagastizabal, C., 1997, Optimisa-
Tij ¼ thermocouple number tion Num erique-Aspects Th eoriques et Pratiques, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications SEPTEMBER 2016, Vol. 8 / 031011-7

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