Wear, 66 (1981) 43 - 53 43

0 Elsevier Sequoia S.A., Lausanne - Printed in The Netherlands

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF MECHANICAL FACE SEALS

ZEINAB S. SAFAR
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
33431 (U.S.A.)
(Received February 26,198O)

Summary

An analytical study of the characteristics of mechanical face seals with

misalignment is presented. The complete pressure equation was solved
without using the narrow bearing assumption. Results are presented and it is
concluded that simplified treatments overestimate the load and the moments
particularly at touch. Design charts are given to calculate the separating
force, the leakage rate, the moment and coefficient of friction for different
tilt parameters E and the ratio ri/r,, of the inner radius to the outer radius.

1. Introduction

Radial face seals are widely used in industrial applications. The suc-
cessful operation of a mechanical seal depends on minimum shaft wear,
power loss and seal leakage. In order to reduce wear, a lubricating film is
provided to maintain separation between the rotor and stator. This separa-
tion must be kept to a minimum to minimize leakage. The analysis of face
seal phenomena has received much attention. Theoretical analyses were
developed in order to explain the pressure generation on the basis of hydro-
dynamic action associated with angular misalignment. Nau [l] has reviewed
both the theoretical studies and the experimental observations of mechanical
seals. A more extensive review has recently been presented by Ludwig [ 21.
The short bearing assumption was used in all the analytical studies.
Sneck [3,4] solved the problem for both laminar and turbulent flow assum-
ing an eccentric face seal with waviness. Findlay [ 5,6] considered face seals
with films containing gas cavities. In a series of papers Etsion [7 - 91 derived
formulae for the forces and moments of misaligned face seals for both
hydrostatic and hydrodynamic pressure effects, neglecting the circum-
ferential pressure gradient in the Reynolds equation.
The study of cavitation effects has been reported by Nau [ 10 - 121,
Findlay [ 5, 61 and Stanghen-Batch and Iny [13]. Nau [ 141 presented a
detailed study of cavitation in mechanical seals. He observed experimentally
the extent of cavitation and concluded that it is necessary to consider the
44

analysis of face seals without assuming short bearing equations since

cavitation is considerably more extensive than that obtained by previous
workers applying the half Sommerfeld or Reynolds boundary conditions.
In this paper an analytical solution of the problem of mechanical face
seals is obtained for the pressure equation of the lubricant film without
assuming a narrow bearing. Design charts are presented for the load-carrying
capacity, frictional moment, lubricant leakage and friction factor for
different values of the tilt parameter and the ratio of the inner radius to the
outer radius.

2. Theory

Hydrodynamic effects in mechanical face seals have been shown to be

of great importance. These effects provide the load-carrying capacity re-
quired to separate the sealing surfaces and to maintain a film. The film
thickness distribution for a misaligned seal (Fig. 1) is given by
h
H=- =l+ercosB (11
ho
where r can be taken to be equal to the mean radius for a narrow seal.
The pressure equation and boundary conditions for a radially eccentric
misaligned seal are

Fig. 1. Face seal with angular m~~lignment.

 45

P(ri9e) =Pfro*@)= O
(3)
N9) = p(r, 0 + 2n)
Equation (2) is put into a dimensionless form by using the dimensionless
quantities
r pho”
fz- p=_-_--_- (4)
rO Erwr02
Thus the d~ensionless pressure equation is written

(5)

Equation (5) is solved by analytical methods as shown in Appendix A.

The load-carrying capacity of the fluid film is given by

I 2n
=
J.r
ji(F,t))T d6di; (6)
Fi 0

The volumetric leakage rate is calculated from the formula

2Rl
=

0
ss 0
HiFIF= 1 dz de (7)

The transverse moment about the y axis and the restoring moment about the
x axis are given by the following two formulae:

1 2?r
=
ss
@((r,@)? sin6 dB dF (8)
Fi 0

II?,=- MA2
wro5
1 2ff
=
J-J
~(F,B)F2cos@ d@dF (9)
Fi 0
46

The frictional torque is given by

T=--- The
wr,*
l 2n 1 av
= -- Y2 de d?
JJ (10)
Pi 0 H az t=l

and the coefficient of friction is defined as

(11)

where
M = (M,2 + My2)1’2
U and V are the dimensionless radial and circumferential velocity components
and are calculated from
--
u(r,e) - ap-_
=H2 --z(z - 1) (12)
2 aF

(13)

3. Results

The pressure distribution along the circumferential direction is

presented for 6 = 0.9 and tilt parameters E of 0.2 and 0.9 in Figs. 2 and 3
respectively. The figures show that for E = 0.2 the positive pressure extends
over an angle ‘II,while for e = 0.9 its angular extent is less than VI.This phe-
nomenon explains why the short bearing assumption overestimates seal
characteristics at higher values of the tilt parameter. The pressure distribution
along the radial direction for Fi = 0.9 and e = 0.2 is shown in Fig. 4. The
shape of the pressure distribution in the radial direction is identical for all
values of the tilt parameter but, as E increases, the pressure values increase.
The dimensionless load-carrying capacity of the face seals is presented
in Fig. 5 for different values of the tilt parameter and for different ratios of
the inner radius to the outer radius ranging from 0.8 to 0.98. The force
calculated using the narrow bearing assumption leads to reasonable results
for e < 0.6, while for E > 0.6 this assumption overestimates the results by up
to a factor of 5 depending on E and the radius ratio.
The lubricant leakage rate is presented in Fig. 6. Leakage is greatly
increased for all values of the radius ratio for tilt parameters greater than 0.6.
Figure 7 presents the results of the transverse moment and Fig. 8 shows the
 47

Fig. 2. Pressure distribution along the circumferential direction for ri = 0.9 and f = 0.2
at F = 0.96.
Fig. 3. Pressure distribution along the circumferential direction for iii = 0.9 and E = 0.9
at T = 0.95.

09 092 094 046 098 1 0.2 04 06 0.8

NONDIMENSIONAL RADIAL COORDINATE i TILT PARAMETER E

Fig. 4. Pressure distribution along the radial direction for i’i = 0.9 and E = 0.2 at 0 = T/2.
Fig. 5. Dimensionless load capacity as a function of tilt parameter for various radius ratios.
48

0 oa “4 06 0-e I

TILT PARAMETER F TiLT PARAMETER &

Fig. 8. Dimensionless leakage rate as a function of tilt parameter for various radius ratios.

Fig. 7. Dimensionless transverse mament as a function of tilt parameter for various radius
ratios.

0
0 02 34 “6 08 I

TILT PAR&METER 6

Fig. 8. Ratio of transverse moment to restoring moment BSa function af tilt parameter.
 49

ratio of the transverse moment to the restoring moment. At smaller values of

E the transverse moment may be up to five times the restoring moment,
while at touch (E = 1) the transverse moment ranges from 0.3 to 0.7 times
the restoring moment depending on the radius ratio. Figure 9 shows that the
frictional moment remains almost constant with an increase in E up to a tilt
parameter of 0.3. From e = 0.3 to E = 0.8 there is a moderate increase
followed by a sharp increase as E approaches unity. The coefficient of
friction results are given in Fig. 10. There is a large increase in f with E.

10-2

0 02 0.4 06 0.6 I 02 0.4 0.6 0.6

TILT PARAMETER e TILT PARAMETER B

Fig. 9. Dimensionless frictional moment as a function of tilt parameter for various radius
ratios.

Fig. 10. Coefficient of friction as a function of tilt parameter for various radius ratios.

4. Conclusions

From the results obtained we can draw the following conclusions.

(1) The narrow bearing assumption in mechanical seals is not valid for
large values of the tilt parameter since it overestimates the seal characteristics.
(2) The positive pressure of the film in mechanical seals extends over
an angle 8 < n depending on E. The extent of the film decreases as E is
increased.
50

(3) The load-carrying capacity, lubricant leakage, moment, frictional

torque and coefficient of friction are strong functions of the tilt parameter E
and ratio of the inner radius to the outer radius for a misaligned seal.

Nomenclature
h lubricant film thickness
ho seal clearance at point 0 (see Fig. 1)
H dimensionless film thickness
M
_x restoring moment
MX dimensionless restoring moment
MY transverse moment
M;i, dimensionless transverse moment
p(r, 0) lubricant pressure
m e) p(r, 0 )ho2/pWrc2, dimensionless pressure
lubricant flow rate
: Qlor,2ho, dimensionless leakage rate
r, 0,~ polar coordinates
5 inner radius of seal
r. outer radius of seal
- -
r, 2 r/rO, z/h, dimensionless coordinates
IA velocity of the fluid
V circumferential velocity of the fluid
axial force
E Whu2/~wr,*, dimensionless axial force
E tilt parameter
P lubricant viscosity
w rotational angular velocity

References
1 B. S. Nau, Review of the mechanism of hydrodynamic lubrication in face seals, Proc.
3rd Znt. Conf. on Fluid Sealing, Cranfield, 1967, Paper E5, British Hydrodynamic
Research Association, Bedford.
2 L. P. Ludwig, Face-seal lubrication D - Proposed and published models, NASA Tech.
Note D-8101, April 1976.
3 H. J. Sneck, The misaligned eccentric face seal, Proc. 4th Znt. Conf. on Fluid Sealing,
Philadelphia, 1969, Paper 15-A, British Hydrodynamic Research Association, Bedford.
4 H. J. Sneck, The eccentric face seal with a tangentially varying film thickness, Proc.
4th Znt. Conf. on Fluid Sealing, Philadelphia, 1969, Paper 15-B, British Hydrody-
namic Research Association, Bedford.
5 J. A. Findlay, Cavitation in mechanical face seals, J. Lubr. Technol., 90 (2) (1968)
356 - 364.
6 J. A. Findlay, Measurement of leakage in mechanical face seals, Proc. 4th Znt. Conf.
on Fluid Sealing, Philadelphia, 1969, Paper 19, British Hydrodynamic Research
Association, Bedford.
7 I. Etsion, Nonaxisymmetric incompressible hydrostatic pressure effects in radial face
seals, J. Lubr. Technol., 100 (July 1978) 379 - 385.
8 I. Etsion, Radial forces in a misaligned radial face seal, J. Lubr. Technol., 101
(January 1979) 81 - 85.
9 I. Etsion, Hydrodynamic effects in a misaligned radial face seal, J. Lubr. Technol.,
ZOO (July 1978) 379 - 385.
10 B. S. Nau, Hydrodynamic lubrication in face seals, Proc. 3rd Znt. Conf. on Fluid
Sealing, Cranfield, 1967, Paper E5, British Hydrodynamic Research Association,
Bedford.
 51

11 B. S. Nau, Centripetal flow in face seals, Lubr. Eng., 25 (14) (April 1968) 161 - 168.
12 B. S. Nau, Film cavitation observations in face seals, Proc. 4th Znt. Conf. on Fluid
Sealing, Philadelphia, 1969, Paper E20, British Hydrodynamic Research Association,
Bedford.
13 B. Stanghen-Batch and E. Iny, Face lubrication in mechanical seals, Proc. 9th
Tribology Cow., 1971, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, 1971.
14 B. S. Nau, Observations and analysis of mechanical seal film characteristics, J. Lubr.
Technol., 102 (July 1980) 341 - 347.

Appendix A

To solve the pressure equation (eqn. (5)), let P(F, 13)be presented in the
form

P(i, e) = H-3’2 i C,(F) cos(m0) + S,(i) sin(mf3)

m=l
= Ir312 {CT(r)c(e) + sT(r)s(e)) (AlI
Substitution of the form (Al) into the pressure equation gives

r -$ [ r $ {CT(F)c(e) + sT(r)s(ej}] -il{CT(r)c(e) + sT(r)s(e)) +

+ CT(r)~“(e) + sT(r)d’(e)

t-42)

where

d’(e) = -$ c(e)
d'(e) = -$s(e)
(A3)
3 H’
HZ___ _+3H”
4H 2H

d2H
H’$ H” =-
de2

A weak form solution of eqn. (A2) is obtained by multiplying by c(e) and

integrating from 0 to 2n:

(A4)

where
 2n
1
E mn Z!C-- i?cos(m0)sin(n0) d8 (A5)
s
nO

H’H-3,2 co&m?) d8

A second set of N ordinary differential equations is obtained by multiplying

eqn. (5) by s(8) and integrating from 0 to 27r:

.(A61

where

1 %_
F mn =---_ H sin(m@) sin(n8) d@- n2amn
s
nO
(A7)
H’HW312 sin(m0) dB

Equations (A4) and (A6) can be compacted together into a set of 2N ordinary
differential equations

if
(i;A 1 +52/1=i2Q, (A8)

with boundary conditions

A(Fi)
= A(1) = 0 (A9)
The solutions of the above boundary value problem are obtained by the
superposition of homogeneous and particular solutions of the form
A =AH +F2Ap (A107
The homogeneous solution is given by

AH= F Fhkdk $ r-hk

gk (All)
k=l

where Xk is the eigenfunction of the problem

 53

Ed + A2d = 0 (Al21
and gk and dk are the eigenvectors of xk2.
The particular solutions in (AlO) are constants and are determined
from the equation

(41+ WP = Q, (A13)
The 4N boundary conditions given in (A9) are then enforced through
selection of g and d in (All) such that

k;l(+dk +F- *kg,) + F2Ap = 0 (A14)

when

where