A Mixed Thermoelastohydrodynamic Lubrication Analysis of Mechanical Face Seals by a Multiscale Approach

This article presents an improvement to a previous multiscale approach used to model the mixed lubrication regime in a mechanical face seal. The physical mechanisms considered by the improved model are the surface roughness effects on the fluid film lubrication, the thermal deformations, and the heat transfer in the seal rings due to viscous and dry friction. The developed numerical model determines the pressure distribution by taking into account the effect of cavitation and contact asperity between the surfaces. Heat dissipation, heat transfer, and deformations are computed from the heat dissipated at the seal interface by a finite element technique. The multiscale model significantly reduces computation time while maintaining the accuracy of the results. The results obtained through a parametric study show that there are different operating zones where the lubricating film thickness is controlled by the roughness height or by the thermal effect.