The Prediction of Film Thickness in a Mechanical face Seal with Circumferential Waviness on both the face and the seat

The effect of two-period waviness on both the face and the seat of a mechanical face seal is examined theoretically in this paper. A closed-loop cyclic solution of the two-dimensional Reynolds' equation including squeeze-film effects is described. Results for a 45 mm diameter seal are presented which show that squeeze-film effects play an important role in protecting the fluid-film over parts of the cycle where the entraining effect is small. The analysis can be extended to allow for misalignment of the sealing faces and for the incorporation of mixed-lubrication theory.