The influence of 3-DOF film thickness disturbance on transient performance of typical spiral groove dry gas seals

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence rule and mechanism of three degrees of freedom film thickness disturbance on the transient performance of spiral groove, upstream pumping spiral groove dry gas seal (UP-SDGS) and double-row spiral groove dry gas seal (DR-SDGS). Design/methodology/approach The transient performance of spiral groove, UP-SDGS and DR-SDGS are obtained by solving the transient Reynolds equation under different axial and angular disturbance coefficients. The transient and steady performance of the above-mentioned DGSs are compared and analyzed. Findings The film thickness disturbance has a remarkable impact on the sealing performance of DGS with different structures and the calculation deviations of the leakage rate of the UP-DGS will increase significantly if the film thickness disturbance is ignored. The axial and angular disturbance jointly affect the film thickness distribution of DGS, but there is no significant interaction between them on the transient sealing performance. Originality/value The influence mechanism of axial disturbance and angular disturbance on the transient performance of typical SDGSs behavior has been explained by theory. Considering small and large disturbance, the interaction between axial disturbance and angular disturbance on the transient performance have been studied.