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Abstract: The dry-gas seal has been widely used in different industries. With increased spin speed of the rotator shaft, turbulence occurs
in the gas film between the stator and rotor seal faces. For the micro-scale flow in the gas film and grooves, turbulence can change the
pressure distribution of the gas film. Hence, the seal performance is influenced. However, turbulence effects and methods for their
evaluation are not considered in the existing industrial designs of dry-gas seal. The present paper numerically obtains the turbulent flow
fields of a spiral-groove dry-gas seal to analyze turbulence effects on seal performance. The direct numerical simulation (DNS) and
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) methods are utilized to predict the velocity field properties in the grooves and gas film. The
key performance parameter, open force, is obtained by integrating the pressure distribution, and the obtained result is in good agreement
with the experimental data of other researchers. Very large velocity gradients are found in the sealing gas film because of the
geometrical effects of the grooves. Considering turbulence effects, the calculation results show that both the gas film pressure and open
force decrease. The RANS method underestimates the performance, compared with the DNS. The solution of the conventional Reynolds
lubrication equation without turbulence effects suffers from significant calculation errors and a small application scope. The present
study helps elucidate the physical mechanism of the hydrodynamic effects of grooves for improving and optimizing the industrial design
or seal face pattern of a dry-gas seal.
Key words: flow dynamics, spiral-groove dry-gas seal, turbulence effects, direct numerical simulation (DNS),
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method, Reynolds lubrication equation
Introduction
79
T
H (E) = w, uw, vw, w2 + p .
xx = (u x + vy + wz ) + 2 u x ,
xy = yx = (u y + vx ),
xz = zx = (u z + wx ),
yy = (u x + vy + wz ) + 2 vy ,
yz = zy = (vz + wy ),
zz = (u x + vy + wz ) + 2 wz ,
where = 2 / 3 . The present study adopts the isothermal
gas model, wherein the fluid agrees with the relationship
below:
p
= RgTref .
(2)
= ( x, y, z),
= ( x, y, z).
(3)
x = r cos , y = r sin , z = z.
(4)
80
( ) ( Vj)
+
=
+ Pk 2 ,
+ T
t
xj
x j
x j
k
(7)
where P k is the production rate of turbulence,
V Vk Vi
Pk = T i +
.
xk xi xk
(8)
Calculation parameters
Geometry parameter
Parameter
Inner radius r o/ mm
Outer radius r 2/ mm
Groove root radius r 1/ mm
Spiral angel / ()
Ratio of groove to land
Groove number n
Groove depth h/ m
Operation parameter
Parameter
Film depth / m
Sealed medium pressure po/ MPa
Environmental medium pressure pi/ MPa
Spin speed nr/ (r min1)
Medium property
Parameter
Value
58.42
77.78
69.0
15
1
12
5.0
Value
2.05
3.05
5.03
4.585 2
0.101 3
10 380
Value
Air
300
Medium
Temperature T/ K
Dynamics viscosity / (kg m s1)
1.8 105
2 RT0
ph
(9)
V (r , , z)
= 0 (at the rotator face).
z= h or z= + h
(10)
rph3 p 1
r + r
ph3 p
( ph)
= 6r .
(13)
(14)
81
Fig. 4.
82
Vd (r2 + ro ) / 2
=
,
(15)
where Vd is the line velocity of the seal face. If the gas film
is 3.05 m, the Reynolds number is 940.
Fig. 6 shows the static pressure and velocity contours in
the gas film from the RANS simulation. Considering the
turbulence effects, the maximum pressure of the gas film
decreases, which implies that the fluid hydrodynamics
effect generated by the grooves is decreased.
Fig. 8. Eddy viscosity distribution in the gas film simulated
by the RANS method (Pa s)
Film
depth
/ m
Experimental
data
2.05
3.05
5.03
40 711.8
33 168.7
29 569.2
Open force F o/ N
Results with
Results
turbulence
via DNS
model
35 172.2
34 222.3
31 503.9
30 525.8
29 366.0
27 198.1
Conclusions
83
84