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NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF HEAT TRANSFER IN MECHANICAL SEALS
INCLUDING ROTATING RINGS AND MATING RINGS
Project:
numerical analysis of heat transfer in mechanical seals including rotating
rings and mating rings.
Sponsor: Industry/Government
University: LSU, Mechanical Engineering
Principal Investigator: Professor Michael Khonsari
Graduate Student: Zhaogao Luan
Contact Information: Professor Michael Khonsari
Project Description:
A Seal is considered
to be one of the most important components of a variety of rotating
machinery used in chemical, petrochemical and process industry in Louisiana
and the nation. If a seal fails to perform its intended task, there
will be severe environmental impact and forced shut down of a plant.
As a part of our research, we are concentrating on the prediction of
the flow and heat transfer characteristics of mechanical seals. This
research activity is in conjugation with experimental work on a new
generation of seals, currently underway in the LSU
Center for Rotating
Machinery. The problem involves solving Navier-Stokes equations which
are coupled with the energy equation. The solution requires significant
computational effort. Thus far, we have obtained some promising numerical
results for the following.
- The
flow field around the mechanical seals (Fig1)
- The
temperature distribution of the whole domain including the mechanical
seals and the fluid around (Fig2)
- The
Nusselt Numbers and heat transfer coefficients around the seal rings.
Additional work is ongoing to verify the
results of the simulations.
:Main objectives:
1. Obtain a 3D numerical analysis of heat
transfer of the mechanical seals.
2. To apply the analysis to improve the design of the seal mating ring.
Fig1 Flow field around seals
Fig2 Temperature field
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