Analysis of the Sealing Capability of Radial Shaft Sealing Rings Using a Semi-Analytical Contact Model

This paper presents a semi-analytical method for analyzing the sealing capability of radial shaft sealing (RSS). For this purpose, a microscale contact model is used to simulate the mounting procedure between the sealing lip and the shaft for different sealing lip wear states and to determine the shear stresses along the axial direction in the sealing contact. The sealing lip geometry used in the simulation is subjected to continuous wear, which is applied incrementally after each iteration. The resulting shear stresses in the sealing contact form the driving force responsible for pumping behavior in the axial direction and thus can provide information about the sealing ability of RSS. For this reason, the work integral of the simulated shear field is built and correlated with the sealing ability. The method presented in this paper provides a new approach to the analysis of the sealing mechanism based on the simulation of the energy difference in the sealing contact. Furthermore, the change of this energy over time due to friction and wear was determined. The total work integral change was related to the experimentally measured change in the reverse pumping value of the sealing system.