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Emilia Kozuch
Emilia
Kozuch
Petros Nomikos
Petros
Nomikos
Ramin Rahmani
Ramin
Rahmani
Nick Morris
Nick
Morris
Homer Rahnejat
Homer
Rahnejat
Effect of shaft surface roughness on the performance of radial lip seals
Loughborough University
2018
Radial lip seal
Surface topography
Roughness
Skewness
Seal leakage
Mechanical Engineering not elsewhere classified
2018-11-21 11:04:45
Journal contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Effect_of_shaft_surface_roughness_on_the_performance_of_radial_lip_seals/9575141
Reduction of leakage from the shaft–radial lip seal conjunction is critical in ensuring enduring performance of entire lubrication system. This paper investigates leakage from three types of shaft surfaces, finished using different manufacturing processes. The measurement of surface topography is conducted in order to determine the pertinent roughness parameters which correspond to the observed sealing performance in real practical applications. It is found that the skewness of the surface topography correlates well with the anecdotal leakage failure rate. To quantify this association, a hydrodynamic model, accounting for shaft roughness in a deterministic manner is
developed. The results from the numerical analyses confirm that the lubricant mass flow rate is
reduced in the case of negatively skewed surface height distributions, when compared with the
positively skewed profiles.