The Rotordynamic Coefficients of Mechanical Seals Having Two Flexibly Mounted Rotors

Abstract

The Reynolds equation is derived for a mechanical seal in which both elements are flexibly mounted to rotating shafts. Stiffness and damping coefficients for the fluid film are calculated for the three degrees of freedom of each element based upon a small perturbation analysis. The analogous coefficients for simpler configurations (e.g., flexibly mounted rotor, flexibly mounted stator) contained in the literature are shown to be obtainable as degenerate cases of the more general results presented in this work.