Influence of structural parameters on wavy-tilt-dam hydrodynamic mechanical seal performance in reactor coolant pump

Wen-Tao Su, Yang Li, Ya-Hui Wang, Ya-Ning Zhang, Xiao-Bin Li and Yu Ma

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 166, issue C, 210-221

Abstract: This work analyzes the operation conditions of the wavy-tilt-dam (WTD) mechanical seal under different structural parameters using the DNS method. The pressure difference within the liquid film is considered due to the complicated constructor of the WTD mechanical seal. The effects of the main structural parameters on the mechanical seal are studied, including the film thickness, taper, dam-width ratio, and waviness amplitude. Numerical results show that the increase of base film thickness will increase the leakage rate and decrease the opening force. The larger taper will lead to a higher leakage rate and opening force. As the taper increases, the stiffness increases first and then decreases. As the dam-width ratio increases, the leakage rate, the opening force, and the stiffness will increase correspondingly. The waviness amplitude has a small effect on these three performance parameters. Besides, the comparisons between the Reynolds approximation and the DNS technique show that the Reynolds approximation can be applied to analyze the leakage rate under different thicknesses, small tapers, and large dam-width ratios. The opening force under small thickness, different tapers, and different dam-width ratios can also be considered using the Reynolds approximation. To ensure the safe and stable operation of RCP, the optimal structural parameters can be set as taper β = 600 μrad, dam-width ratio ϖ = 0.2, waviness amplitude α = 0.8, and wavenumber k = 9.

Keywords: Reactor coolant pump; Hydrodynamic mechanical seal; Wavy-tilt-dam; OpenFOAM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:166:y:2020:i:c:p:210-221

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.11.123

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