A performance degradation analysis method for a reciprocating rod seal in the wear process under mixed lubrication conditions

The sealing performance of a reciprocating seal degrades during service. The analyses developed based on the initial state of a seal cannot express the performance degradation due to seal wear in detail. In this research, the Archard model in dry friction is extended to mixed lubrication by introducing the lubrication coefficient verified by an experiment. The nonlinear adaptive meshing technique is used in finite element analysis (FEA) to simulate the material removal to obtain the static contact pressure during the wear process. Hence, a sealing performance degradation analysis method is proposed based on the modified Archard model for reciprocating seals under mixed lubricating conditions. This method can be used to analyse the sealing, lubrication, and wear characteristics of seals at any service time. The simulation results indicate that the static pressure becomes more uniform with the occurrence of seal wear, and the lubricating property of the oil film reduces the seal wear. The variation trends of the sealing performance parameters such as contact pressure, friction, and net leakage at different service times under specific operating conditions are obtained.