Modeling and experimental study of reciprocating seal Soft elastohydrodynamic lubrication considering structural thermal coupling

The reliability of the reciprocating seal is the key to ensuring the regular operation of the entire hydraulic system. Since friction in the sealing area under reciprocating conditions and the hysteresis heat inside the seal ring can cause significant temperature rise, which leads to changes in the contact pressure distribution of the seal and the material's constitutive model, previous studies have not considered this thermal effect and its impact. The study combines the effects of hysteresis heat generation, friction heat generation, and thermal effects on the constitutive model of the sealing material to establish a structural thermal coupling reciprocating seal soft elastohydrodynamic lubrication. The comparative analysis discusses the sealing characteristics of the conventional uncoupled model and the Y-shaped sealing ring of this model under different environmental conditions, and a reciprocating sealing test bench is also built for verification. The results show that under a medium working pressure of 3-11 MPa and a reciprocating speed of 0.05-0.3 m/s, the average error between the model considering thermal effects and the experimental value is 5%. In contrast, the conventional without coupled model is 13%. Therefore, the model in this paper predicts more accurately than the traditional model.