Numerical and Experimental Study on Combined Seals With the Consideration of Stretching Effects

Combined seals, as a kind of reciprocating seals, are widely used in hydraulic systems. The combined seal usually contains two or more elements to achieve the sealing function. Not only the interference fit between the seal and the rod/groove should be considered, but the assembling parameters between the inner sealing elements are also essential to be investigated. Stretching ratio, as an indicator for the interference fit, usually exerts a significant influence on the sealing performance. However, in the studies of stretching effects on combined seals, the traditional axisymmetric modeling method will introduce the overstretching problems, resulting in large errors. To overcome this problem, this paper proposed a putter-movement method, where an extra putter is introduced into the model, and a mixed-lubrication theory was employed to study macro and micro characteristics among the sealing zone. As a typical kind of combined seals, the VL seal is utilized as the research object, and the material’s plastic effects are included in the reciprocating-seal modeling for the first time. The numerical results are compared with the experimental data, and good agreements are obtained. The proposed method is then employed to discuss the sealing characteristics under different interference-fit conditions systematically. The results indicate that the stretching mainly affects the contact pressure on the cavity side. Compared to the performance of the seal with the standard geometry, in the extra-stretching condition, the leakage is increased, but the friction is decreased.