Abstract

This paper deals with a FEM computation as well as measurement of the contact force and distribution of the temperature in rubber lip seals when the sealing interference between the rotating shaft and the lip edge is present. The study of the contact forces and distributions of the temperature and the sealing contact stress has always been one of the basic steps in the process of designing a lip seal. The calculated FEM results indicate that as the sealing interference increases, the contact force moderately increases compared with decreased sealing interference at the seal lip edge and radically increases the contacting width. And the FEM computation of oontact forces including nonlinear problems has been compared with experimental measurements with good agreement. The frictional heat does not dissipate promptly in the rubber seal lip and tends to accumulate at the contacting lip edge especially.

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