A Numerical Wear Simulation Method of Reciprocating Seals with a Textured Rod

Reciprocating rod seals are widely used in the hydraulic actuator to prevent the leakage of fluid. The sealing lip profile changes with the seal wear, resulting in an increase in the leakage. A texturing rod changes the lubrication characteristics of the seal, so it affects the wear and leakage of the seal. A numerical simulation method is proposed to investigate the wear of the hydraulic reciprocating seal with textured rods. Several kinds of macro-cavity textures on the rod surface, including circle, square and triangle shapes, have been simulated and discussed. The effects of three shape parameters including area ratio, depth, and ratio of the axial length to the circumferential length on the seal wear are analyzed in detail. The texturing rod slightly increases the seal wear, but decreases the seal leakage. When the rod speed is increasing, the wear time rates of the seal increase, while the wear distance rates decrease, regardless of the texture shapes. When the texture area ratio is increasing, the wear of the reciprocating seal increases. Seal wear decreases with an increasing texture depth during the outstroke, however, it increases during the instroke. The ratio of the axial length of the macro-cavity to the circumferential length has no effect on the seal wear.