MODELING THE IMPACT OF LATERAL PUMP VIBRATIONS ON THE DYNAMICS OF MECHANICAL SEALS

摘要

In 1990, Durham [1] reported on failures in several electric submersible pumps (ESPs) that were operating in horizontal surface applications, concluding that ESP failures were caused by mechanical-seal failures, and that mechanical seal failures were caused by lateral vibrations. In 2005, based on a very large data base of vibration data, Stefanko and Leishear [2] stated that most of their observed pump failures were caused by lateral vibrations that killed the mechanical seals.