CAPABILITIES OF THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL METHODS OF CALCULATING THE PARAMETERS OF VISCOUS FLOW OF A MEDIUM IN CYLINDRICAL ANNULAR CHANNELS

摘要

Questions related to the selection and application of theoretical or empirical methods for the calculation of the parameters of the groove seals of shafts widely used in pumps and compressors are considered. A theoretical method of calculation through the compilation and solution of a system of equations that describe the flow of a medium in the channel of a groove seal is successfully applied for the case of a laminar regime of flow of a medium in a channel. It is not possible to describe such flow by means of a closed system of equations in the case of a turbulent regime of flow of a medium in the channel of a groove seal. The new theoretical method of determining the unknown parameters of the turbulent flow of a medium in annular groove seals, which is related to the solution of the Martsinkovskii equation, may serve only as a tool for studying the nature of the processes that occur in a groove seal. Thus, empirical methods based on Bernoulli's equation and the data of experimental investigations are still the only reliable tool for calculating the characteristics of groove seals in the case of a turbulent regime of flow of a medium.