Reliability Assessment of Spherical Assembly Mechanical Seals in Turbo Pumps

The spherical assembly mechanical end-face seal, a pivotal component of the liquid rocket engine turbopump, holds direct influence over the performance of the turbopump. This paper introduces a approach for assessing the reliability of mechanical seals. The proposed method formulates a dimensionless reliability factor, R, derived from multiple sets of monitoring data collected during the operation of the seal. The health status of the seal can be evaluated based on the value of R. The computation of R is contingent on two main elements: firstly, it relies on the threshold of evaluation parameters obtained from laboratory tests, and secondly, it incorporates the weight of parameters derived from expert experience using fuzzy set theory. And then R can be calculated by substituting real-time monitoring data of the seal. The efficacy of the proposed method was substantiated through testing and verification using two sets of real-world engineering data, and was subsequently compared with methods currently employed in engineering. The results indicate that the proposed method surpasses existing methods in terms of accuracy and sensitivity. Furthermore, the data upon which it is based can be easily monitored in an engineering context, thereby enhancing its relevance and potential for widespread application in engineering.