TY - JOUR AB - Purpose This paper aims to investigate the influence of the contact status between the seal ring and its support on the seal performance in hydrostatic mechanical face seal.Design/methodology/approach A thermal fluid-solid interaction (TFSI) model of hydrostatic mechanical face seal is further developed, in which the multi-body contacts between components are particularly given more attention. The numerical models of the flow field and complete seal assemblies are developed. A specific energy equation is obtained to simplify the calculation of film temperature. Based on the mechanism for the continuity condition of the physical quantities at the fluid–solid interface, the TFSI model uses an on-line iterative coupling method.Findings The contact status between seal ring and its support affects the seal performance significantly. The rotating ring and the stationary ring contribute differently because of the contact status difference.Originality/value The contact status between the seal ring and the ring seat is key to gain an insight into the performance of the hydrostatic mechanical face seal thus provides guidance for mechanical seal design. VL - 71 IS - 7 SN - 0036-8792 DO - 10.1108/ILT-04-2018-0138 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-04-2018-0138 AU - He Qiang AU - Huang Weifeng AU - Liu Ying AU - Liu Xiangfeng AU - Li Yongjian AU - Wang Yuming PY - 2019 Y1 - 2019/01/01 TI - Contact status between seal ring and its support: crucial factor in hydrostatic mechanical face seal T2 - Industrial Lubrication and Tribology PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 885 EP - 892 Y2 - 2024/04/19 ER -