Development of a simple method for determining the influence radius of a pumping well in steady-state condition

Influence radius of a pumping well is a crucial parameter for hydrogeologists and engineers. Knowing the radius of influence for a designed drawdown enables one to calculate the pumping rate required to layout a project foundation that may need lowering of groundwater level to a certain depth due to dewatering operation. In addition, this is important for hydrogeologists to determine ground water contamination flow paths and contributing recharge area for domestic water supply and aquifer management purposes. Empirical formulas that usually neglect vital parameters to determine the influence radius accurately have been traditionally utilized due to lack of adequate methods. In this study, a physically based method, which incorporates aquifer hydraulic gradient for determining the influence radius of a pumping well in steady-state flow condition, was developed. It utilizes Darcy and Dupuit laws to calculate the influence radius, where Darcy’s law and Dupuit equation, in steady-state condition, represent the inflow and the outflow of the pumping well, respectively. In an untraditional manner, this method can be also used to determine aquifer hydraulic conductivity as an alternative to other pumping test methods with high degree of accuracy. The developed method is easy to use;where a simple mathematical calculator may be used to calculate the influence radius and the pumping rate or hydraulic conductivity. By comparing the results from this method with the MODFLOW numerical model outputs with different simulated scenarios, it is realized that this method is much superior and more advantageous than other commonly used empirical methods.

Effects of the radial force on the static contact properties and sealing performance of a radial lip seal

The radial force is a critical factor to determine the sealing performance of radial lip seals.The effects of radial force produced by garter spring and interference on the static contact properties and sealing performance of a radial lip seal are investigated by numerical simulations and experiments.Finite-element analysis and mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication simulation are used.Radial force,contact width,temperature in the sealing zone,the reverse pumping rate and friction torque are measured.A critical value of interference for a cost-effectively designed radial lip seal is found.Spring force is required to compensate the decrease of the radial force because of the interference and used as a possible way to obtain intelligent control of sealing performance.The quantitative results gotten in this study could provide guide for the seal design and improvement.

The effect of texture on the shaft surface on the sealing performance of radial lip seals

On the basis of elastohydrodynamic model,the present study numerically analyzes the effect of various microdimple texture shapes,namely,circular,square,oriented isosceles triangular,on the pumping rate and the friction torque of radial lip seals,and determines the microdimple texture shape that can produce positive pumping rate.The area ratio,depth and shape dimension of a single texture are the most important geometric parameters which influence the tribological performance.According to the selected texture shape,parameter analysis is conducted to determine the optimal combination for the above three parameters.Simultaneously,the simulated performances of radial lip seal with texture on the shaft surface are compared with those of the conventional lip seal without any texture on the shaft surface.