Numerical algorithm for analyzing the magnetic fluid seals

This paper presents the numerical algorithm to obtain the boundary surface configurations of magnetic fluid seals. The surface boundary is obtained without several assumptions. In the analysis of the fluid system, surface configuration of fluid and magnetic field pattern affect each other. To solve this problem iterative computation is adopted in this algorithm. The magnetic field is computed by nonlinear finite element method considering the saturation of magnetic fluid and pole piece. The surface equilibrium condition in ferrohydrodynamics are used in the algorithm. The movement of boundary surface configuration is simulated and compared with experimental results, and the influences of fluid volume, shape of pole piece, and forces due to magnetization, rotation of the shaft and gravitation on the seal capacities are analyzed