warping caused by system error - added face control grooves to prevent any erosion of seal faces - resolved any areas where fluid remains stagnant and cause blockage Arising Problems Hydrostatic seals should last multiple years without any deterioration to its components due to its overall structure. There should not be any contact between the two seal faces or else the condition of the seal will begin to deteriorate. Current Hydrodynamic seals begin to deteriorate over time because the two faces are always in contact with each other. In addition, any misalignment of the seal faces will cause them to rub which will begin to morph the seal faces and eventually cause the entire seal to become structurally unstable. Izchak Etsion, a researcher at the Lewis Research Center, conducted an experiment to test what happens to a hydrostatic seal when its faces are misaligned. Etsion discovered that high pressures directed towards the outer face of the seal would cause static instability, while high pressure on the inner face of the seal would cause the seal to become more stable. In addition, axial misalignment would also cause the horizontal shaft to shift in the vertical direction; this misalignment would result in a faulty seal if the restoring force is not great enough to correct the shift in components. Leakage The structure of the seal brings up the problem of leakage within the system. Since there is always a minuscule gap between two parts, there is always the problem of leakage, however the system’s structure allows leakage to be controlled to a very precise level. Another problem that arises about hydrostatic seals is that excess leakage may eventually lead to erosion of the seal’s structure. Due to the axially rotating face seal, any excess leakage will have a high fluid velocity which can erode away at the face plates, eventually leading to a faulty seal. References Seals (mechanical)