Regarding the increasing demand in seal lifetime and energy efficiency, a detailed microscopic simulation is necessary—as an addition to experimental investigations—to better understand and improve radial shaft seals. For this purpose, typically thermoelastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) simulations are used. The published models range from rather simple elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) models to very sophisticated TEHL models. Only very few models take into account the roughness or microstructure of both contact surfaces, though, since this would require the consideration of transient effects. In this article, a transient TEHL model for the contact of radial shaft seals is presented. Studies of the sealing contact are conducted, and the possibility of investigating shaft microstructuring is shown.

Metagenomics is a helpful tool for the analysis of unculturable organisms and viruses. Viruses that target bacteria and archaea play important roles in the microbial diversity of various ecosystems. Here we show that Methanosarcina virus MV (MetMV), the second Methanosarcina sp. virus with a completely determined genome, is characteristic of hydrocarbon pollution in environmental (soil and water) samples. It was highly abundant in Hungarian hydrocarbon polluted samples and its genome was also present in the NCBI SRA database containing reads from hydrocarbon polluted samples collected in Canada, indicating the stability of its niche and the marker feature of this virus. MetMV, as the only currently identified marker virus for pollution in environmental samples, could contribute to the understanding of the complicated network of prokaryotes and their viruses driving the decomposition of environmental pollutants.