A mechanical seal with deep hydropad slots distributed around the circumference of one face is analyzed theorelically. The computational procedure is bared on an analytical model in which the hydropads induce the seal face to deform into à circumferential wave pattern, leading to hydrodynamic pressure generation. The procedure allows computation of film thicknesses, pressure profiles and leakage flow rates. The latter agree well with experimental measurements.Presented as a Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers paper at the ASME/STLE Tribology Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, October 16–19, 1988