Numerical Simulation of Static Seal Contact Mechanics Including Hydrostatic Load at the Contacting Interface

Abstract

A finite element model of a static seal assembled in its housing has been built and is utilized to study how the seal deforms under varying loading conditions. The total contact load on the sealing surface is balanced by the sealed fluid pressure and the friction between the seal and the housing sidewall perpendicular to the sealing surface. The effect of the sealed fluid pressure between the sealing surfaces was investigated and the simulation showed that the surface profile is distorted due to the hydrostatic pressure. We study the distorted contact profile with varying sealed fluid pressure and propose five parameters to describe the corresponding contact pressure profile. One of these parameters, overshoot pressure, a measure of the difference between maximum contact pressure and the sealed fluid pressure, is an indicator of sealing performance. The simulations performed show different behaviors of the overshoot pressure with sealed fluid pressure for cosinusoidal and parabolic surfaces with the same peak to valley (PV) value.

Keywords

• static seal
• contact mechanics
• hydrostatic load