Analysis of O-Ring Sealing Performance Considering Deterministic Surface Topography

This paper proposes a set of numerical simulation algorithms to measure the leakage rate of O-ring in negative pressure oil medium. To be specific, a partition algorithm based on real surface topography is first used to match the contact pressure distribution. Then a contact state matrix is used to generate leak paths to simulate real conditions and determine seal leakage. Moreover, the parallel plate leak model is improved to make it applicable to the calculation of leakage rate of channel cross sections in different shapes. The leakage rates of the O-ring under different oil pressures are calculated. According to the results, when the fluid medium pressure is 0.07 MPa, the seal leakage rate obtained by simulation is 1. 717 × 10-12 m3/s; when the fluid medium pressure increases to 0. 09 MPa, the seal leakage rate obtained by simulation decreases to 1. 525 × 10-12 m3/s. The contact stress distributions under different medium pressures are compared. According to the results, with the increase of fluid medium pressure, the contact stress distribution in the seal contact area increases, the leakage paths formed through the sealing contact area decreases and the leakage rate drops. Finally, the simulation results are compared with the experimental results to verify their rationality. The results show that the relative error is about 10%, and the experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results. © 2022 Xi'an Jiaotong University. All rights reserved.