Evaluation Analysis on Leakage Performance for Beam Seal With Two Sealing Areas

As a special type of aviation hydraulic pipe joint, a beam seal comprises two annular sealing areas. This paper presented a leakage model for an annular sealing area based on a developed three-dimensional percolation grid model and the porous medium theory. Both average contact pressure and true contact width of the beam seal were simulated using the finite element method. An experimental study of beam seal verified the accuracy of the numerical results. Considering that the two sealing areas and the groove in the beam seal form an isolated sealing system, a leakage model of the beam seal is proposed based on the leakage model for annular sealing area. We evaluated the effects of the roughness of the surface, preload and fluid pressure on the leak rate of the beam seal. Furthermore, the geometry of the beam seal was modified to improve its sealing performance. This study provides an evaluation method for optimizing the design and improving the sealing performance of the beam seal.