Leak-rate of seals: effective medium theory and comparison with experiment

TL;DR

This paper develops an effective medium theory to predict the leak-rate of rubber seals and validates it through experimental comparisons with different surface materials.

Contribution

It introduces a new theoretical model for seal leak-rate based on contact mechanics and compares it with experimental data.

Findings

The theory accurately predicts leak-rates for various surface roughnesses.

Experimental results confirm the validity of the effective medium approach.

The model can inform better seal design to prevent fluid leakage.

Abstract

Seals are extremely useful devices to prevent fluid leakage. We present an effective medium theory of the leak-rate of rubber seals, which is based on a recently developed contact mechanics theory. We compare the theory with experimental results for seals consisting of silicon rubber in contact with sandpaper and sand-blasted PMMA surfaces.