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

B. Lorenz and B. N. J. Persson

IFF, FZ Jülich, D-52425, Jülich, Germany

Corresponding author: b.persson@fz-juelich.de

Received: 16 November 2009
Published online: 1 March 2010

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.