MSim – Numerical simulation of the long-term behaviour of metal seals during long-term interim storage

The numerical simulation of the long-term behaviour of Helicoflex® metal seals is a holistic approach in which the interaction between the individual seal components (outer liner, intermediate liner and spiral spring) is explicitly taken into account. The advantage of a numerical model is that it depicts expected ageing processes based on physical relationships, with feedback from time-varying stress, strain and temperature distributions directly included in the ageing rate. This requires special material models, the creation of which requires additional creep tests on material samples of the sealing components and which are therefore part of the project.

The sealing parameters determined in the MSTOR project form the database that is to be used to check the numerical simulations. In addition, the numerical simulations can be used to explain the macroscopic changes in properties (restoring force, useful elastic recovery) that occur during long-term use and that were experimentally recorded in the MSTOR project, taking into account the spatial stress/ strain state of the sealing components.

The material models are created in close collaboration with the seal manufacturer Technetics; the academic partner is the materials science institute of the Paris engineering university MINES Paris – PSL.