Self-Affine Elastic Contacts: Percolation and Leakage
Soft Condensed Matter
2013-08-16 v1 Other Condensed Matter
Abstract
We study fluid flow at the interfaces between elastic solids with randomly rough, self-affine surfaces. We show by numerical simulation that elastic deformation lowers the relative contact area at which contact patches percolate in comparison to traditional approaches to seals. Elastic deformation also suppresses leakage through contacts even far away from the percolation threshold. Reliable estimates for leakage can be obtained by combining Persson's contact mechanics theory with a slightly modified version of Bruggeman's effective-medium solution of the Reynolds equation.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1308.3449,
title = {Self-Affine Elastic Contacts: Percolation and Leakage},
author = {Wolf B. Dapp and Andreas Lücke and Bo N. J. Persson and Martin H. Müser},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1308.3449},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures