Optimal Design of the Sealing Structure of a Hydraulic Cylinder on the Basis of a Surrogate Model

Abstract

In this study, a finite-element simulation model was established for a two-dimensional hydraulic cylinder seal structure with highly nonlinear materials and contacts for achieving the optimal sealing effect with the structure. The effects of gaps as well as single and double O-rings on the sealing effect were examined. On the basis of this examination, a parametric model was developed for double-O-rings without gaps, which are suitable for hydraulic cylinder sealing. Suitable design variables, objective functions, and constraint conditions were determined for the parametric model. Then, a surrogate model was fitted and optimised through a constrained Latin hypercube method, an interpolating recmultiquadric radial basis function method, and the genetic algorithm. The results indicate that the seal and seal groove structures obtained through optimisation with the surrogate model provide a superior sealing effect to unoptimised structures. Therefore, the combination of the developed surrogate model and finite-element method can provide a theoretical reference for the design of the sealing structure of hydraulic cylinders.