Enhancing the Sealing Performance of Bolted Ball Joints by Gaskets: Numerical Simulation and Experiment

Abstract

With the increasing utilization of bolted ball joint steel mesh structures in offshore floating platforms and deep-sea fish cages, the issue of seawater infiltrating the joints and members through the installation gaps of the bolted ball joint, leading to subsequent corrosion, has become increasingly prominent. This article presents an innovative method to improve the sealing performance of bolted ball joints. The approach involves creating sealed surfaces within the contact gaps between the sleeve and connecting components by adding circular grooves and sealing washers to both ends of the sleeve. Subsequently, a two-dimensional finite element analysis model of the bolted ball joint with the sealing structure was created using SOLIDWORKS 2021 and ANSYS Workbench 2022 R1. The study analyzes the sealing gasket’s contact pressure at various compression levels and evaluates its performance with bubble tests for air tightness. Research results show a linear relationship between the contact pressure and compression rate, achieving sealing pressures of 2.91 MPa, 4.22 MPa, and 5.95 MPa at compression levels of 8%, 11%, and 14%, respectively. Experimental testing demonstrates that the improved bolted ball joint exhibits excellent sealing performance.