Consideration on the Representations of Sealing Behavior of Gaskets: Effects of the Internal Pressure and the Gasket Width

With the recent increase of a safety and environmental concern, it is important to estimate the leak rate of gasketed flanged connections in piping system. In order to estimate the leak rate, the sealing behavior of a gasket must be known. Currently, evaluation methods of the sealing behavior are proposed in the North America and Europe independently. However, the effects of the internal pressure and the gasket width are not sufficiently considered in both the methods. We have already proposed an evaluation method of sealing behavior based on the gasket strain in a mathematical form, in which the internal pressure and the gasket width are considered. In this paper, the effects of the internal pressure and the gasket width on the leak rate are discussed by applying the evaluation method to ASME and JIS flanges. Comparing the estimated results with those of PVRC and CEN methods, problems are pointed out.