Key Structural Optimization and Sealing Performance Simulation of Flexible Joints for Aerospace Applications

XIA Zhicheng; NIU Zhiliang; ZHANG Shuai; GUO Longhao; XU Aijun; YUE Zhenming

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-6457.2025.12.023

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Journal of Netshape Forming Engineering ›› 2025, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (12) : 217-226. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-6457.2025.12.023

Advanced Manufacturing technology and Equipment

Key Structural Optimization and Sealing Performance Simulation of Flexible Joints for Aerospace Applications

XIA Zhicheng¹, NIU Zhiliang¹, ZHANG Shuai¹, GUO Longhao¹, XU Aijun², YUE Zhenming^1,*

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Abstract

To optimize the structure of the flexible joint for aerospace piping, the work aims to optimize the pre-compression amount of the sealing ring, the depth of the sealing groove, and the chamfer of the sealing groove with simulation methods, and conduct a study on the sealing performance of the optimized structure under different hydraulic pressures and deflection angles. Firstly, through iterative optimization processing, the Abaqus software was used for finite element simulation (FEM) to successively optimize the structural parameters such as the pre-compression amount of the sealing ring, the depth of the sealing groove, and the chamfer of the sealing groove, and the response surface method (RSM) was applied to re-optimize the optimized structural parameters, thereby obtaining a set of optimal structural parameters. Then, extreme pressure resistance tests were conducted on the flexible joint under the obtained optimal structural parameters and the sealing laws under different hydraulic pressures and different deflection angles were studied and analyzed. Through multi-objective optimization research, a set of optimal structural parameters for the flexible joint was obtained. For the study on extreme pressure resistance, the simulation results showed that when the hydraulic pressure exceeded 3.6 MPa, the flexible joint would be damaged. Under the deflection angles studied (all angles that the flexible joint could achieve), the maximum contact stress on the sealing ring surface was greater than the hydraulic pressure, and the sealing performance was good. This study provides ideas and methods for further optimizing the flexible joint for aerospace use. Through simulation methods, the structure of the flexible joint can be optimized more effectively, and the sealing laws of the flexible joint under different hydraulic pressures and deflection angles have been studied, thereby providing guidance for the analysis of sealing laws of flexible joints under multiple working conditions.

Key words

aerospace pipeline connection / flexible joint / O-ring / finite element simulation / response surface methodology

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XIA Zhicheng, NIU Zhiliang, ZHANG Shuai, GUO Longhao, XU Aijun, YUE Zhenming. Key Structural Optimization and Sealing Performance Simulation of Flexible Joints for Aerospace Applications[J]. Journal of Netshape Forming Engineering. 2025, 17(12): 217-226 https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-6457.2025.12.023

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