Flow of fluids through porous media such as soil, rocks, bones, wood and concrete has been an area of interest for engineering communities that deal with porous materials. The tools developed to describe flow through porous regions are generally applied to bulk materials with single composition. In this paper, however, we demonstrate their applicability to an interface of any two contacting surfaces particularly those of the elastomer and metal in the context of sealing applications. We propose a relationship to account for change in the permeability and the thickness of the seal interface with contact pressure at the interface and fluid pressure of fluid flowing through the interface. We hence develop a porous-media-based model to describe leak of gas through metal–elastomer interface. We validate the model using nitrogen gas leak experimental data for different elastomer–metal interfaces.

中文翻译：

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估计通过金属-弹性体界面的流体泄漏的可压缩多孔介质模型

流体通过多孔介质（如土壤、岩石、骨骼、木材和混凝土）的流动一直是处理多孔材料的工程界感兴趣的领域。为描述通过多孔区域的流动而开发的工具通常适用于具有单一成分的散装材料。然而，在本文中，我们证明了它们适用于任何两个接触表面的界面，特别是在密封应用的背景下弹性体和金属的界面。我们提出了一种关系来解释密封界面的渗透率和厚度随界面处的接触压力和流过界面的流体压力的变化。因此，我们开发了一种基于多孔介质的模型来描述通过金属-弹性体界面的气体泄漏。