A Study on the Sealing Behaviors of the Laterally One Side Restrained C-Ring Under Internal Pressure by Numerical Simulation

C-ring, which is one of the main sealing elements of Reactor Pressure Vessels, is composed of a close-wound helical spring surrounded by two metal linings. C-ring has better resilience and sealing characteristics. Just because of the complex structure of C-ring, it was studied by experiments almost. There were also some numerical simulations on C-ring. With these methods, the compression-decompression process of C-ring under ideal condition can be simulated. But them cannot be used to study the sealing behavior of laterally one side restrained C-ring under internal pressure, which is fit for practical condition. This paper will establish a 3D numerical simulation method to study the C-ring which is mentioned as above. In this paper, it can be obtained that with internal pressure forcing and sealing groove squeezing, sealing performance of C-ring will reduce; when p>20MPa, the ratio of reducing becomes bigger; when p>140MPa, it will generate leakage; inner lining and outer lining will generate biggish plastic deformation, while the stress distribution in spring changes much.