Element analysis and wear longevity calculation of an O-ring in the actuator cylinder of a certain aircraft landing gear

In this paper, we established the finite element model of an O-ring in the actuator cylinder of a certain aircraft landing gear in order to analyze the O-ring's Von Mises stress and contact stress and to compute its wear longevity. The contact mechanics characteristic of the O-ring under working status is simulated through the ABUQUS. We adopt the Mooney-Rivlin hyperplastic material model to keep the results reasonable. The geometric nonlinearities, the material nonlinearities and the nonlinear boundary conditions are also considered. The simulation provided us with the convergent solution in full-stroke of actuator cylinder, i.e., the distribution of Von Mises stress and contact stress of the O-ring. Basing on the stress distribution above, we compute the O-ring's wear volume and the wear longevity through the wear longevity predicting model under common working status. The stress distribution and wear longevity can provide critical references for the engineering design and application of O-ring in the actuator cylinder, meanwhile they can be further applied in the safety analysis of aircraft landing gear actuator cylinder seal.