Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Leakage and uncontrolled escape of fluids in general are regular occurrences in industrial installations that use pressurized equipment. When leaks exceed acceptable limits, they can cause accidents, environmental damage and health issues, and lead to shutdowns and loss of revenue. With the aim of reducing fugitive emissions and prevent catastrophic incidents, this proposed research program is designed to yield advances in sealing technology knowledge and practice and thereby improve the sustainability of chemical and manufacturing industries worldwide. This will be achieved through the transfer of technological innovation to manufacturers to enable them develop better sealing products and by providing design engineers and end-users with efficient design tools for selecting appropriate solutions to sealing problems. The cutting-edge research in sealing technology is focused essentially on developing new sealing products. Current strict regulations on fugitive emission have created a need to develop tools to verify structural integrity and predict seal tightness. Pressurized joints including bolted flanged gasketed, packed stuffing box and tube-to-tubesheet types are the main targeted equipment requiring compliance with sealing standards in order to ensure the long-term reliability and safety of industrial installations. Gasketed and non-gasketed joints must safeguard against the leakage of toxic industrial chemicals into the atmosphere. Leakage through these joints could be reduced substantially if knowledge of how they perform under specific conditions were improved and their short-term and long-term behaviours were more predictable. This could be achievable through testing and simulation. The aim of the proposed fundamental research is to develop analytical models and testing procedures for pressurized joints working under high pressures and high temperatures and provide effective sealing solutions to problems that persist in end-user applications.