ABSTRACT
Static seals come in many geometries based on a variety of design concepts, although most joints are circular as in piping joints, pressure vessels, food can seals and lid seals for bottles and jars. This chapter focuses on internally pressurized circular bolted flanged gasketed joints, which also serve to illustrate the design principles of joints more generally. Designing a bolted gasketed joint is a far more complex procedure than at first appears. This is because the stiffness of the main components have similar orders of magnitude. The gasket behaves as compression spring (nonlinear and elastoplastic) and the bolting behaves as a tension spring. The flange floats between these two springs, so the system is statically indeterminate. The flange also behaves as a rotational spring, introducing a further complication. This system of springs is subjected to axial loads such as the applied bolt force, the gasket reaction, and the axial force due to fluid pressure.
