Multi-physics coupling analysis of rope-sealed structures with braided ceramic fibres by element differential method

With the rapid development of hypersonic vehicles in recent years, high-temperature seal technology has become more and more essential. Recently, a rope-sealed structure with braided ceramic fibres has been designed for hypersonic vehicles. The ceramic fibres in the structure have the characteristics of high temperature strength, so that they make the sealed structure suitable for working under a high temperature. Meanwhile, when subjected to an external force, braided fibres can produce a buffer force at the ceramic interface, so that it can maintain the good performance of the whole sealed structure. But up to now, only a few researches have been conducted on this kind of structures. In this paper, a simplified thermal–mechanical seepage coupling model is proposed to simulate the complicated physical process for this kind of structures. Meanwhile, a new numerical method called element differential method (EDM) is used to calculate the coupling problem because it has great advantages in solving multiphysics coupling problems. What is more, some experiments are used to obtain the leakages when the sealed structure is under service. And finally, by referring the experimental results, the authors establish a series of material parameter relationships for the sealed structure and also verify the reasonability of the proposed multi-physics coupling model.