Master Thesis Modelling Leakage in a Rough Contact by Considering Multiscale Topography

Leakage is one of the important technological challenges in mechanical systems, dealing with various fluids ranging from water and lubricants to H2 under pressure. In this thesis we aim to model the leakage trough a rough contact of an elastomer against steels in a static elastic state. The issue is that the roughness has a multiscale nature ranging from micrometers to nanometers and the leakage might occur in different scales. For this aim, there are a range of methods and theories to calculate leakage in the literature.

• During your thesis you will provide a review of the existing models and implement the most useful one for industrial application.
• Consequently, you will compare the model with the internal contact mechanics tools at the company and with analytical multiscale equations in engineering applications.
• Finally, you will derive surrogate or meta models to predict the leakage based on simulation data with simplified equations.