| description abstract | The percolation threshold strongly affects sealing performance. This paper investigates the relationship between the percolation threshold and the rough surface anisotropy, which is represented by the Peklenik number, γ. A series of anisotropic rough surfaces were generated and the conjugate gradient-fast Fourier transform (CG-FFT) method was used to determine the percolation threshold. The percolation threshold was found to be A/A0≈0.484±0.009 (averaged over 45 surfaces) was established for an isotropic rough surface (γ=1). Furthermore, it was also found that the percolation threshold decreased from A/A0≈0.528±0.011 to A/A0≈0.431±0.008 as 1/γ increased from 0.6 to 2. Our results differ from the theoretical result of Persson et al., where A/A0=γ/(1+γ). Comparing our calculated results with the theoretical results established the presence of an intersection value of 1/γ that was related to the effect of elastic deformation on the percolation threshold. When 1/γ was smaller than the intersection value, our calculated results were lower than the theoretical ones; and when 1/γ was greater than the intersection value, our calculated results were higher than the theoretical ones. | |
