Abstract
Contact stresses between two rectangular plates and a sandwiched solid-metal flat gasket are studied to discuss the sealing behavior of the gasket. Assuming that the gasket is an elastic body, the two dimensional theory of elasticity is used to analyse the contact stresses and the deformations in three laminated dissimilar rectangular plates whose both sides are compressed with locally distributed loads. By neglecting shearing stresses on the contact surfaces, an exact solution satisfying the remaining boundary conditions is obtained. Numerical calculations are carried out for various rigidities and thicknesses of the rectangular plates under various loading conditions. In order to examine the results of the theorectical analysis, the contact stress is measured experimentally by using pressure-sensitive pins attached to a rectangular plate. It is confirmed that the theorectical results agree well with the experimental ones except the vicinity of the loaded area.
