| abstract |
Metal-to-metal seals for pin and box member tubular joints (70, 80) where mating annular surfaces (75, 85) are machined at slightly different angles such that the bearing load from initial contact is entirely on the leading edge of the pin annular surface and the training edge of the box annular surface. The mismatch of the sealing surface is selected for any particular seal geometry such that at final make-up, the bearing load has a relatively even distribution across the entire sealing surface in contact, thus broadly distributing make-up bearing stresses and minimizing any resulting tendency for galling that may occur, in particular for joints having relatively thick walls for both pin and box members. |