Axial and Pressure Thrust Stiffness of Metal Bellows for Vibration Isolators

Metal bellows are used as a spring element and simultaneously as a container (shell) for a damping medium in vibration isolators, especially in applications where any leakage is inadmissible. Dynamic behaviour of these isolators is affected by axial stiffness of bellows and by a resistance against axial deformation of bellows filled with fluid, which is in this article called pressure thrust stiffness. A method of the pressure thrust stiffness determination is discussed in this study. The method uses FEM model, which has been verified by stiffness measurement of a chosen bellows. Consequently, the sensitivity analysis of bellows dimensions to axial and pressure thrust stiffness was performed to find a dimension parameter of bellows which allows to adjust the ratio between axial and pressure thrust stiffness. Sensitivity analysis shows that the stiffness ratio of metal bellows can be adjusted by two dimensional parameters - mean diameter of bellows and corrugation width.