Abstract: In order to study the influence of geometrical parameters of packer element on its sealing function, ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) is applied to program the contact finite element. By studying the relationship between geometrical parameters of packer element and its peak contact pressure and optimization of parametric variables, the results show that the total thickness of packer element has greater influence on its sealing function than the subthickness does. There is an optimum scheme for the height of packer element which influences the sealing function. The choice of contact angle between packer element and rings should be careful. Comparing to original plan, the optimum solutions shows that height and contact angle decrease 37.5%, 8.9% respectively, and peak contact pressure increases 13.38% by optimizing the height and contact angle.

Key words: packer element, parameter, contact finite element, optimization, peak contact pressure