A Computational Phase‐Field Framework for Degradation Screening With Contact‐Aware Leakage Post‐Processing in Aerospace Hydraulic Elastomer Seals

ABSTRACT This study presents a two‐dimensional phase‐field screening framework for a nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) hydraulic seal in synthetic‐hydrocarbon fluid. It couples mechanics, Fickian uptake, Arrhenius aging, fatigue, and AT2‐regularized degradation. The screening index is the maximum of the 99th percentiles of the degradation phase‐field, aging, and fatigue states, excluding the prescribed fluid state and isolated corner maxima. Baseline medium‐to‐fine changes in and were 0.00275% and 0.00621%. Across –, the index range was 0.001883% whereas decreased by 46%, an insensitivity the phase field does not share. Across nine L9 cases, index ranges were 0.216274 (frequency), 0.154835 (pressure), and 0.081996 (temperature). A boundary‐treatment change moved two flow proxies by factors of 30.75 and approximately 3041 with no connected path, so contact resolution dominates leakage screening. With prescribed coupling parameters, small‐strain kinematics, and no independent phase‐field benchmark or experimental validation, the outputs are within‐study comparisons, not validated life or leakage predictions.