A combined CFD/experimental methodology for erosion prediction

Abstract

The prediction of erosion damage caused by solid particles within flow lines is crucial for many industries. In most erosion modeling approaches, empirical erosion equations are commonly used to relate particle impact information to erosion magnitude. These equations are usually generated from jet impingement testing in air, since the particle impact speed and angle are assumed not to deviate from conditions in the jet. However, in slurry flows, a wide range of particle impact angles and speeds are produced on the target surface. In this work combining CFD simulation results with experimental data obtained from a normal slurry jet test, an erosion equation has been developed. In this methodology, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is used to characterize the particle impact speed, angle and frequency at specific locations on the specimen. Then, the particle impact data are related to the measured erosion depth to achieve an erosion equation from submerged testing. The erosion equation has been validated for oblique impingement configurations and it has been shown that, the equation is well suited for various test conditions and it can successfully predict the local erosion depth.Furthermore, a series of dry impinging jet tests for normal and oblique configurations has been performed. Utilizing a particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique, the slip velocity between the gas and sand particles has been determined. In order to gain a better understanding of the erosion pattern, local erosion depth has been measured using a 3D surface profilometer. The effect of gas velocity and impingement angle on erosion profile has also been investigated.