An effective modeling tool for studying erosion

Abstract

Visual erosion examples based on that occurred in the minerals and oil and gas industries are illustrated by a paint modeling technique. The visual paint patterns were used to illustrate erosion damage “hot spots”. This provided an insight into the underlining fluid dynamics process involved with erosion damages. This insight allows design changes to be made to reduce erosion, illustrated by examples in this paper. The patterns of erosion damages on paints were found to be similar to that occurred with metal materials. This was supported by a similarity in measured erosion angular erosion distribution with cylindrical samples. Error analysis suggested that spatial variations in velocity across a material surface accounted for most of the error in the paint modeling technique. Due to its low cost and rapidity, the technique is particularly suitable for developing and optimizing the design of flow geometries to reduce erosion, without the need to change the materials used.