Computational analysis on disposal of coal slurry at high solid concentrations through slurry pipeline

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe present study is conducted to investigate the flow characteristics of coal–water slurry having high solid concentrations in slurry pipeline using commercial computational fluid dynamics. An Euler–Lagrange multiphase approach is used to simulate the flow of coal–water slurry in 50, 100, and 150 mm diameter straight pipelines. The simulations are carried out using various turbulence models and the results obtained are compared with the experimental results presented in the literature. It is found that the shear stress transport (SST) k–ω turbulence model shows good agreement in comparison to other turbulence models. The SST k–ω turbulent scheme is used to solve the governing equations of two-phase model. Simulations are carried out for coal slurry velocity range 2–5 m/s. Numerical simulation results show that the pressure drop in pipeline increases non-linearly with increase in velocity, solid concentration, and particle size. Extensive simulation is also carried out to estimate the effect of pipe diameter on the pressure drop characteristics through pipeline. It is observed that the pressure drop decreases with the increase in pipe diameter. It is found that the particle sizes have significant influence on pressure drop, solid concentrations, and velocity distributions during the flow of coal–water slurry in a pipeline.