Abstract
A numerical simulation has been conducted to investigate flow erosion and pipe deformation of elbow in gas-solid two-phase flow. The motion of the continuous fluid phase is captured based on calculating three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, while the kinematics and trajectory of the discrete particles are evaluated by discrete phase model (DPM), and a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) computational model is adopted to calculate the pipe deformation. The effects of inlet velocity, pipe diameter, and the ratio of curvature and diameter on flow feature, erosion rate, and deformation of elbow are analyzed based on a series of numerical simulations. The numerical results show that flow field, erosion rate, and deformation of elbow are all sensitive to the structural changes and inlet condition changes. Higher inlet rate, smaller curvature diameter ratio, or smaller pipe diameter leads to greater deformation, while slower inlet rate, larger curvature diameter ratio, and larger pipe diameter can weaken flow erosion.
Highlights
Erosion wear, resulting in mass loss from the inner wall of pipe, wall thinning, and even pipe break, is an essential degradation mechanism for industrial piping [1]
Flow erosion and pipe deformation both are present in elbows in gassolid flow
Gas seemed as continuous fluid phase evaluated by a Navier-Stokes solver, and solid particles are treated as spherical particles added into continuous phase flow field as discrete phase, which are captured by discrete phase model (DPM)
Summary
Erosion wear, resulting in mass loss from the inner wall of pipe, wall thinning, and even pipe break, is an essential degradation mechanism for industrial piping [1]. High-speed gas-particle flow usually causes very serious erosion failure of bend pipes in many industrial practices, such as pneumatic conveying of powders and sand discharge pipe in gas drilling, sand blasting, and so forth. Bends are known to be responsible for dramatic change in flow field, high pressure loss, and secondary flow, which inevitably induce vibration and deformation [2]. Particles continuously impinging on pipe wall can cause pipe vibration and deformation. Flow erosion and pipe deformation both are present in elbows in gassolid flow. Under the combined action of flow erosion and pipe deformation, elbows are undoubtedly vulnerable and fail which threaten the piping system reliability and personal safety
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