Effect of multiple factors on sediment erosion characteristics of hydro turbine materials

Abstract

Hydraulic turbines on sediment-laden rivers suffer from cavitation-silt erosion. This study conducted cavitation-silt erosion tests on three materials (06Cr16Ni5Mo, Q355B, 06Cr20Ni11) with different sediment concentrations and impact velocities using a rotating disk facility, and used a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to observe the cavitation-silt erosion characteristics of the materials. The results show that the cumulative weight loss of all materials continuously increases with the sediment concentration and impact velocity rises. The weight loss of 06Cr16Ni5Mo is the lowest, and 06Cr20Ni11 is the highest. As the impact velocity rises, the cumulative weight loss increases exponentially. As the sediment concentration rises, there are obvious scour marks and fatigue spalling on the material surface. As the impact velocity rises, the size and depth of micro-cutting marks and cavitation pits increases. Due to the lower surface hardness of 06Cr20Ni11, the deep platelet pits appear on the material surface.