Experimental study of particle erosion in a cavity with a height difference between its walls

Abstract

Experiments were carried out to analyze the effects of cavity height on cavity erosion under gas–solid flow. Spatial distributions of particles and erosion rates were documented for cavities with a variable difference in their leading and aft wall heights in experiments using two particle sizes. Results showed that the number of particles found inside the cavity decreased dramatically, as the difference in cavity wall height increased. Besides, the micro-erosion appearance on the top area of the aft wall flattened out with the increase of height difference (h). The erosion curves also indicated that the erosion rate on the top area of the aft wall for the cases of h≠0 is larger than that on the same y position for the case of h=0. Meanwhile, the maximum erosion rate is more serious for larger particle. The experiment also indicated that increasing the height difference between cavity walls reduced erosion of the aft wall. And the maximum erosion rate was markedly reduced, when the height difference between cavity walls was altered from 0 to about 0.2H.