Numerical simulation of the erosion in the 90° elbow

Abstract

In the process of natural gas transportation, cement production and coal-fired power, the gas-solid two-phase flow exists widely in pipelines. The existence of solid particles may cause the erosion of the pipeline, especially in the elbow of the pipeline. Equations used to predict erosion rate are usually obtained from well-controlled experimental tests for solid particles carried in a gas or liquid flow. The particle impact speed and impact angle affect the erosion process and are two major parameters in most erosion equations. In this paper, the erosion of 90° elbow was studied by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Discrete Particle Model (DPM) and erosion equations. The maximum erosion rate and the erosion position were reported. Particle size does not influence the erosion rate when particle size is bigger than a certain degree. When the mass ratio of sand loading to fluid is less than 1, erosion ratio is proportional to the loading mass. The erosion rate is lower for larger radius elbow, and the erosion rate is greatly declined by using the plugged tee instead of an elbow.