On erosion transition from the incubation stage to the accumulation stage in liquid impingement erosion

Abstract

The evolution of surface profiles during erosion caused by the continuous impact of a liquid jet was studied using a water-jet apparatus. In this study, we focused on the erosion transition from the incubation stage to the accumulation stage during liquid impingement erosion, which is important for water-jet cleaning and aging management for nuclear power plants. By computing the local erosion rate distribution and surface roughness parameters, the formations of isolated pits and asperities were investigated. The structure of erosion caused by liquid impingement was extracted by using a dynamic mode decomposition technique. The surface profile changes were primarily caused by the formation of isolated pits and asperities during the incubation stage. The roughness parameters remained unchanged during the incubation stage, with barely measurable erosion depth, whereas the skewness of the surface profile began to increase during this stage. The initial erosion with a small-scale roughness gradually evolved into a large-scale crater. Dynamic mode decomposition analysis showed the presence of a short-wavelength (mode A) surface depression during the incubation stage, followed by a long-wavelength (mode B) erosion crater caused by the merging of mode A surface depressions during the accumulation stage.