Abstract

The present paper focuses on the issue of erosion due to fluid flow laden with nano- and microparticles. We investigated the case of a pipe elbow using theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. For the case when the particles were large, that is, of micrometre size, we observed the expected behaviour in which the erosion rate was greater with increasing particle diameter. The same was seen for flow velocity, and higher velocities promoted the erosion process. For small particles, however, the erosion rate increased with decreasing particle size. This was explained by the formation of secondary flows in the elbow that centrifuged the particles towards the walls. For very small particles, the erosion rate decreased again, i.e. the particle distribution towards the wall was insufficient to erode the pipe wall due to the particles low mass.

Highlights

  • Erosion of pipelines due to the transportation of very fine particles in fluids occurs in different branches of industry

  • If we compare small and larger particles, where D1/D2 is of the order 10−2, i.e. as in the analysis above, we find that the collision rate is less than 104 for the smallest particles

  • Our results suggest that there are two phenomena that promote the erosion at higher velocities - (i) the inherent increase in the erosion rate when single particles collide with high velocity, and (ii) the increase in the collision rate

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Summary

Introduction

Erosion of pipelines due to the transportation of very fine particles in fluids occurs in different branches of industry. A typical example is the petroleum industry where sand particles move through the system during oil and gas production. Very large particles are filtered by various techniques, e.g. sand screens, while much smaller particles move farther along in the system (see [1]). These particles can lead to pipeline wear and to subsequent damage. The issue of particle erosion on pipes has been intensively researched in the scientific literature. Several different physical phenomena occur in such geometries, and this makes the process quite complex and interesting

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