Numerical study of wall erosion using energy approach for the flow of dense slurry in 90° horizontal pipe bend

Erosion of bends is common in pipelines transporting slurry. The present study implements erosion models based on the energy approach in predicting erosion of bends subject to moderate-to-high solids concentration. Eulerian-Eulerian numerical modeling of the flow of settling slurries in 90 degrees horizontal pipe bend is performed to examine erosion wear characteristics for various flow/geometry conditions. The solid-liquid flow field is validated with experimental results of bend pressure drop and solids distribution. The erosion model could predict erosion at the bend walls in good agreement with experimental data and qualitatively reasonably with the CFD-DEM data. Interesting results are revealed in the parametric studies with maximum erosion rate and its location near/at the bend exit for the range of operating conditions in this study. It is further observed that erosion wear is reduced when the slurry is transported at higher solids efflux concentration with velocities close to the deposition (or critical) velocity.

Automated summary

This study implements erosion models based on the energy approach to predict erosion of bends in pipelines transporting slurry with moderate-to-high solids concentration. Numerical modeling and experimental validation show that the erosion model accurately predicts erosion at the bend walls and that erosion wear is reduced when slurry is transported at higher solids efflux concentration with velocities close to the deposition (or critical) velocity.