Experimental Study of Erosion Wear in a Centrifugal Slurry Pump Using Coriolis Wear Test Rig

The erosion wear in slurry pumps has been identified as a major problem during transportation of slurry as it affects the equipment performance and reduces its reliability and operation life. To simulate the erosion mechanism in slurry equipments mainly in casing and impeller, the Coriolis erosion test rig on the lines proposed by Pagalthivarthi and Helmly (1992) has been suitably modified and fabricated to undertake a comprehensive study on different materials. In the present experimental study, systematic experiments have been conducted on brass and mild steel specimen to establish the effect of solid particle size, solid concentration and rotational speed on wear. Slurries of fly ash (FA) and mixtures of fly ash (FA) and bottom ash (BA) in the ratio 4: 1 and 3: 2 have been used at different concentrations in the range of 20 to 65% (by weight). The test results obtained in terms of weight loss have shown that wear has a strong dependence on size of the solid particles and rotational speed where as its variation with solid concentration is close to linear.