Numerical simulation of air-solid erosion in elbow with novel arc-shaped diversion erosion-inhibiting plate structure

The erosion-induced failure of elbows commonly occurs in the pipeline transport industry. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method was adopted to study the erosion of air-solid elbows. The results show that when the working conditions in the air-solid elbow are changed, there are three types of erosion morphologies: the concentrated-exit type, transition type, and V type; the erosion morphology is mainly related to the trajectory of the particles. An arc-shaped diversion erosion-inhibiting plate structure (ASDEIPS) is proposed to reduce the erosion rate for elbows with transition type or V type erosion morphologies by up to 41%. Another advantage of the ASDEIPS is its ability to improve the flow field of the elbow under any working condition and to reduce the pressure drop, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulence dissipation rate of the elbow. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that the erosion morphology of air-solid elbows is related to the trajectory of particles, and a new structure was proposed to reduce the erosion rate. This structure not only helps to improve the flow field of elbows but also reduces pressure drop, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulence dissipation rate.