Wear of rocks by water flow

The paper summarises recent results obtained from wear and erosion tests performed on rocks and cementitious composites. A definition of relevant wear types is given. Experimental facilities, failure modes, threshold conditions, parameter influence, and resistance parameters are discussed for jet fluid erosion, hydro-abrasive erosion, drop impact erosion, and cavitation erosion. No single failure mode determines the response of the materials to any of the investigated wear types. The individual failure mode depends on certain process parameters, on material structure, and in some cases on the testing facilities. Threshold conditions for failure introduction are discussed. All wear types are characterised by selective material removal. It seems that non-linear fracture effects (such as tension-softening) play a notable role in certain impact situations. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.