CFD Modeling and Experimental Observations of Changing Surface Profiles Caused by Solid-Particle Erosion

Abstract

Traditional erosion modeling on oil and gas equipment frequently assumes a fixed erosion rate and unchanging surface profile throughout the erosion-exposure period. This approach does not account for the constantly changing surface and changes in the fluid flow, and therefore may lead to unquantified uncertainties in the prediction of equipment life. The literature presents limited experimental data of generic configurations in this topic. This paper addresses this gap by simultaneously investigating three generic configurations often encountered in oil and gas facilities. These configurations are a cylindrical rod, a hole in a flat plate, and a pipe cavity. Various eroded profiles of the physical configurations will be compared with traditional computational-fluiddynamics (CFD) modeling with an unchanging model surface.To validate this traditional assumption, the authors have used a modeling approach with multilayer paint modeling and geometry surface profiling of the aforementioned configurations exposed to a flow field with ambient air suspended with dilute solid particles.

Slurry erosion of surface imperfections in pipeline systems

“…This normalised erosion rate is called the geometric factor, or GF. Values of GF have been previously reported for pipe annular cavities and a hole in a bluff plate [11], so the current work contributes to that knowledge.…”

“…However, the CFD simulations for that case assumed a semi-circular weld bead profile and did not account for the natural geometric variations present in a typical weld bead. This paper examines two configurations of imperfections, namely weld beads and circular cavities using aluminium (Al6061-T6) as the target material, whose erosion characteristics have been reported elsewhere [11]. For the weld bead study, the surface erosion outcome of both a regular weld bead and an irregular weld bead is studied.…”

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling in Respiratory Airways Obstruction: <i>Current Applications and Prospects</i>

“…CFD technique is a proven powerful and cost effective tool relevant in the study of complex flow patterns. It possesses the capability of giving detailed information in physical models that aid prediction of airflow behavior in real-life scenarios [3][4][5]. Due to its versatility, the application of CFD has gained wide range of use in many engineering fields such as; Biological Engineering [6], Environmental Engineering [7], and has been established as relevant tool in the field of Medicine [8].…”

Study of Impact Erosion of Oil and Gas Flowlines with Micro-sized Sand Particles

“…According to Islam and Farhat [4], the cost of erosion attack to the global oil and gas industry has drawn significant attention amongst researchers in recent years. In fact, the studies conducted by Shirazi [5] and Wong et al [6] had documented about the sand erosion in facilities and pipe systems for multiphase media. Islam and Farhat [4], discovered that higher particle velocity leads to more material removal.…”