Effect of solid concentration on pressure drop characteristics in slurry pipeline using CFD

Hydraulic mucking/transport or slurry pipelining are widely used in dredging, trenching, (deep sea) mining, tunnel boring, and many other applications. Slurry pipelining during slurry shield tunneling is a classic instance of complex hydraulic mucking systems, which is characterized by the complex rheological behavior of the slurry and the inclusion of large and irregular particles. These characteristics make it difficult to estimate the pressure losses along slurry pipelines, compared to other hydraulic mucking systems. This study established a powerful method for predicting the pressure losses in long‐distance slurry pipelining of slurry shield tunneling based on computational fluid dynamics–discrete element method (CFD‐DEM)‐coupled simulations. Rheological tests were carried out to provide reliable slurry flow parameters for CFD calculations. Irregular pebbles with different sizes were digitally scanned using 3D scanning technology, and the scanned models were applied to the DEM. This method was successfully applied to a slurry shield tunnel project in Beijing, China. The mechanical properties of the fluid phase and particle phase were revealed by modeling a typical slurry pipeline. A comparison of the pressure losses along slurry pipelines was made between the proposed method and field data, indicating the validity of the established method. The simulation results indicate that when the slurry flows through the elbow, a secondary flow will be formed due to centrifugal force. Pebbles of different sizes show different motion responses under the combined action of gravity and slurry coupling force. The turbulent flow of particles will increase the frictional pressure losses in the elbow area, compared to the straight section. This work provides a valuable reference for the layout of the slurry circulation system of similar projects.

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“…Shivam Kumar et al. (2021) investigated the influence of solid content on pressure losses of coal‐water slurry in pipelines.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gupta et al (2021) modeled dense particulate slurry with a particle size of 16 and 50 mm flowing through a 90 • circular tube using the Eulerian-Eulerian approach in ANSYS Fluent. Shivam Kumar et al (2021) investigated the influence of solid content on pressure losses of coal-water slurry in pipelines.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Method for calculating pressure losses in the pipelines of slurry shield tunneling based on coupled simulation of computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method

Yang

Guo

et al. 2023

Computer aided Civil Eng

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Effect of solid concentration on pressure drop characteristics in slurry pipeline using CFD

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References 11 publications

Method for calculating pressure losses in the pipelines of slurry shield tunneling based on coupled simulation of computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method

Method for calculating pressure losses in the pipelines of slurry shield tunneling based on coupled simulation of computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method

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