Phase‐field model for erosion processes

Abstract

Solid particle erosion is one of the main damage mechanisms in high-pressure compressors of jet engines. The significant shape change of the compressor blades leads to performance degradation over lifetime. To enhance predictive capabilities of erosive wear measurements under conditions, related to high pressure compressors, were performed. Even if there is no general model to describe erosive wear, it is understood that the transfer of kinetic energy from the impacting particle into the material is a central aspect in modelling erosion. In order to predict erosive wear of general geometries, SCHRADE ET AL. [9] developed a numerical model, based mainly on experimentally determined erosion rates. The shortcoming of such modelling approaches is the limited applicability in situations deferring to the measurement conditions. In the following, we will describe a physically based damage model, closing the gap between measurement and calculating shape changes of general specimens. Based on the phase-field approach for predicting crack evolution presented by MIEHE ET AL. [6], an overall energy balance of the considered specimen is constructed. A dissipative portion describes the influence of propagating damage, while special boundary conditions provides information about the energy transfer between impinging particles and specimen.

Yardangs sculpted by erosion of heterogeneous material

“…Here, we use a phase-field formulation, which was originally developed for solidification and multiphase flows ( 51 , 52 ) but has more recently been applied to moving boundary problems in contexts such as natural convective melting or dissolution ( 53 – 59 ). Similar models have been used to study erosion of soils under steady viscous flows ( 60 – 63 ), but to our knowledge have not yet been formulated and applied to erosion of heterogeneous materials coupled to unsteady or turbulent flows. In the phase-field model, the interface is implicitly represented by a continuous parameter such that in the liquid domain and in the solid, with the interface defined as the level set .…”