Solid particle erosion in the sudden contraction of raw water pipeline

Abstract

The steady 3-D raw water turbulent flow is numerically investigated. This flow is formed of solid silica sand (quartz) carried by water in stainless steel pipe. The flow in a straight pipe and flow in a pipe with a sudden contraction are analyzed using a two-way coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach. Erosion rate is estimated by Oka erosion model combined with the constant coefficient of restitution. The effect of solid particles mass flow rate, inlet velocity, particle diameter, internal pipe diameter, orientation, contraction coefficient, and wall pipe contraction angle on erosion rate are examined. The predicted erosion is distributed homogenously for straight pipe, while the step wall area of the contraction is the most eroded part. The erosion rate increases with the increase of solid particles diameter, flow rate, inlet velocity, and decreasing pipe diameter. Iit is found that the erosion is limited till the particle diameter reaches 500 µm then it starts to increase. The erosion rate increases with decreasing contraction coefficient and step wall angle. When the step wall angle decreased to 300, the erosion rate is reduced by 30 times that for 900. So, decreasing step wall angle can be considered as a geometrical solution to reduce erosion rate.