Development of Numerical Code to Predict Three-Dimensional Sand Erosion Phenomena
This paper presents a numerical procedure to predict a three-dimensional sand erosion phenomenon and the interaction between the flow field and the eroded surface. To simulate this phenomenon, the turbulent flow field, the particle trajectory and the amount of erosion on the eroded wall are calculated repeatedly. In computations of the flow field, compressible Navier-Stokes equations and low-Reynolds-number type k–ε turbulence model are adopted. Assuming that the concentration of suspended particle is dilute, particle-particle collision and the influence of particle motions on the flow field are neglected. The Neilson-Gilchrist erosion model is used to estimate the weight loss due to erosion. To verify the developed code, two types of 90-degree bends are computed. The results show that the present procedure can reasonably reproduce the sand erosion process and the temporal change of both the flow field and the wall surface qualitatively.