Experimental Investigation of the Location of Maximum Erosive Wear Damage in Elbows

Erosive wear damage of elbows due to solid particle impact has been recognized as a significant problem in several fluid handling industries. Solid particle erosion is a complex phenomenon due to different parameters causing material removal from the metal surface. The particle density, size, shape, velocity, concentration, impact angle, and impacting surface material properties are some of the major parameters. Among the various factors, the particle impact velocity has the greatest influence in erosion. The particle impact velocity and impact angles depend on the fluid velocity and fluid properties. The particle to particle, particle to fluid, and particle to wall interactions increase the complexity of the erosive wear behavior. In multiphase flow, the presence of different fluids and their corresponding spatial distribution of the phases, adds another dimension to the problem. Most of the previous investigations were focused on determination of erosion in terms of mass loss of the eroding surfaces without identifying the specific location of the maximum erosive wear. During this investigation, magnitude of erosion at different location of an elbow specimen was measured to determine the location of maximum erosion. Experimental investigation of erosion in single-phase and multiphase flows was conducted at different fluid velocities. Both mass loss and thickness loss measurements were taken to characterize erosion behavior and erosion patterns in an elbow. Experimental results showed different erosion behavior and location of maximum erosion damage in single-phase and multiphase flows. The locations of maximum wear due to erosion were also different for horizontal flow compared to vertical flow.

Effect of Particle Impact Velocity on Cone Crack Shape in Ceramic Material

The damage behaviors induced in a SiC by a spherical particle impact having a different material and size were investigated. Especially, the influence of the impact velocity of a particle on the cone crack shape developed was mainly discussed. The damage induced by a particle impact was different depending on the material and the size of a particle. The ring cracks on the surface of the specimen were multiplied by increasing the impact velocity of a particle. The steel particle impact produced the larger ring cracks than that of the SiC particle. In the case of the high velocity impact of the SiC particle, the radial cracks were generated due to the inelastic deformation at the impact site. In the case of the larger particle impact, the morphology of the damages developed were similar to the case of the smaller particle one, but a percussion cone was formed from the back surface of the specimen when the impact velocity exceeded a critical value. The zenithal angle of the cone cracks developed into the SiC decreased monotonically as the particle impact velocity increased. The size and material of a particle influenced more or less on the extent of the cone crack shape. An empirical equation was obtained as a function of impact velocity of the particle, based on the quasi-static zenithal angle of the cone crack. This equation will be helpful to the computational simulation of the residual strength in ceramic components damaged by the particle impact.

Particle Velocity Measurements to Improve Erosion Prediction

Previous work on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based erosion modeling indicated a strong influence of particle impact velocity on erosion. Equations to predict erosion are based on particle impacting velocity, material properties and particle characteristics such as particle shape and size. Previous studies did not measure particle velocity directly but used rotating disks or simplified computer models to determine the particle velocity. In the present work, a series of experiments have been conducted to measure the velocity of small particles (sand and aluminum) as they approach a target. A laser Doppler velocimetry system was used to measure particle velocities in a jet of air as the jet impinges a target. The angle between the target and the incoming jet is varied. Particle concentration is also controlled, allowing the effects of particle to particle interaction on average particle impact velocity to be observed. These findings are expected to improve the results of erosion testing and provide new data for improving erosion models.

Measurement of Surface Heat Transfer Due to Particle Impact

Heat transfer coefficients for a surface continuously impacted by a stream of falling particles in air and in helium were measured as functions of particle flux and particle velocity. The purpose was to provide well-controlled data to clarify the mechanisms of heat transfer in particle suspension flows. The particles were spherical glass beads with mean diameters of 0.5, 1.13, and 2.6 mm. The distribution of the particle impact flux on the surface was determined by deconvolution from the measurement of the total solid masses collected at both sides of a movable splitter plate. The particle velocity was calculated from a simple, well-established model. The experimental results showed that in air, the heat transfer coefficient increases approximately linearly with particle impact flux. At high impact fluxes, the heat transfer coefficient decreases with particle impact velocity, and at low impact fluxes, it increases with particle impact velocity. Furthermore, the heat transfer coefficient decreases drastically with the particle size. In helium gas, it was found that at low particle impact fluxes, the difference between the coefficients in helium and in air is small, whereas at high fluxes, the difference becomes large. A length scale, V/n˙dp2, was used to correlate the data. At low particle Reynolds numbers, gas-mediated heat conduction was identified as the dominant particle/surface heat transfer mechanism, whereas at high particle Reynolds numbers, induced gas convection was the dominant mechanism.