Numerical simulation and CFD-Based Correlation of Erosion Threshold Gas Velocity in Pipe Bends

This paper presents numerical simulation of sand erosion phenomena in curved ducts. The Eulerian-Lagrangian approach is used to simulate the gas-solid two-phase flow while semi-empirical model is used to calculate the erosion rate. The effect of solid phase on the gas phase is included in the model. The model prediction is validated with the available experimental data and good agreement was obtained. Based on many predictions of the maximum penetration rate, a CFD based correlation is developed to calculate the penetration rate in bends. From this equation a model to predict the erosional velocity was developed. The present results showed that the flow velocity should be decreased as the mass loading ratio, particle size, pipe diameter increase in order to avoid failure.