Experimental and CFD investigation of flow behavior and sand erosion pattern in a horizontal pipe bend under annular flow--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

Peng, W., Ma, L., Wang, P., Cao, X., Xu, K., & Miao, Y. (2023). Experimental and CFD investigation of flow behavior and sand erosion pattern in a horizontal pipe bend under annular flow. Particuology, 75, 11-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2022.06.003

Experimental and CFD investigation of flow behavior and sand erosion pattern in a horizontal pipe bend under annular flow

Wenshan Peng ^a *, Li Ma ^a, Ping Wang ^b, Xuewen Cao ^c *, Kun Xu ^d, Yichun Miao ^a

a State Key Laboratory for Marine Corrosion and Protection, Luoyang Ship Material Research Institute (LSMRI), Qingdao, 266237, China
b School of Architecture and Engineering, Qingdao Binhai University, Qingdao, 266555, China
c College of Pipeline and Civil Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China
d Huizhou Xingsheng Petrochemical Storage Co., Ltd., Huizhou, 516081, China

10.1016/j.partic.2022.06.003

Volume 75, April 2023, Pages 11-25

Received 27 February 2022, Revised 13 May 2022, Accepted 2 June 2022, Available online 18 June 2022, Version of Record 6 July 2022.

E-mail: pengwenshan1386@126.com; caoxw@upc.edu.cn

Highlights

• A detachable test elbow was designed to investigate the erosion pattern.

• A CFD-based method for erosion calculation was proposed for annular flow.

• The most severe eroded area of the pipe bend was determined.

• The CFD-predicted elliptical erosion scar on the elbow was deeply analyzed.

Abstract

The internal erosion of pipelines in oil and gas storage and transportation engineering is highly risky. High gas velocity of annular flow entrained sand will cause damage to the pipelines, and may further result in thinning of the wall. If this damage lasts for a long time, it may cause pipeline leakage and cause huge economic losses and environmental problems. In this research, an experimental device for studying multiphase flow erosion is designed, including an erosion loop and an experimental elbow that can test the erosion rate. The annular flow state and pipe wall erosion morphology can also be tested by the device. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is combined with the experiment to further study the annular flow erosion mechanism in the pipeline. The relationship between gas-liquid-solid distribution and erosion profile was studied. The results show that the most eroded region occurs between 22.5° and 45° in the axial angle direction and between 90° and 135° in the circumferential angle direction of the elbow. The pits and deep scratches form on the surface of the sample after the sand collision.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Sand erosion; Multiphase flow; Elbow; Experiment; CFD numerical Simulation

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