Effect of bend radius on magnitude and location of erosion in s-bend

Abstract

Solid particle erosion is a mechanical process that removes material by the impact of solid particles entrained in the flow. Erosion is a leading cause of failure of oil and gas pipelines and fittings in fluid handling industries. Different approaches have been used to control or minimize damage caused by erosion in particulated gas-solid or liquid-solid flows. S-bend geometry is widely used in different fluid handling equipment that may be susceptible to erosion damage. The results of a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation of diluted gas-solid and liquid-solid flows in an S-bend are presented in this paper. In addition to particle impact velocity, the bend radius may have significant influence on the magnitude and the location of erosion. CFD analysis was performed at three different air velocities (15.24 m/s-45.72 m/s) and three different water velocities (0.1 m/s-10 m/s) with entrained solid particles. The particle sizes used in the analysis range between 50 and 300 microns. Maximum erosion was observed in water with 10 m/s, 250-micron particle size, and a ratio of 3.5. The location of maximum erosion was observed in water with 10 m/s, 300-micron particle size, and a ratio of 3.5. Comparison of CFD results with available literature data showed reasonable and good agreement.