A Numerical Procedure to Estimate Sand Erosion in Elbows for Annular-Mist Flow Based on Film Thickness and Droplet Diameter Prediction

摘要

A numerical procedure is proposed in this study to estimate sandparticle erosion in elbows for annular-mist flow. This procedure aims atpredicting the erosion rates for annular-mist flow conditions as well asovercoming disadvantages of current empirical or semi-empiricalmodels. First, two liquid film thickness correlations and three dropletmean diameter prediction models are examined by comparing thecalculated results with experimental data available from the literature,respectively. Second, a numerical prediction procedure is developedbased on the information of film thickness and droplet diameterverification. Three different treatments are respectively made on thegas-liquid flow field simulation and fully coupling is adopted for thesand particle tracking. Penetration rates are then calculated byintroducing a solid particle erosion correlation, based on the knowledgeof flow modeling and particle tracking. Third, four empirical or semiempiricalerosion prediction models are introduced to make acomparison with the numerical procedure by verifying predicted resultswith corresponding experimental data. It indicates that Henstock andHanratty’s film thickness correlation is more efficient and the dropletdiameter model by Kocamustafaogullari et al. is the most accurate.Among the four erosion models, the one by Salama shows the beststability and efficiency. The numerical procedure produces goodagreement between predicted erosion rates and experimental data.