This paper summarises a study which was conducted for Samarco Mineragao S.A. to demonstrate different applications of predictive modelling to improve the operation and maintenance of Samarco's first pipeline, and also to showcase several advantages of using the proposed methodology and model in designing future slurry pipelines and transportation systems. A comprehensive analysis has been performed to identify the possible causes of internal metal wear inside an iron-ore slurry pipeline. This study included an overall review of the production and pipeline operational data, assessing the risk of solids deposition based on different dominant slurry flow regimes andfrictional head-loss estimation. As the first step of a series of investigations, the present study focused on: 1) investigating the transportation and deposition ofparticulates/solids for the non-Newtonian iron-ore slurry flow at high volumetric concentrations; 2) estimating the maximum size of the particles which can be safely transported without causing severe deposition or forming a significant sediment layer at different flow rates; and 3) estimating the pressure drop for different flow rates, particle sizes and inclination angles.
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