CFD simulation of erosion rates in Electrical Submersible Pumps.

摘要

Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) is an efficient and useful artificial lift method for lifting fluids to the surface. In oil production, sand is an inevitable part which causes ESPs to fail regarding to erosion of the equipment. Therefore, erosion simulation in ESP pump would be a great help for maintenance and life span of the system. In the present work, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of erosion in an impeller is performed in order to give a better understanding. Meshing and CFD simulations are done using ANSYS Fluent software. Different scenarios are considered to find the effect of various parameters on the erosion rate. The pump is simulated at two frequencies as 50 and 60 Hertz. The model is based on Eulerian-Eulerian approach where the primary and secondary phases are oil and sand respectively. Also, CFD simulations of different boundary conditions, sand sizes and densities are presented to predict the erosion rate.