Title: Parametric CFD studies on erosion in 3D double elbow

Authors: Changjun Li; Qian Huang; Shikui Yan; Ting Huang

Addresses: School of Petroleum Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Xindu Avenue No. 8, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China; CNPC Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Storage and Transportation, Southwest Petroleum University, Xindu Avenue No. 8, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China ' School of Petroleum Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Xindu Avenue No. 8, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China ' School of Petroleum Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Xindu Avenue No. 8, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China ' School of Petroleum Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Xindu Avenue No. 8, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China

Abstract: Elbow as an integral part of natural gas piping systems, is vulnerable in erosive environments. This paper presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based erosion prediction model and its application to 3D double elbow. The salient features of this methodology include Eulerian continuous phase flow field generation through steady simulation using RNG turbulence model, and evaluation of particle distribution behaviour through discrete phase modelling using particle injection technique. Effects of gas velocity, sand mass flow, particle diameter, pipe diameter, elbow radius, angle of bend and bend orientation on the erosion rate in the double elbow are examined. The simulation results show that slow gas velocity, slow particle mass flow rate, small particle diameter, large pipe diameter, and high elbow radius bring about long service life for the double elbow.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; parametric CFD; solid particle; erosion prediction; 3D double elbow; gas-solid flow; numerical simulation; natural gas piping; service life; RNG turbulence modelling; particle distribution; discrete phase modelling; particle injection; gas velocity; sand mass flow; particle diameter; pipe diameter; elbow radius; bend angle; bend orientation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESMS.2016.079412

International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation, 2016 Vol.8 No.4, pp.264 - 272

Received: 27 May 2015
Accepted: 06 Aug 2015
Published online: 28 Sep 2016 *

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