Computational Evolution of Flow Characterstics and Erosion Wear of Pipeline and Bend

Abstract

Transportation through slurry pipeline bend is a complex process and it involves the optimization of pressure drop & erosion wear. The bottom ash for the present investigation was collected from the Guru Gobind Singh thermal power plant, Ropar. Physical properties like specific gravity, particle size distribution (PSD), pH value & static settling characteristics of bottom ash are determined by various bench scale tests Rheological behaviour of bottom ash is measured by using rheometer. The flow characteristics of the pipe bend evaluated experimentally and numerically by using the computational dynamic code FLUET 6.3. Modeling of slurry pipeline is performed with the help of CFD code GAMBIT. The pressure drop in pipeline with 900 bend calculated with water and at different concentrations of bottom ash 10% and 20% using CFD code FLUENT6.3. The result indicates that the pressure is more on the outer side of the curvature as compared to the inner side of the bend. This can be attributed to the change in the rheological characteristics of the slurries with efflux concentration, and the density and viscosity of the slurries also increase with increase in the efflux concentration. The pressure drop across the bend at a given flow velocity increases with increasing slurry concentrations of bottom ash. At higher concentration, there is significant increase in pressure drop even at low velocities, which could be attributed to increase in viscosity of the slurry.