Investigations of sand–water induced erosive wear of AISI 304L stainless steel pipes by pilot-scale and laboratory-scale testing

The repair costs of erosion damage caused by solid particle impingement from transporting slurries and other particle-laden liquids in pipes can be extremely high. In the absence of accurate predictive models, routine monitoring of the pipe wall thickness or the use of sacrificial coupons are required to warn of erosion damage or impending loss of containment. Apart from advantages for plant maintenance, the environmental, safety and production implications are enormous. Identification of critical pipe components susceptible to high levels of damage, and innovative ways to ameliorate the damage, has been an active topic of research for decades. Recent work at University of Nottingham and University of Southampton [Wear 250 (1–12) (2001) 771] has sought definitions of flow fields and particle dispersions and their relationship to erosive wear to facilitate the development of new designs and geometries for slurry handling equipment.