Numerical and experimental investigation of the relative erosion severity between plugged tees and elbows in dilute gas/solid two-phase flow

Elbows, that are integral part of piping systems, are vulnerable in erosive environments. Plugged tees are used in industrial practice to replace elbows when erosion is expected. However, it remains unclear that plugged tees reduce erosion. Thus, this paper investigates the relative erosion severity between plugged tees and elbows for dilute gas/solid two-phase flow where the pressure is close to the atmospheric pressure. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based erosion prediction model was applied to predict the relative erosion severity. Experimental tests were conducted to verify the simulation results obtained for gas/sand flows. The ratio of erosion at the end of the plugged section to that in an elbow was found to approach a constant value for a range of conditions. A correlation is presented that provides the ratio of erosion of the outer downstream corner of the plugged tee to that in an elbow. The significant effect of sand loading on the relative erosion severity was discussed. The influence of phase density (e.g. water/sand flow) was preliminary explored.