Erosion wear characterisation of an open Ductile Iron butterfly valve subjected to Aluminium Oxide particle slurry flow
Prashan Perera, Kevin Hayward, Ferdinando Guzzomi, Ana Vafadar
Abstract
This study attempts to identify the most erosion-sensitive valve locations due to aluminium oxide particle impingement under various pressure drops and valve closing angles, utilising the Ansys discrete phase model (DPM). Additionally, this research explores the feasibility of integrating laser scanning technology into the fields of tribology and particle erosion analysis. The results indicate higher erosion damage on the top valve surface due to the direct effects of particle velocity and impingement angles compared to the underside of the valve, where particle trajectories are highly affected by turbulence. Moreover, smaller closing angles proved to be detrimental to valve service life, due to accelerated wear at both the leading and trailing edges, which are identified as the most vulnerable locations.