Analysis and Optimization of Erosion Wear Tester Design Parameters

Abstract

Erosive wear is defined as material loss from surface due to impact of liquid and solid particles. This mechanism can be seen widely in the industry such in mining, valves, pipe and pump systems. Characteristics and wear amount of erosive wear is affected by different parameters like geometry, impact speed, impingement angle of the hard particles, solid-liquid rate, material hardness and toughness. To determine the effect of these parameters on erosive wear, a wear slurry tank is designed. Before the prototype design of the test tank, different geometrical parameters of the tank are analyzed using simulation software. By computational investigations, the 3-D flow in a liquid/solid (slurry) tank is established and analyzed. Aim of the mathematical analysis was to detect the effect of the tank design parameters on liquid impact velocity and distribution on the test specimen surface. According to the results, geometrical parameters of the tank such as; baffle width, propeller length, assembly position of the specimens in the slurry tank, the distance between the propeller and specimens are defined.