Numerical simulation of sand erosion in Venturi tube under different flow characteristics and sand content

Abstract

Abstract In the solid-liquid two-phase flow, there is flow erosion of solid relative to the surrounding wall or other components, which has attracted the attention of many scholars. Wherever flows are involved, erosion tends to be a problem. Especially in rivers with large sediment content, hydraulic machinery including pumps, water turbines, reversible water pump turbines and pipelines in a long time of flow erosion, it is easy to cause the material damage of the flow parts, affect the head and efficiency to a certain extent, may also lead to the increase of the gap between the flow parts resulting in noise and other hazards. However, in different flow conditions, the location of erosion is different, which makes it difficult to prevent erosion. As a common measuring tool, Venturi tube has a certain representative geometric shape. The erosion prediction of Venturi tube by computational fluid dynamics can provide a certain reference for other structures. In this study, the solid-liquid two-phase flow analysis method based on CFD was used to analyze the flow erosion under different velocity and sediment content. Through numerical simulation, it is found that the erosion problem in Venturi tube is closely related to its flow characteristics.