The article is devoted to development of a methodology for studying the phenomenon of solid particles erosion of metals during interaction of a target material with abrasive particles in a gas stream. Gas-abrasive wear of gas field equipment elements as a result of mineral impurities removal from the formation is a common problem in the oil and gas industry, which is the cause of industrial accidents, outage, production losses, and expensive repair procedures due to premature failure of most significant elements of field equipment.
While developing a comprehensive erosion model, it is very important to determine the area of applicability and empirical data corresponding to the selected model. The current paper demonstrates a methodology for performance of laboratory sand blasting tests of materials, representing a pair ‘abrasive particles – steel’, in order to determine different steels’ gas-abrasive wear resistance ability, as well as to identify the most aggressive conditions from the point of view of erosion phenomenon. Sand blasting tests of materials were performed with the use of a special laboratory equipment installation, consisting mainly of an ejector tube for directing the atmospheric air flow containing mineral impurities, which is installed right in front of the rigidly fixed steel sample. The main goal of the experiments was to determine the dependences of the target material mass loss on the abrasive particles velocity magnitudes, the size of the particles, impact angle, and particles parcel mass. The design of the fastening of the target made it possible to install the sample at arbitrary angles to the air flow direction. Quartz sand was used as the material of abrasive particles. To capture the particle velocity, high-speed video shooting technology was used. According to the obtained data representing a range of dependences, basic empirical parameters such as a material constant and a velocity exponent were identified, and considered to be necessary for further mathematical modeling.
Experimental data obtained from the laboratory sand blasting tests will be used as input data for further numerical modelling of gas field equipment elements based on a new methodology for predicting of erosion rate of a range of field equipment and gas gathering pipeline system elements.
References
1. Presnyakov A.Yu., Khakimov A.M., Voloshin A.I. et al., Justification of technologies selected to protect difficult production wells (In Russ.), Ekspozitsiya Neft' Gaz, 2017, no. 7(60), pp. 45–47.
2. Kleis I., Kulu P., Solid particle erosion: Occurrence, prediction and control, London: Springer-Verlag London Limited, 2008, 206 p.
3. Aperador W., Caballero-Gómez J., Delgado A., Erosion corrosion evaluation of CrN/AlN multilayer coatings, by varying the velocity and impact angle of the particle, Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., 2013, V. 8, pp. 6709–6721.
4. Naza M.Y., Ismailb N.I., Sulaimana S.A., Shukrullahc S., Erodent impact angle and velocity effects on surface morphology of mild steel, Procedia Engineering, 2016, V. 148, pp. 896–901.
5. Malik J., Toor I.H., Ahmed W.H. et al., Investigations on the corrosion-enhanced erosion behavior of carbon steel AISI 1020, Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., 2014, V. 9, pp. 6765–6780.
6. Karasik I.I., Metody tribologicheskikh ispytaniy v natsional'nykh standartakh stran mira (Tribological test methods in national standards): edited by Kershenbaum V.S., Moscow: Publ. of Nauka i tekhnika Centre, 1993, 328 p.
7. Nguyen V.B., Nguyen Q.B., Zhang Y.W. et al., Effect of particle size on erosion characteristics, Wear, 2016, V. 348–349, pp. 126–137, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.wear.2015.12.003
8. Naim M., Bahadur S., Work hardening in erosion due to single-particle impacts, Wear, 1984, V. 98, pp. 15–26.
9. Divakar M., Agarwal V.K., Singh S.N., Effect of the material surface hardness on the erosion of AISI316, Wear, 2005, V. 259, pp. 110–117.
10. Oka Y.I., Yoshida T., Practical estimation of erosion damage caused by solid particle impact, Part 2: Mechanical properties of materials directly associated with erosion damage, Wear, 2005, V. 259, pp. 102–109.
11. Finnie I., Stevick G.R., Ridgely J.R., The influence of impingement angle on the erosion of ductile metals by angular abrasive particles, Wear, 1992, V. 152, pp. 91–98.
12. Felten F.N., Numerical prediction of solid particle erosion for elbows mounted in series, ASME-FEDSM2014–21172.
13. Ukpai J.I., Erosion-corrosion characterisation for pipeline materials using combined acoustic emission and electrochemical monitoring: PhD thesis, The University of Leeds, 2014, 296 p.
