CFD study of fluid flow changes with erosion

For the first time, a three dimensional mesh deformation algorithm is used to assess fluid flow changes with erosion. The validation case chosen is the Jet Im- pingement Test, which was thoroughly analysed in previous works by Hattori et al [1], Gnanavelu et al. in [2, 3], Lopez et al in [4] and Mackenzie et al in [5]. Nguyen et al showed the formation of a new stagnation area when the wear scar is deep enough by performing a three-dimensional scan of the wear scar after 30 minutes of jet impingement test in [6] . However, in the work developed here, this stagnation area was obtained solely by computational means. The procedure consisted of applying an erosion model in order to obtain a deformed geometry, which, due to the changes in the flow pattern lead to the formation of a new stagnation area. The results as well as the wear scar were compared to the results by Nguyen et al [6] showing the same trend. OpenFOAM was the software chosen for the implementation of the deforming mesh algorithm as well as re-meshing of the computational domain after deformation. Different techniques for mesh deformation and approaches to erosion modeling are discussed and a new methodology for erosion calculation including mesh defor- mation is developed. This new approach is independent of the erosion modeling approach, being applicable to both Eulerian and Lagrangian based equations for erosion calculation. Its different applications such as performance decay in machinery subjected to erosion as well as modeling of natural erosion processes are discussed.