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Published on February 10, 2017 by

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Mohammad Elyyan 
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Fluid Dynamics
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Tips and Tricks 

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ANSYS CFD 
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Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
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Erosion Modeling

Better Particle Erosion Fluid Dynamics Modeling in

ANSYS Fluent 18
ANSYS Fluent 18 has advanced erosion fluid dynamics modeling by adding three industry-standard
models to the previous default model.

Erosion wear is the loss of material due to repeated impact of solid particles on a surface and
causes major economic losses across diverse industries such as oil and gas, hydraulic
transportation, and chemical processes. Erosion severely damages flow passages, valves and pipe
fittings, leading to higher replacement costs as well as the loss of valuable production time. For
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example, some oil and gas fittings can
fail after just 30 minutes of operation due
to high erosion rates! Engineers need to
quickly evaluate the erosion on dozens
of design variations to find ways of
stretching the part’s lifespan in order to
reduce costs and maximize process up-
time.

Erosion is a mechanical process that

happens due to the repeated impact of
solid particles on pipe surface. If the
surface material is ductile, repeated
particle impacts will result in the
formation of craters and platelets; craters will grow with subsequent particle impact and eventually
platelets are easily removed into the flow, Figure 1-a. Brittle material on the other hand, will grow
lateral and radial cracks under sand particle impact, which will grow and eventually form small
pieces that are removed by continuous solid particle impingement, Figure 1-b.

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Erosion is a complex phenomenon that depends on many parameters. Particle parameters can
include the following:

Flow parameters, on the other hand, have a stronger effect on erosion as it determines particle
concentration, particle impact angle, and impact velocity. Other parameters affecting erosion are
properties of target surface, i.e. surface hardness and multiphase effects[1].

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Progress in understanding the erosion due to solid particles has been achieved by the use of
computational fluid dynamics (CFD). CFD allows the accurate modeling of fluid flow and particle
trajectory through pipelines and bends. Once the impact velocity and angle of the particles colliding
against the surface are calculated, empirical correlations to quantify the erosion rate can be
implemented.

Many empirical erosion correlations have been published in the literature. All include the
impingement angle, impact velocity, particle diameter, particle mass, and collision frequency
plugged into it. A typical erosion model has the following general form (default erosion fluid
dynamics model in ANSYS Fluent)

The particle impact angle, impact velocity and mass flow rate are calculated directly using CFD.
Nevertheless, the impact angle function, particle diameter function, and velocity exponent have to
be supplemented as input to the solver.

Better Particle Erosion Fluid Dynamics Modeling

In addition to the default, three industry accepted erosion correlations have been added to ANSYS
Fluent in ANSYS 18 to give you more flexibility: Finnie [2], Oka [3], and McLaury[4] Figure 2.
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The
Finnie
erosion model is more suited for ductile materials, where the erosion varies with the impact angle
and velocity.
The
Oka
model provides a more realist correlation by including the effect of wall material hardness.
The
McLaury
erosion model was developed to predict the erosion rate of solid particles in water; it has been
primarily used in slurry flows.

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 Erosion Models Available in ANSYS Fluent

Just like turbulence modeling, there is no one size fits all erosion model. Each erosion model has
been empirically calibrated for a certain flow scenario, so one should consider the relevant flow
conditions for each model before using any erosion model.

How to Perform Erosion Fluid Dynamics Modeling in ANSYS

Fluent
Erosion rate is usually calculated after the flow field has been established in the domain. Actually,
you can think of it as a post-processing step for CFD analysis. So, erosion can be predicted in low
particle loading scenarios, particle volume loading <10%, using the following steps:

Solve and converge your CFD model, save case and data
Enable “Discrete Particle Model” from the model tree, and activate the Erosion/Accretion model
from the “Physical Models” tab, Figure 3.

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 Discrete Particulate Model (DPM) Panel in ANSYS Fluent

Define particle injections in the model; set the particle diameter, injection speed and flow rate.
Setup the particle normal and tangential reflection coefficients in the wall B.C. panel for the walls
of interest, Figure 4.

Particle Reflection Coefficients: a) Normal

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 Particle Reflection Coefficients: b) Tangential

Select the appropriate erosion model in the wall B.C. panel, under the DPM tab. Four models are
available: Generic Fluent , Finnie, McLaury, and Oka. Model parameters can be adjusted or
parameterized if needed.
Run the flow for one iteration, this will be enough to release particles and calculate erosion rate
on participating surface.
Display contours for the erosion rate at walls of interest. Different erosion models can be plotted
at the same wall for comparison, Figure 5.

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(a) Contour Panel

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(b) Erosion Rate Contour—Oka Erosion Model

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 (c ) Erosion Rate Surface Contours—McLaury Erosion
Model

Contour Plot of DPM Erosion Rate in ANSYS Fluent

Watch the Webinar

Learn more about what ANSYS 18 is delivering for fluids including the accuracy and advanced
modeling in our
highlights page
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References:
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 A. Hamed and W. Tabakoff, “Erosion and Deposition in Turbomachinery.” Journal of Propulsion
and Power, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 350-360, 2006.
I. Finnie, “Erosion of Surfaces by Solid Particles.” WEAR, Vol. 3, pp. 87-103, 1960.
Y.I. Oka and T. Yoshida, “Practical Estimation of Erosion Damage Caused by Solid Particle
Impact. Part 2: Mechanical Properties of Materials Directly Associated with Erosion Damage.”
Wear, Vol. 259, pp. 102-109, 2005.
B. S. McLaury et al. "Modeling erosion in chokes". Proceeding of ASME Fluids Eng. Summer
Meeting. San Diego, California. 1996.

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