Modeling and simulation of the erosion rate in hydraulic structures

Abstract EN

Basically, the durability of hydraulic structures is heavily influenced by concrete surface resistance against mechanical wear.

Hydro-abrasion is the term used to describe deterioration of concrete surface inflicted by the continuous removal of surface material due to the effect of water-dragged solids.

This type of cumulative damage for the surface of concrete may be seen in practically all hydraulic systems, in varying degrees of severity.

Essentially, such hydro-abrasive concrete wear reduces the life time of the hydraulic structure, and as a result of the maintenance necessary, the facility's non- operation during the repair time increases costs.

The numerical simulation was carried out according to the Messa device.

Then, after an excellent agreement had been achieved with the experiments, a parametric study was implemented, where three key factors were investigated: the flow inclination angle, the density (sand concentration in water) and the rotational speed of the water.

ANSYS 19.0 was used for simulating the erosion rate.

According to the directed numerical simulation, the best flow inclination angle was at 45°, which showed lowest erosion rate.

In addition, the findings showed that, the erosion rate raised considerably as the density and rotational speed increased.