Chong Y. Wong

Fines erosion: Turbophoresis can be harmful

Enabling turbulence dispersion in a computational fluid dynamics simulation of a developing liquid–solid pipe flow leads to a focus of low-Stokes number particles around the pipe axis. This phenomenon is found to concentrate their impacts on a centrally located target surface such that a local erosion spot develops. This result is counter-intuitive as low-Stokes particles are deemed to follow the carrier average streamlines going around the body, which diminishes their probability of impact. This is nevertheless a fact reported experimentally too. Analysis of the simulations reveals that turbulence tends to drive preferentially tiny particles from areas of high to low agitation. This phenomenon is sometimes named as turbophoresis. Long straight piping systems are typical candidates for turbulent pipe flows hosting an annular zone of turbulence that tends to disperse and concentrate fines towards the axis. At the approach of a body, like a cross-flow cylinder, particles may be somewhat re-scattered away by...