Product category:
Process Monitoring and Optimisation
News Release from: Advantage CFD | Subject: Computational fluid dynamics
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 12 October 2005
CFD analysis of erosion in process
engineering
Competitiveness in most industry sectors depends on rapid and continuous design improvements to products or processes: computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can provide a way forward, for fluid flows
Competitiveness in most industry sectors depends on rapid and continuous design improvements to products or processes And as market pressure grows, more and more companies are discovering that traditional investigative methods, which often include a large slice of trial-and-error, are too slow and produce only limited data
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 8 Nov 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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For a diversity of applications, many are recognising that computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can provide a way forward.
CFD is a reliable, rapid and often highly cost-effective way of evaluating product or component performance without even the need for a physical product - it can be applied to designs that only exist in CAD form.
The quantifiable benefits for OEMs are improved productivity, more reliable and predictable design data, faster response to changing market conditions, and better overall business performance.
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One of the world leaders in the application of CFD to industrial design problems is the Northamptonshire-based company Advantage CFD.
Established in 1997 as a specialist resource for the motorsport and automotive design industries, Advantage CFD is owned by the BAR Honda Formula 1 team.
Its status in the Formula 1 design arena amounts to a guarantee of world-class performance whatever the project.
There are few industries that can't benefit in some way from CFD.
The only binding condition is that the subject of any CFD analysis must involve some kind of flow in or around it - of air or other gases, of fluid, be it water or a process liquor for industrial processing, or of heat, by conduction, convection or radiation.
Some of the Advantage CFD recent design development projects include several with applications in chemical engineering, such as cyclone separators, mixing tanks and gas turbine generators.
An example is a recent CFD study of erosion within a process environment.
Many industrial processes involve the movement of particulates dispersed in fluid.
This is particularly true in the oil and gas industries where sand is often present in appreciable quantities.
The result can be unseen erosion and accretion inside equipment - a recognised source of potential problems.
As sudden failure of equipment can be both dangerous and expensive, attempts are usually made to design out potential problems.
However, a problem for designers is that erosion factors and their effects tend to differ from installation to installation, so generic guidelines are of only limited help.
Some companies and regulatory bodies produce codes of erosion management practice, but these often cover only standard components used within a set range of applications.
In particular, there is little guidance to cover the assessment of complex geometries or non-standard configurations of equipment.
An increasingly cost-effective solution is to use CFD to investigate specific installations, by first modeling and then analysing the flow round the system.
A particular benefit of CFD is its ability to pinpoint local variations in fluid velocity, which are frequently the cause of substantially increased erosion rates.
The scope for design improvements can also be identified and their performance tested.
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