Numerical simulation of the effect of particle size on the erosion damage in ball valves of pressure reducing station

Ball valve has many applications in industry especially in gas delivery system such kind of valve is categorized as on - off flow control valve. Present study aims to investigate unusual application of ball valve to control fluid flow in industry and its destructive effect including erosion of ball and body of the valve. Simulation of ball valve is done using ANSYS Fluent software in which effect of erosion is investigated in different working conditions. In this article, working condition for two different concentrations of suspended particles as well as four ball positions in different angles are considered in addition the effects of increased particle diameter on the rate of erosion for three diameters (3.86 mu m, 267.45 mu m and 531.03 mu m) in four conditions of valve (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) and two different concentrations of particle (3% and 6%) are assessed. It is shown that rate of erosion is increased with increase of particle diameters in 25%, 50% and 75% open state of valve. On the contrary, the results showed that opposite rule governs complete open state. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that increase in particle diameter decreases the area of erosion in four conditions of valve.