Prediction of erosive wear locations in centrifugal compressor using CFD simulation and comparison with experimental model

Erosive wear is one of the efficiency reduction causes in centrifugal compressors. The presence of suspended solid particles in the fluid causes deformations in different parts of the compressor, especially blades of the impeller. Therefore, erosion not only decreases the part lifetime by destruction of blades form, but also increases energy losses. For this reason, specifying the erosion locations and choosing a suitable material have an important effect on optimum functionality of the machine. In this paper, erosion locations of a compressor impeller by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in high temperature and pressure are attained and compared with experimental model. The Eulerian–Lagrangian approach is used in fluid simulation and particles tracing. Due to the low level of solid particles volume concentration, the one-way coupling is applied. As a result, effect of solid on fluid is negligible. CFD results show that high erosion rate occurs at impeller eye and blade roots and are in a good agreement with experimental model. The results in this paper indicate that Finnie model is a reliable model for simulation and numerical investigation of compressors with such similar working condition and has excellent accuracy in prediction of erosion wear region.