- Title
- Visualisation of flow structures and development of a predictive model for wear pneumatic conveying pipelines
- Creator
- Cenna, A. A.; Williams, K. C.; Jones, M. G.
- Relation
- Bulk Solids India 2010. Proceedings of Bulk Solids India 2010 (Mumbai, India 2-3 March, 2010)
- Publisher
- Bulk Solids India
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2010
- Description
- Pneumatic conveying is a process of transp01tation of powdered and granular materials through pipeline using high pressure gas. It is a frequently used method of material transport particularly for in-plant transport over relatively short distances although, with innovative designs, materials can be transported to far longer distances. One of the major advantages of the system is the degree of flexibility it offers in terms of pipeline routine as well as dust minimization within the factory environment. A large percentage of industrial systems are traditionally dilute phase system, which use relatively large amounts of air which lead to high particle velocities. Slower dense phase systems account for the remainder if pneumatic conveying systems which are designed to operate at relatively low velocity regimes. Yet one problem remains as a major issue with these conveying systems which is wear. Service life of a pneumatic conveying is dictated primarily by the wear in pipelines and bends due to the interactions between the particles and the surfaces. Depending on the conveying conditions or modes of flow, wear mechanism can be abrasive or erosive or a combination of both. The locations of the high wear areas also varies, depending on the ratio of the solids mass flow rate and the air velocity within the pipeline. In this paper, the variations of bulk material flow structures in different bends have been studied for different modes of flow for three different particulate materials. Locations of the critical wear areas with respect to the flow modes, as well as the bulk materials properties, have been discussed. Short radius bends, long radius bends, tee bends and a barrel or "Botswana" bend have been considered. Wear tests have been conducted using sand and alumina for short radius bends to study the wear profile in the critical wear area and the wear mechanisms involved. The pipeline wall thickness loss has also been measured using an ultra sonic thickness gage. Finally experimental results have been compared with the output of an energy based predictive model and the associated variations have been discussed.
- Subject
- wear; abrasive; erosive; pneumatic conveying
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/933623
- Identifier
- uon:11676
- Language
- eng
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