Performance and hydrodynamics analysis of a Toroid Wear Tester to predict erosion in slurry pipelines

Erosion analysis is crucial for the design, operation, and economic assessment of slurry pipelines. Since field-scale pipe tests are difficult to control, lab-scale experiments are frequently employed. However, these techniques produce hydrodynamic conditions dissimilar to pipe flow. The Toroid Wear Tester (TWT) is a lab-scale tester with several promising attributes, including hydrodynamics more similar to pipe flow than other wear testers. However, no detailed studies on TWT performance and hydrodynamics have been performed. This work evaluates the repeatability and parametric wear trends of a TWT, as well as the major differences between TWT and pipe-flow hydrodynamics. Different particle sizes (0.1–2 mm) were tested at varying speeds (1–3 m/s) and solids concentrations (5–30% by volume). Visualization experiments showed that only larger particle sizes or lower TWT speeds are suitable for generating sliding-bed-dominated erosion comparable to pipe flow. Visualizations are also used to obtain correction factors for the TWT data, showing that visualization is a critical component of TWT testing. In addition to previously observed particle–coupon contact time and particle degradation effects, normal load and coupon edge effects are identified as important. Despite these limitations, the TWT is a promising apparatus for ranking material wear resistance and, with careful interpretation, for making pipeline erosion predictions. •A Toroid Wear Tester (TWT) is examined for use in slurry pipeline wear tests.•The TWT flow is similar to pipeline flow within certain ranges of operating conditions.•Correction factors are necessary to account for differences between the TWT and pipe flow.•With careful interpretation, TWT data show promise for use in pipeline erosion predictions.