CFD-DEM coupled study of erosion resistance characteristics of ribbed walls

Industrial bulk material transfer systems are exposed to high erosion risk due to prolonged scouring by particle flow. In order to improve the erosion resistance of the system components, this study proposes a wear-resistant improvement scheme by adding square and triangular ribs on the wall surface. A coupled CFD-DEM method was used to analyse the abrasion characteristics of particle flow hitting the flat and ribbed wall surfaces at different particle incidence angles, particle velocities and particle volume fractions. The results show that square ribbed plate is more targeted to reduce the erosion ratio of the groove surface and transfer the risk to the ribs, whereas triangular ribbed plate provides an optimal balance between sacrificial velocity and erosion resistance of the ribbed structure; moreover, square ribbed plate is slightly more capable of transferring the maximum wear to the ribs to reduce the risk of perforation of the wall surface. As the particle velocity increased from 5 m/s to 25 m/s, the triangular ribbed plate reduced the erosion ratio by up to 45 %; both square and triangular ribbed plate groove surfaces reduced the maximum wear rate by about 65 % and 35 %, respectively. With the increase of particle volume fraction from 0.025 % to 0.125 %, the erosion ratios of the square and triangular ribbed plates decreased rapidly by up to 16 % and 73 %, respectively; the groove surface of the square ribbed plate decreased by about 63 % of the maximum wear rate, while the groove surface of the triangular ribbed plate decreased by up to 48 % of the maximum wear rate. [Display omitted] •A wall wear-resistant scheme was proposed by adding square and triangular ribs.•The accuracy of the erosion model was verified by existing experimental data.•The erosion ratios and maximum wear rates of the wall surfaces were analysed.