<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Serious damage may occur to concrete hydraulic structures, such as water galleries, spillways, and stilling basins, due to the abrasive erosion caused by the presence of solid particles in the flow. This underlines the importance of being capable in providing characterization of the concrete from the point of view of its vulnerability to abrasive erosion, in order to improve the design of the structure and the material selection. Nevertheless, the existing apparatus for concrete abrasive erosion testing are either far from allowing realistic simulation of the actual environment in which this phenomenon occurs, or show a large degree of complexity and cost. An alternative method has been developed with the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). CFD was first employed to verify the effectiveness of a new laboratory equipment. Afterwards, a parameter has been introduced which, by successful comparison against preliminary experiments, proved suitable to quantify the effect of the fluid dynamic conditions on the concrete abrasive erosion, thereby opening the way to CFD-based customization of the apparatus. In the future, the synergy of numerical and physical modelling will allow developing predictive models for concrete erosion, making it possible to reliably simulate real structures.</p></abstract>

Serious damage may occur to concrete hydraulic structures, such as water galleries, spillways, and stilling basins, due to the abrasive erosion caused by the presence of solid particles in the flow. This underlines the importance of being capable in providing characterization of the concrete from the point of view of its vulnerability to abrasive erosion, in order to improve the design of the structure and the material selection. Nevertheless, the existing apparatus for concrete abrasive erosion testing are either far from allowing realistic simulation of the actual environment in which this phenomenon occurs, or show a large degree of complexity and cost. An alternative method has been developed with the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). CFD was first employed to verify the effectiveness of a new laboratory equipment. Afterwards, a parameter has been introduced which, by successful comparison against preliminary experiments, proved suitable to quantify the effect of the fluid dynamic conditions on the concrete abrasive erosion, thereby opening the way to CFD-based customization of the apparatus. In the future, the synergy of numerical and physical modelling will allow developing predictive models for concrete erosion, making it possible to reliably simulate real structures.

A combined CFD-experimental method for abrasive erosion testing of concrete

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"A combined CFD-experimental method for abrasive erosion testing of concrete"}

Serious damage may occur to concrete hydraulic structures, such as water galleries, spillways, and stilling basins, due to the abrasive erosion caused by the...

A combined CFD-experimental method for abrasive erosion testing of concrete

Published Online: Nov 22, 2017

Page range: 121 - 128

Received: Mar 13, 2017

Accepted: Aug 15, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/johh-2017-0042

Keywords
Abrasive erosion, Computational fluid dynamics, Concrete, Experiments, Two-phase flow

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

A combined CFD-experimental method for abrasive erosion testing of concrete

Published Online: Nov 22, 2017

Page range: 121 - 128

Received: Mar 13, 2017

Accepted: Aug 15, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/johh-2017-0042

KeywordsAbrasive erosion, Computational fluid dynamics, Concrete, Experiments, Two-phase flow

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Abrasive erosion, Computational fluid dynamics, Concrete, Experiments, Two-phase flow