Mitigating particle erosion in butterfly valves: Effects of surface curvatures in controlled slurry flow

Butterfly valves, frequently used in slurry transportation systems, experience substantial material loss due to particle erosion, resulting in severe financial losses. This study investigates the relationship between turbulence and surface erosion on pipeline components, proposing a novel solution through topology variations aimed at minimising material loss. Unlike most previous research which primarily focuses on identifying erosion mechanisms and locations in simple geometries, this study explores practical solutions to mitigate erosion on butterfly valve disks. The study integrates insights from discrete phase numerical analysis of fluid flow and material loss across various valve geometries with findings from the literature on the effects of turbulence on particle erosion, towards the design of a new valve topology aimed at minimising surface erosion damage in butterfly valves operating under aluminium oxide and water multiphase flow conditions. The study’s numerical results demonstrate a consistent spatial relationship between regions of high turbulence intensity and areas of significant erosion, thereby substantiating the influence of turbulence on material loss. Additionally, the study reveals that concave curvatures induce an “erosion pocketing” phenomenon, making them unsuitable for top side valve geometries. In contrast, “convex” curvatures alleviate the “erosion pocketing” effect, making them better suited to top side valve surfaces. Compared with the industrial design, the proposed valve geometry achieves a favourable balance between mass, material loss and mass flow rate, with improved flow characteristics that reduce erosion. This corresponds to a reduction in material loss from 9.50 × 10 −6 kg/m 2 .s for the industrial geometry to 4.20 × 10 −6 kg/m 2 .s for the novel geometry.