Study on erosion behavior and simulation of 45-steel induced by sand-carrying fluid

To address the erosion of metal surfaces in high-pressure pipelines caused by sand-carrying fluids, a finite element mesh model of quartz sand abrasive particles was established, and a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics-Finite Element Method (SPH-FEM) coupling algorithm was employed. The influence of various erosion parameters on the width and depth of erosion pits formed on 45-steel was also analyzed. The results showed that both the width and depth of the erosion pits on 45-steel gradually increased as the impact time extended from 10 μs to 70 μs. When the impact angle increased from 15° to 45°, the erosion rate significantly decreased. Moreover, as the angle decreased from 90° to 15°, the shape of the erosion spots gradually changed from a circle to an ellipse, with the major axis length continuously increasing while the minor axis remained relatively unchanged. The erosion mass loss of 45-steel first increased and then gradually decreased as the impact angle increased from 15° to 90°. At an impact angle of 30° and a rate of 550 m/s, the maximum erosion loss reached 0.56 mg. Furthermore, the variation trends of the maximum erosion pit depth and width were in strong agreement, with relative errors ranging from 0.77 % to 1.13 %, confirming the high simulation accuracy of the SPH-FEM coupling algorithm. These results offer valuable technical support for elucidating the erosion behavior in oil pipeline transportation.