Application of Turbulence Models for Calculating the Erosion-Corrosion Rate in N80 Steel with CrSiN Coating

Corrosion in pipelines poses major operational challenges in industrial facilities worldwide, often resulting in human casualties, service disruptions, and significant environmental and economic impacts. This study aimed to determine the corrosion rate of N80 steel coated with a CrSiN layer by combining experimental techniques with hydrodynamic simulations. The corrosion rate of API-5CT-N80 steel, coated with CrSiN and exposed to an aggressive fluid, was measured using the Electrochemical Resistance (ECR) technique. In parallel, hydrodynamic modeling was conducted with OpenFOAM software, applying a RANS-type approach, a realizable k-ε turbulence model, and the Navier–Stokes equations. From this, an expression was derived to estimate the corrosion rate of the steel as a function of flow velocity, temperature, particle size, and fractional volume. The results indicate that the corrosion rate is strongly influenced by system rotation speed in the presence of small- and medium-sized solid particles. However, this relationship does not hold for flows containing larger particles, where the increase in particle mass reduces their velocity and, consequently, their impact energy.