Erosive wear due to the fact of sand severely affects hydrocarbon production industries and, consequently, various sectors of the mineral processing industry. In this study, the effect of the elbow geometrical configuration on the erosive wear of carbon steel for silt-water-air flow conditions were investigated using material loss analysis, surface roughness analysis, and microscopic imaging technique. Experiments were performed under the plug flow conditions in a closed flow loop at standard atmospheric pressure. Water and air plug flow and the disperse phase was silt (silica sand) with a 2.5 wt % concentration, and a silt grain size of 70 µm was used for performing the tests. The experimental analysis showed that silt impact increases material disintegration up to 1.8 times with a change in the elbow configuration from 60° to 90° in plug flow conditions. The primary erosive wear mechanisms of the internal elbow surface were sliding, cutting, and pit propagation. The maximum silt particle impaction was located at the outer curvature in the 50° position in 60° elbows and the 80° position in 90° elbows in plug flow. The erosion rate decreased from 10.23 to 5.67 mm/year with a change in the elbow angle from 90° to 60°. Moreover, the microhardness on the Vickers scale increased from 168 to 199 in the 90° elbow and from 168 to 184 in the 60° elbow.
Keywords: corrosion; elbow; erosion; plug flow; sand; wear.