Parametric Analysis of Sand Erosion in Pipe Bends Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Major solid particle erosion may lead to potential failure of upstream oil and gas producing wells. For instance, producing wells with substantial sand production may negatively impact production equipment, well tubing, and pipeline components and fitting, thus leading to costly maintenance routines, production downtime, loss of equipment, and potential environmental damage. This work presents results obtained from investigating parametric factors that determine the extent and severity of sand erosion on pipe bends. We examine the effect of fluid velocity, pipe geometry, pipe degree of bending, bend radius, and sand particle size on erosion severity. The results are based on simulations using an extensively validated proprietary computational fluid dynamic model. It is found that erosion rates increased with both sand particle size (diameter) and fluid velocity, and decreased with bend radius, pipe diameter, and pipe degree of bending. Results also show that it would be possible to determine the threshold magnitudes of the parameters that would result in an assumed threshold erosion rate.