A Numerical approach for the evaluation of particle-induced erosion in an Abrasive Waterjet focusing tube

In this work, a numerical approach to study erosion phenomena inside a focusing tube for Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ) is presented. The goal of this approach is to capture the erosive action of the particle-laden flow developing inside the focusing tube as a result of cumulated impact phenomena. This is fundamental in the research and development of this sector in order to optimize cost and reliability of the AWJ system. With this purpose, a multiscale algorithm for CFD-DEM is used in combination with erosion models presented in the literature so to retrieve erosion profiles comparable to the one obtained by the most common experiments in this field. The approach is shown to provide insight into the process of wear development as the identification of areas characterized by brittle and cut phenomena. Preliminary parametric studies on the influence of impact models and particle diameters are proposed to show the potentialities of the method in describing the physics of the nozzle.