Quantification of erosion distributions in complex geometries

Development and validation of improved erosion models demands accurate, high resolution measurement techniques to quantify the distribution of erosion over large-scale and/or complex geometries. However, current sophisticated geometric scanning equipment is mostly used to examine small-scale erosion scars, and such techniques are not applicable when researching the erosion of complex or large-scale samples. To address this limitation, we consider alternative metrology technologies for erosion quantification, including 3D laser scanners and coordinate measuring machines (CMM). Erosion experiments were performed on both a pipe elbow and a cylindrical intrusion in a pipe, and the erosion distributions were quantified with a CMM. The results for the pipe elbow and cylindrical intrusion agree well with paint modelling tests and computation fluid dynamics erosion predictions, respectively, suggesting that these metrology techniques represent a useful tool for erosion research and industrial appraisal. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.