Practical Pipe Wear Predictions

Practical Pipe Wear Predictions

Pipe Wear In Industry

Some academics dedicate their life to studying advanced wear relations, but if you are looking for a simple, robust approach that is applicable in the mineral resources industry, try the method presented below.

It relies on a “pipe wear rate” which, for solids transport, has been adopted as 1.17 µm of wear for each 1000 t of solids transported.

Required inputs:

Step 1

Calculate the solids content of slurry by weight

Calculate the slurry density (specific gravity)

That is, the density of slurry is

Calculate solids content of slurry by weight

Step 2

Calculate solids flow rate

kg/s

Step 3

Calculate total solids quantity

t

Step 4

Calculate total wear

µm

That is, the total wear over the course of the design life is 0.137 mm.

Once you have calculated the total wear, don’t forget to check whether the worn pipe wall thickness will sustain the total dynamic head acting on the pipe.

If you have a wear problem, or you would like to predict the expected wear for a new system you are installing, engage Pump & Flow to perform wear rate testwork. This test work will bring confidence that the piping system will satisfy the design life, without over committing capital.