In industrial cooling systems and power plants, erosion in air-cooled condensers is a major concern. This process happens when water droplets or steam traveling at high speed strike the inside surfaces of condenser tubes, gradually releasing material. Particulates or other contaminants in the working fluid frequently accelerate the erosion process. If ignored, this can eventually result in tube wall thinning, decreased heat transfer efficiency, and possibly disastrous failures. This study relies heavily on the reference paper entitled “ Thermal-flow characteristics of the new wave-finned flat tube bundles in air-cooled condensers”.

Figure 1: Schematic of the current model

Simulation Process

The geometric specifics for the finned tubes are illustrated in Fig. 2, with the areas enclosed by the dashed lines chosen as the computational domains. 936482 polyhedra cells are produced to discretize the domain. The dust particles with various diameters are considered, adopting Rosin-rammler approach and Discrete Phase Model (DPM). It is a 2-way DPM, indeed, because the particles can interact with the incoming flow. Given the ultimate goal of the project, the Erosion/Accretion and two-way turbulence coupling sub-models are activated. Add discrete random walk (DRW) dispersion model. Notably, although just a single passage of air-cooled condenser is simulated, utilization of periodic boundaries results in a thorough analysis of the whole system.

Figure 2: Schematic of finned tubes of Air-cooled condenser (ACC)

Post-processing

According to the study, the Air-cooled Condenser (ACC) has notable erosion patterns, especially in key locations. The upper part of the condenser tube is where the higher velocities (up to 7.1 m/s) are concentrated. This is consistent with Finnie erosion contour, which shows the erosion rate calculated using the DPM (Discrete Phase Model). The center axis of the tube has the most noticeable erosion, most likely as a result of the high-velocity flow impinging directly on this region. The erosion rate fluctuates, with isolated locations experiencing peak values as high as 1.81e-06 kg/m^2-s. Temperature gradients, reaching the maximum temperatures (up to 320K) at the intake, may cause erosion by creating thermal strains.