Fine particles direct impingements causing erosion at choke valve

Fine particles that are produced together with the hydrocarbon are one of the unavoidable problems that can occur during the production period in oil and gas industry. The movement of the fine particles together with the hydrocarbon from the wellbore to the surface causing damage to the equipment and facilities. One of the effect or damages is erosion at choke valve. There are several factors that affect the erosion rate such as the velocity of the particles, size of the particles, and many others. The objectives of this project are, i) to determine whether size of the fine particles have impact in the erosion rate and ii) to study the erosion behavior related to the fine particles velocity. The analysis on the erosion rate is conducted by using Computational Fluid Dynamic, Ansys Fluent by referring to the Lagrangian Model. It is observed that the size of fine particles and flow velocity can increase the rate of erosion in the choke valve.