Author Identifier

Prashan Perera: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4770-5617

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis - ECU Access Only

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

School

School of Engineering

First Supervisor

Ana Vafadar

Second Supervisor

Ferdinando Guzzomi

Third Supervisor

Kevin Hayward

Abstract

Butterfly valves, frequently used in slurry transportation systems, experience substantial material loss due to particle erosion, leading to severe financial losses. Where researchers have predominantly conducted particle erosion studies based on the target material properties, this study introduces novel butterfly valve geometries to reduce material loss by manipulating flow characteristics induced by geometry. This represents a unique contribution to this field. To this effect, the study integrates insights from discrete phase numerical analysis of fluid flow and material loss behaviour for various valve geometry curvatures and surface features. Furthermore, this study incorporates findings from previous literature on turbulence effects on particle erosion to propose novel geometries that exhibit minimised surface erosion in butterfly valves operating under Aluminium Oxide slurry flow conditions. Additionally, this study attempts to exploit variations in the viscous sublayer resulting from various surface profiles to manipulate the flow field and further reduce surface erosion. This investigation employs a preliminary reference simulation package followed by an erosion comparative analysis between industry examples and numerical results to establish the veracity of the author’s modified simulation package. The numerical results reveal a strong correlation between locations exhibiting high turbulence intensity and those manifesting surface erosion damage, substantiating the effects of turbulence on material loss. The study further emphasises the utility of manipulating phenomena such as striking efficiency, particle retardation, stagnation point, static pressure variations, erosion pocketing, accumulation, squeeze film effects and turbulent bursting effects in the development of geometries with enhanced anti-erosion effects. The design process culminates in the development of novel valve topologies with efficient distribution of material, resulting in superior anti-erosion effects and mass flow rates compared to the conventional geometry. The two novel geometries exhibited a significant reduction in material loss, with 1.33×10-5 kg/m2 .s for the smooth surface geometry and 9.66×10-6 kg/m2 .s for the surface profiled geometry. In contrast, their off-the-shelf counterpart showed a higher material loss of 4.84×10-5 kg/m2 .s, under a high particle flow rate operating condition. Finally, these valve geometries were manufactured and installed in a slurry line at the Worsley Alumina South 32 refinery, the industrial partner of this project.

DOI

10.25958/d8aw-cr50

Access Note

Access to this thesis is embargoed until 7th August 2028

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Available for download on Monday, August 07, 2028

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