Numerical Simulation of Erosive Wear on an Impact Sprinkler Nozzle Using a Remeshing Algorithm

Abstract

In China, agricultural irrigation water often contains a lot of suspended sediment which may cause the nozzle wear. In this study, a new numerical simulation combing the Discrete Phase Model and a remeshing algorithm was conducted. The geometric boundary deformation caused by the erosion wear, was considered. The weight loss of the nozzle, the node displacement and the flow field were investigated and discussed. The timestep sensitivity analysis showed that the timestep is very critical in the erosion modeling due to the randomness and the discreteness of the erosion behavior. Based on the simulation results, the major deformation of the boundary wall due to the erosion was found at the corners between outlet portion and contraction portion. Based on this remeshing algorithm, the simulated erosion weight loss of the nozzle is 4.62% less compared with the case without boundary deformation. The boundary deformation changes the pressure and velocity distribution, and eventually changes the sediment distribution inside the nozzle. The average turbulence kinetic energy at the outlet orifice is found to decrease with the erosion time, which is believed to change the nozzle’s spray performance eventually.