CFD simulation - abrasiv blasting process

What is it about?

This study concerns the determination of the significant factors for an innovative deburring process: low pressure abrasive water‐jet blasting. The abrasive medium aluminum oxide (Al2O3) is classified according to the individual characteristics of different grain sizes. Then, the particle behavior in the air jet is analyzed with an optical measuring method, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV); the velocity profile and the particle distribution of the dispersed system are obtained. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were verified by comparing the experimental and numerical results, and the velocity range for the abrasive particles has been specified.

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Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

Why is it important?

As a result of the particle classification, a suitable abrasive medium, F220, is determined for the novel deburring process; furthermore, initial input variables such as particle shape, particle size, particle mass, particle velocity and the kinetic energy can be determined for simulations with a material removal model. The CFD simulations, the measured data and the calculated results according to the empirical formulae are shown to be acceptably agreeing. A good pre-optimization can be achieved by using the CFD simulations in parallel to experimental studies so that the effort and the cost in development significantly decrease. In order to improve the quality of the numerical simulations, the turbulence model should be tuned further and simulations should be performed on a finer grid. Moreover, measurements with special methods for real abrasive waterjet are also planned. Based on the comprehensive CFD simulations, the flow field in abrasive waterjets can be accurately resolved, and the results can be safely used in simulations of the surface erosion. In addition to the CAE based development process, a design of experiments for the system characterization should be carried out. Now, the outlook is to develop a novel deburring process, namely low pressure abrasive water-jet blasting, by obtaining explicit values of major variables, determining dependencies of variables and building a novel simulation model.

Perspectives