Numerical simulation of particle impact erosion within constant flux blanking plug

Because of severe downhole working conditions in oil-field water injection system, the constant flux blanking plug is liable to be affected by solid particle impact erosion. Numerical methods were used to analyze the wear rates of the pressure reducing and orifice valve ports. The 3-D geometrical model of the flow field was built and the flow field was calculated through commercial CFD code Fluent 6.1. And the Lagrangian discrete-phase model, Haider's drag force law and the stochastic tracking method were adopted to track the particle motion. Then the erosion wear rates were calculated with Bitter's erosion model. Numerical simulation results were compared to the field test data and the validity of the simulation was proved. The reasons of the inaccurate simulation results were analyzed, and the necessity to consider the electrochemical corrosion and the stainless steel's inactivation effect in flow induced wear and corrosion analysis on water injection downhole flow control device was put forward.