Erosion Wear Characteristics and Failure Mechanism of the Sulzer Oil Pump

Abstract

In the routine maintenance of each main pump in the oil transmission station plant, abnormal erosion wear was found at the flushing port of the mechanical seal of Sulzer pump casing. For the sake of stable and safe unit operation, this study explored the mechanism and process of erosion formation in the pump casing at the microscopic level using SEM (scanning electron microscope) and EDS (energy dispersive spectrometer) techniques. And ANSYS Fluent was used to numerically simulate the unconventional turbulent flow in the special location of Sulzer pump to obtain its flow field characteristics. The trajectory tracking of solid phase particles based on Finnie erosion model was also carried out to obtain the influence law of different particle sizes on the wear degree of each area of the pump casing, and to point out the influence of the motion behavior of particles at the flushing port position on the erosion. The results show that there is unconventional turbulence in the flushing port of the Sulzer pump mechanical seal, and the solid particles are affected by turbulent diffusion and fluid adhesion, and some particles deviate from the velocity direction and continuously impact the surface of the pump casing, which is the direct cause of the erosion wear here. By optimizing the location of the flushing port, severe erosion wear at the flushing port can be avoided. This study can provide guidance and recommendations for the production, operational stability and wear protection of Sulzer pumps.