Simulation study of rotor erosion for a continuous-wave pulse generator by computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Continuous-wave pulse generator plays an important role in generating high-quality pulse signals in measurement while drilling systems. However, the generator affects the quality of pressure wave signals due to erosion on the continuous wave generator rotary valve caused by drilling fluid during operation. In this paper, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a rotary valve was established by ANSYS finite element method, and a series of three dimensional flow field simulation experiments were conducted to analyze the influence of factors, such as drilling fluid density, viscosity, inclusion particle diameter, and particle mass flow on the erosion of the rotary valve. Experiments show that the rotor erosion increases with increasing drilling fluid density, viscosity, diameter, and mass flow of particles in the drilling fluid. Moreover, the rotor erosion exponentially increases with increasing viscosity of the drilling fluid. The results provide necessary data for drilling fluid system improvement, rotor material selection, and surface structure treatment.

Keywords

• rotor erosion
• drilling fluid
• finite element modelling
• cfd simulation
• continuous-wave pulse generator