Flow Corrosion Behavior of X100 Pipeline Steel in Simulated Formation Water

Abstract

The self-designed flow system was used to study the flow corrosion of X100 pipeline steel in simulated formation water environment by electrochemical measurements as well as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The effects of fluid flow velocity and fluid impact angle on X100 steel were determined. When the fluid flow velocity changes between 0.5–2.0 m/s, X100 steel is controlled by activation, and as the flow velocity increases, the self-corrosion current Icorr increases, the corrosion rate increases; when the impact angle increases from 30° to 90°, the self-corrosion current Icorr decreases and the corrosion rate decreases. CFD simulations show that at different flow velocities and impact angles, the velocity field distribution on electrode surface is different. At the minimum impact angle of 30°, the electrode area has the largest flow velocity and shear stress, therefore the corrosion damage is the most serious.

Keywords

• flow corrosion
• x100 pipeline steel
• fluid velocity
• fluid impact angle