Theoretical and experimental studies on the cut zone generated by AWJ process

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to make a theoretical and experimental study to evaluate the water jet influence on a metallic material used in oilfield manufacturing, using AWJ process. It was investigated how the scattering of the jet has influenced the width of the kerf and neighboring area. The metallic material is P275NL2 which is a low temperature quality steel alloy specially used in petrochemical industry. The experimental tests were made on the waterjet cutting machine model YCWJ-380-1520 using preestablish working conditions. Theoretical investigations were performed using CFD simulation with planar 2D fluid flow on the geometrical model. Graphical correlation was performed between theoretical outcomes given by CFD simulation and experimental results on the regarded material, overlapping on the theoretical searching for the cutting velocity and the hardening velocity limits nearby the kerf.

Keywords

• waterjet
• kerf width
• standoff
• velocity
• hardness
• cfd