Additive manufacturing method has an effect on flow behaviour inside a control valve trim, reports our latest research published in Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. Read the abstract below...
Control valves that are used in severe service applications have trim cages that are geometrically quite complex. Most of these trims are manufactured using traditional manufacturing methods which are expensive and
time-consuming.
In order to reduce manufacturing costs and shorten the product development cycles, Additive Manufacturing (AM) methods have been gaining popularity over the traditional manufacturing methods. Selective Laser Melting (SLM)
is one of the most popular AM techniques. In this paper, the effect of the conventional Electron Discharge Machining (EDM) method and the SLM method on the performance characteristics of a complex multi-stage disc stack
trim
is investigated. Experimental tests conducted on the SLM trim showed that the flow capacity reduced in comparison to the EDM manufactured trim. Surface profile measurements indicated that the surface roughness of the
SLM trim was significantly higher than the EDM trim. In order to evaluate the effect of surface roughness on performance in detail, well validated numerical simulations were conducted to compare the local performance
of the valve trims manufactured by the two methods. The simulation results showed that the wall shear stress increases by 1.9 times on the trim manufactured by the SLM method due
to the increased roughness. Read the full article here
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12-03-2020 New article published