Analysis of Erosion of Surfaces in Falling Particle Concentrating Solar Power

Next generation concentrating solar power (CSP) systems, which utilize solid particles for energy capture, transport, and storage, offer prospects for higher temperature operation, improved efficiency, and reduced overall costs. Nevertheless, the continuous impingement of particles on component materials can result in substantial erosion, significantly constraining the performance and longevity of the components. A comprehensive understanding of particle erosion on surfaces is essential for designing components and operational parameters or coatings that minimize wear. This study presents a computational physics-based particle tracking model of the erosion rate of incident surfaces under different geometric, operational, and particle parameters. The computational model is validated with experimental measurements conducted as part of the study. Computational simulations are presented to elucidate the effects of each parameter and further used to investigate erosion rates in a systematic design of experiments covering a wide range of parameters. Based on the simulation results, a generalized analytical model is developed to relate erosion wear to pertinent dimensionless groups governing the physics of the process. The analytical model is shown to be accurate to within 10% and its use in understanding surface erosion as well as designing wear-resistant coatings to limit erosion within acceptable values is presented.