Abstract
The increasing use of multiphase pump systems in the oil and gas industry has drawn attention to materials resisting erosion-corrosion in crevices between rotating and fixed pump components. A new type of laboratory test facility enables experimental modeling of respective electrochemical and mechanical wear effects on rotating discs both of the same material at conditions of erosion in the crevice in between. The paper discusses the influences of rotational velocity and crevice dimensions on external corrosion currents between the 17Cr-2Ni forged steel rotating and fixed discs in synthetic formation water at various sand and oil fractions. As a main result the rotating disc always exhibits anodic dissolution current peaks in the presence of erosive particles. The results are discussed with respect to boundary diffusion layer properties at both the rotating and fixed disc. As a conclusion for the operation of multiphase pump components, the effect of electrochemical wear should be considered even in cases of identical materials of different components.
