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CORROSION MODELLING
FLUENT - ANSYS
AGENDA

Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Corrosion Modelling
• Introduction to Corrosion
• Corrosion Process
• Forms of Corrosion
• Recap of Electro-Chemical Reactions Modeling
• Corrosion Modeling in ANSYS Fluent v17.0
• Examples of Corrosion Modeling

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COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the science of predicting fluid flow,

heat and mass transfer, chemical reactions, and related phenomena.

To predict these phenomena, CFD solves equations for conservation of mass,

momentum, energy etc..
CFD can provide detailed information CFD is used in all stages of the
on the fluid flow behavior: engineering process:

• Distribution of pressure, velocity, • Conceptual studies of new designs

temperature, etc. • Detailed product development
• Forces like Lift, Drag.. (external flows, • Optimization
Aero, Auto..) • Troubleshooting
• Distribution of multiple phases (gas- • Redesign
liquid, gas-solid..)
• Species composition (reactions,
combustion, pollutants..)
• Much more...
CFD analysis complements testing and experimentation by reducing total
effort and cost required for experimentation and data acquisition
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COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

ANSYS CFD solvers are based on the finite volume method

Domain is discretized into a set of control volumes

General conservation (transport) equations for mass,
momentum, energy, species, etc. are solved on this set of
control volumes

Equation f
Unsteady Advection Diffusion Generation Continuity 1
X momentum u
Y momentum v
Partial differential equations are discretized into a system of Z momentum w
algebraic equations Energy h

All algebraic equations are then solved numerically to render the

solution

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Corrosion Modelling

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CORROSION

Corrosion is a natural and complex process that converts

Bhopal plant
a material (usually metals) to a more stable form as it is
found in nature.

Corrosion is a severe problem in all kinds of industries,

causing great damages to equipments, which can lead to
losses in efficiency or, in extreme cases, even to
accidents.
• In the Bhopal disaster (1984), the presence of an iron
catalyst, produced by the corrosion of the stainless
Corroded pipeline in Guadalajara
steel tank wall, resulted in a reaction of such
momentum, that the gases formed could not be
contained by safety systems.
• In Guadalajara (1992), a sewer explosion due to a
gasoline leak through the holes of a corroded steel
pipeline killed 215 people and injured another 1500.

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CORROSION PROCESS

Four elements must be present for a corrosion cell to form:

• An electrolyte
• A primary corrodent (O2, CO2, H2S etc.)
• A metal which have anodic and cathodic areas
• Internal current path

There are many forms of corrosion, such as:

• Uniform Corrosion
• Galvanic Corrosion
• Pitting Corrosion
• Erosion Corrosion

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FORMS OF CORROSION

Uniform or general corrosion :

• Most common form of corrosion;
• Corrosive attack evenly distributed over the entire surface area;
• Easily measured and spotted, making disastrous failures relatively rare.

Galvanic Corrosion :
• It occurs when dissimilar metals are in contact;
• One metal becomes the anode and corrodes faster than it would all by itself,
while the other becomes the cathode and corrodes slower than it would alone;

Uniform Corrosion Galvanic Corrosion

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FORMS OF CORROSION

Pitting Corrosion:
• Localized form of corrosion by which cavities or "holes" are produced in the
material;
• Corrosion products often cover the pits, making it difficult to detect;

Erosion Corrosion :
• Accelerated rate of corrosion attack due to the relative motion of a corrosive
fluid;

Pitting Corrosion Erosion Corrosion

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ELECTRO-CHEMICAL REACTION MODEL

General electro-chemical reactions:

• The basic corrosion mechanism follows the principle of a battery, therefore is

necessary to model the electro-chemical reactions that occur.
• Charge number is a new material property associated to each species
• Electric current is coupled with species production by stoichiometry

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ELECTRO-CHEMICAL REACTION MODEL

Reaction kinetics: Butler-Volmer Equation

Where:
• Ƞ = overpotential

• b = Tafel slope (V)

• i0 = exchange current density (A/m²)

Both anodic and cathodic reactions are governed by Butler-Volmer Equation

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ELECTRO-CHEMICAL REACTION MODEL

Electric current is the net flux of charged species, therefore:

To simplify this equation, charge neutrality is usually assumed:

This eliminates
the second term

In addition, the first term is usually considered negligible compared to the last term, which is
valid for mixtures that are well-mixed or with a high electrolyte concentration.

Defining the ionic conductivity as:

Charge conservation law:

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CORROSION MODELING

New Feature in Fluent: New potential solver

The solver will be turned on

automatically if EChem reaction
is on in species panel

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CORROSION MODELING

• For every species, user also

needs to provide its charge
number
• Solid species can be used in
reaction

Species that participate

in the reactions should
be created as “fluid” in
“Material Type”, even
when they are solid.

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CORROSION MODELING

• In the “Create/Edit Materials”

window of the mixture, is
possible to select and edit the
reactions and species

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CORROSION MODELING

• Butler-Volmer parameters need to be specified for every E-Chem reaction

• Mechanisms are important to indicate which reactions happen in the cathode and in
the anode.

In uniform corrosion, the same metal

acts as cathode and anode, therefore
only one mechanism with all electro-
chemical reactions is created)

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FLUENT APPLICATIONS

Uniform corrosion test case

Pressure-Outlet

Case of study: Uniform CO2

corrosion of mild steel in
aqueous solutions.

Velocity-Inlet
Flow velocity 1 - 12 m/s

Objective: Predict corrosion rate at different velocities and validate with experimental data

Material adapted from “Electro-Chemical

Reaction Model in FLUENT V17” - Genong
Li and Shaoping Li, ANSYS Inc.

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CASE OF STUDY

Uniform corrosion test case

Overall CO2 corrosion reaction:

Solution Chemistry
Electro Chemistry
• Dissolved CO2 reacts with water to
form carbonic acid
Cathodic Reaction Anodic Reaction

• Carbonic acid dissociates in water

to generate H+ Ion

Governed by Butler- Volmer Equation

Governed by equilibrium constants

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CASE OF STUDY

Uniform corrosion test case

Anodic Current

Cathodic Current

For spontaneous corrosion processes:

Therefore: =

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CASE OF STUDY

Uniform corrosion test case

Mass Transfer Limited Charge Transfer Limited

• Low flow velocity • High Flow velocity
• Bigger mass transfer boundary layer • Thin mass transfer boundary layer
• Corrosion rate controlled by species • Corrosion rate controlled by the
diffusion through the boundary layer electro-chemical reaction kinetics

3 cases were considered:

• Charge Transfer Limited, no UDF used

• Charge Transfer Limited with UDFs
• Mass Transfer Limited with UDFs

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CASE OF STUDY - RESULTS

Inlet velocity 12 m/s

Test case with constant parameters: Charge transfer limited corrosion

• No UDF used
• Effect of species surface
concentration, temperature etc.
ignored for calculating Tafel
Equation parameters

Corrosion rate mm/year

Exp. Data S. Nesic et al.

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CASE OF STUDY - RESULTS

Inlet velocity 12 m/s

Case for Charge Transfer Limited Charge transfer limited corrosion
Corrosion:

• UDFs used for calculating

dependent parameters and
defining current density

Corrosion rate mm/year

• Very good match obtained between

simulation result and experimental
data for charge transfer limited regime
Exp. Data S. Nesic et al.

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CASE OF STUDY - RESULTS

Inlet velocity 1 m/s

Case for Mass Transfer Limited Mass transfer limited corrosion
corrosion:

• UDFs used to calculated oxidizing

species mass transfer rate to the
surface based on correlation
available

Corrosion rate mm/year

• Good match obtained between simulation

result and experimental data with mass
transfer modeling included
• For more accurate prediction mass transfer
boundary layer needs to be resolved
Exp. Data S. Nesic et al.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Chilingarian, G.V., R. Mourhatch, and G.D. Al-Qahtani, The Fundamentals of

corrosion and scaling for petroleum and environmental engineers, 2008,
Houston, Tex.: Gulf Publishing Co. xviii, 276 s.

2. Genong Li and Shaoping Li, Electro-Chemical Reaction Model in FLUENT

V17, ANSYS Inc.

3. Nešić, S., Carbon Dioxide Corrosion of Mild Steel, in Uhlig's Corrosion

Handbook, Third Edition (ed R. W. Revie), 2011, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
Hoboken, NJ, USA.

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