Surfaces which have undergone erosion corrosion are generally fairly clean, unlike the surfaces from many other forms of corrosion. Alterations in fluid velocity and changes in flow patterns can also reduce the effects of erosion corrosion. Erosion corrosion is often the result of the wearing away of a protective scale or coating on the metal surface. The oil field production tubing shown above on the right corroded when the pressure on the well became low enough to cause multiphase fluid flow. The impact of collapsing gas bubbles caused the damage at joints where the tubing was connected and turbulence was greater.
Many people assume that erosion corrosion is associated with turbulent flow.
Most, if not all, erosion corrosion can be attributed to multiphase fluid flow. The check valve on the left above failed due to sand and other particles in an otherwise noncorrosive fluid. The tubing on the right failed due to the pressure differences caused when gas bubbles collapsed against the pipe wall and destroyed the protective mineral scale that was limiting corrosion. August 24, 2000. This site has been optimized for screen resolutions of 800X600 or greater.