Mass transfer can have a significant effect on corrosion rates depending on the solution chemistry and flow conditions. Therefore, knowledge of the distribution of mass transfer coefficients along the flow geometry can be useful in determining the severity of corrosion rates in situations where mass transfer is a factor. In this investigation, mass transfer in 90° elbows was examined. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) code was used to model the flow in an elbow and compute mass transfer coefficients. Results were compared to available experimental data to verify the model. Although the number of variables involved in corrosion process is large, only two dimensionless parameters, namely, the flow Reynolds number and the Schmidt number are important for characterizing the mass transfer process. Mass transfer in elbows is also influenced by elbow geometry parameters such as the elbow radius to pipe diameter ratio (r/D). Based on these three dimensionless
parameters, mass transfer between the elbow wall and the fluid was simulated and a correlation was developed to predict the maximum elbow mass transfer coefficient as a function of the flow Reynolds
number, the Schmidt number and the elbow r/D.
Keywords: corrosion, elbow, mass transfer, elbow mass transfer, mass transfer coefficient, CFD, CO2 corrosion