The mechanisms of CO2 corrosion are complex and the effect of several parameters was recognised as important in the damage prediction. Predictive models are validated using both field observation and laboratory tests, where the quantitative information about flowrate and flowpattem is somehow lacking. With the aim at obtaining a better conelation between laboratory test results and field observation, a computational fluodynamic code was used in this work, to model the situation inside a cylindrical cell with rotating specimens. Preliminary results show that this technique can be useful to a better understanding of the experimental data. The morphology of localized corrosion (mesa attack) was reproduced in samples tested in the cell.
Key words: carbon dioxide, corrosion, computational fluid dynamics, shear stress