Victor Hugo Jaimes

Biographical Notes:

·         Bachelors degree in Industrial Engineering (Santa Maria University – Caracas/Venezuela)

·         Work experience in Logistics coordination, Inventory rotation, planification and implementation of maintenance routines for TPM.

·         Currently enrolled in a MSc in Engineering Management (University of Alberta – Edmonton/Canada)

 

Current Research Project: Characterization of Slurry Wear Process Conditioninig in Pipelines.

Motivation and Objectives:

In Alberta pipelining slurry transportation is highly used in the mining and hydro-transport processes of the oil sands industry.  All the components exposesd to these proceses suffer from many abrasive wear mechanisms mainly identified as erosion and corrosion or synergism of both, wich results in costly shutdowns due to repair and replacement of sections of pipelinig. Therefore, having a better understanding of the damage mechanisms present in pumps and slurry transport pipelines would help in the development of processes for choosing the right materials and the most effective maintenance techniques for keeping these pieces of equipment working as efficient as possible.

·         Development of a better understanding of the two layer model for the characterization of damage accumulation in pipeline slurry trasnportation processes through experimental insight in a laboratory environment.

 

·         Design of a slurry loop apparatus in a laboratory environment for conducting preliminary slurry wear testing  and test the characterization model in a controlled setting.

·         Development of a characterization model of erosion wear mechanism present in slurry loop pipelines and some standard wear testing procedurees such us ASTM G65 and ASTM B611.

·         Contribute with this research as a basis for future work that may be developed and helpful for the oil industry regarding wear characterization and testing.

 

Progress to Date and Expected Completion: Currently the slurry pipeline loop have been designed and built at The University of Alberta. Its full commissioning is about to be done and in parallel design work on a hybrid wear test rig have been started and will be completed within the summer months of 2010. The project in full is expected to be accomplished by the end of 2010.

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