Simulation of Gas-Water Two-Phase Flow in Tight Gas Reservoirs Considering the Gas Slip Effect

A mathematical model for the gas-water two-phase flow in tight gas reservoirs is elaborated.The model can account for the gas slip effect,stress sensitivity,and high-speed non-Darcy factors.The related equations are solved in the framework of a finite element method.The results are validated against those obtained by using the commercial software CMG(Computer Modeling Group software for advanced recovery process simulation).It is shown that the proposed method is reliable.It can capture the fracture rejection characteristics of tight gas reservoirs better than the CMG.A sensitivity analysis of various control factors(initial water saturation,reservoir parameters,and fracturing parameters)affecting the production in tight gas wells is conducted accordingly.Finally,a series of theoretical arguments are provided for a rational and effective development/exploitation of tight sandstone gas reservoirs.

SIMULATION OF GAS AND LIQUID TWO-PHASE FLOW THROUGH THE BLAST FURNACE DROPPING ZONE

A three-dimensional mathematical model,based on differential balances of mass and momentum,hasbeen developed to describe the two-phase flow of gas and liquid through the dropping zone of the blast fur-nace.Agreement between observed and calculated values verifies the validity of this model.On the basis of this model,various parameters for the surrounding of the dry zone of Blast FurnaceNo.I-BF of the Beijing Iron and Steel Company have been computed,from which a diagram for demar-cation of fluidization of coke and flooding of slag has been proposed.

Analysis of Maximum Liquid Carrying Capacity Based on Conventional Tubing Plunger Gas Lift

China’s unconventional gas fields have a large number of low-productivity and low-efficiency wells, many of whichare located in remote and environmentally harsh mountainous areas. To address the long-term stable productionof these gas wells, plunger-lift technology plays an important role. In order to fully understand and accurately graspthe drainage and gas production mechanisms of plunger-lift, a mechanical model of plunger-liquid column uplift inthe plunger-lift process was established, focusing on conventional plunger-lift systems and representative wellboreconfigurations in the Linxing region. The operating casing pressure of the plunger-lift process and the calculationmethod for the maximum daily fluid production rate based on the work regime with the highest fluid recovery ratewere determined. For the first time, the critical flow rate method was proposed as a constraint for the maximumliquid-carrying capacity of the plunger-lift, and liquid-carrying capacity charts for conventional plunger-lift withdifferent casing sizes were developed. The results showed that for 23/8 casing plunger-lift, with a well depth ofshallower than 808 m, the maximum drainage rate was 33 m3/d;for 27/8 casing plunger-lift, with a well depth ofshallower than 742 m, the maximum drainage rate was 50.15 m3/d;for 31/2 casing plunger-lift, with a well depthof shallower than 560 m, the maximum drainage rate was 75.14 m3/d. This research provides a foundation for thescientific selection of plunger-lift technology and serves as a decision-making reference for developing reasonableplunger-lift work regimes.

Simultaneous measurement of velocity profile and liquid film thickness in horizontal gas–liquid slug flow by using ultrasonic Doppler method

Horizontal gas-liquid two-phase flows widely exist in chemical engineering,oil/gas production and other important industrial processes.Slug flow pattern is the main form of horizontal gas-liquid flows and characterized by intermittent motion of film region and slug region.This work aims to develop the ultrasonic Doppler method to realize the simultaneous measurement of the velocity profile and liquid film thickness of slug flow.A single-frequency single-channel transducer is adopted in the design of the field-programmable gate array based ultrasonic Doppler system.A multiple echo repetition technology is used to improve the temporal-spatial resolution for the velocity profile.An experiment of horizontal gas-liquid two-phase flow is implemented in an acrylic pipe with an inner diameter of 20 mm.Considering the aerated characteristics of the liquid slug,slug flow is divided into low-aerated slug flow,high-aerated slug flow and pseudo slug flow.The temporal-spatial velocity distributions of the three kinds of slug flows are reconstructed by using the ultrasonic velocity profile measurement.The evolution characteristics of the average velocity profile in slug flows are investigated.A novel method is proposed to derive the liquid film thickness based on the instantaneous velocity profile.The liquid film thickness can be effectively measured by detecting the position and the size of the bubbles nearly below the elongated gas bubble.Compared with the time of flight method,the film thickness measured by the Doppler system shows a higher accuracy as a bubble layer occurs in the film region.The effect of the gas distribution on the film thickness is uncovered in three kinds of slug flows.

Numerical simulation of gas–liquid flow in the bubble column using Wray–Agarwal turbulence model coupled with population balance model

In this paper,an improved computational fluid dynamic(CFD)model for gas-liquid flow in bubble column was developed using the one-equation Wary-Agarwal(WA)turbulence model coupled with the population balance model(PBM).Through 18 orthogonal test cases,the optimal combination of interfacial force models,including drag force,lift force,turbulent dispersion force.The modified wall lubrication force model was proposed to improve the predictive ability for hydrodynamic behavior near the wall of the bubble column.The values simulated by optimized CFD model were in agreement with experimental data,and the errors were within±20%.In addition,the axial velocity,turbulent kinetic energy,bubble size distribution,and the dynamic characteristic of bubble plume were analyzed at different superficial gas velocities.This research work could provide a theoretical basis for the extension of the CFD-PBM coupled model to other multiphase reactors..

Gas liquid cylindrical cyclone flow regime identification using machine learning combined with experimental mechanism explanation

The flow regimes of GLCC with horizon inlet and a vertical pipe are investigated in experiments,and the velocities and pressure drops data labeled by the corresponding flow regimes are collected.Combined with the flow regimes data of other GLCC positions from other literatures in existence,the gas and liquid superficial velocities and pressure drops are used as the input of the machine learning algorithms respectively which are applied to identify the flow regimes.The choosing of input data types takes the availability of data for practical industry fields into consideration,and the twelve machine learning algorithms are chosen from the classical and popular algorithms in the area of classification,including the typical ensemble models,SVM,KNN,Bayesian Model and MLP.The results of flow regimes identification show that gas and liquid superficial velocities are the ideal type of input data for the flow regimes identification by machine learning.Most of the ensemble models can identify the flow regimes of GLCC by gas and liquid velocities with the accuracy of 0.99 and more.For the pressure drops as the input of each algorithm,it is not the suitable as gas and liquid velocities,and only XGBoost and Bagging Tree can identify the GLCC flow regimes accurately.The success and confusion of each algorithm are analyzed and explained based on the experimental phenomena of flow regimes evolution processes,the flow regimes map,and the principles of algorithms.The applicability and feasibility of each algorithm according to different types of data for GLCC flow regimes identification are proposed.

Quantitative research of the liquid film characteristics in upward vertical gas, oil and water flows

The study of liquid film characteristics in multiphase flow is a very important research topic, however,the characteristics of the liquid film around Taylor bubble structure in gas, oil and water three-phase flow are not clear. In the present study, a novel liquid film sensor is applied to measure the distributed signals of the liquid film in three-phase flow. Based on the liquid film signals, the liquid film characteristics including the structural characteristics and the nonlinear dynamics characteristics in three-phase flows are investigated for the first time. The structural characteristics including the proportion, the appearance frequency and the thickness of the liquid film are obtained and the influences of the liquid and gas superficial velocities and the oil content on them are investigated. To investigate the nonlinear dynamics characteristics of the liquid film with the changing flow conditions, the entropy analysis is introduced to successfully uncover and quantify the dynamic complexity of the liquid film behavior.

Mechanism from particle compaction to fluidization of liquid–solid two-phase flow

A new model of particle yield stress including cohesive strength is proposed,which considers the friction and cohesive strength between particles.A calculation method for the fluidization process of liquid–solid two-phase flow in compact packing state is given,and the simulation and experimental studies of fluidization process are carried out by taking the sand–water two-phase flow in the jet dredging system as an example,and the calculation method is verified.

Experimental Investigation of Vibration Response of A Free-Hanging Flexible Riser Induced by Internal Gas-Liquid Slug Flow

The vibration response of a free-hanging flexible riser induced by internal gas-liquid slug flow was studied experimentally in a small-diameter tube model based on Froude number criterion. The flow regime in a curved riser model and the response displacements of the riser were simultaneously recorded by high speed cameras. The gas superficial velocity ranges from 0.1 m/s to 0.6 m/s while the liquid superficial velocity from 0.06 m/s to 0.3 m/s.Severe slugging type 3, unstable oscillation flow and relatively stable slug flow were observed in the considered flow rates. Severe slugging type 3 characterized by premature gas penetration occurs at relatively low flow rates. Both the cycle time and slug length become shorter as the gas flow rate increases. The pressure at the riser base undergoes a longer period and larger amplitude of fluctuation as compared with the other two flow regimes. Additionally, severe slugging leads to the most vigorous in-plane vibration. However, the responses in the vertical and horizontal directions are not synchronized. The vertical vibration is dominated by the second mode while the horizontal vibration is dominated by the first mode. Similar to the vortex-induced vibration, three branches are identified as initial branch, build-up branch and descending branch for the response versus the mixture velocity of gas-liquid flow.

Prediction of Flowing Bottomhole Pressures for Two-Phase Coalbed Methane Wells

A method is proposed to predict the flowing bottomhole pressures （FBHPs） for two-phase coalbed methane （CBM） wells. The mathematical models for both gas column pressure and two-phase fluid column pressure were developed based on the well liquid flow equation. FBHPs during the production were predicted by considering the effect of entrained liquid on gravitational gradients. Comparison of calculated BHPs by Cullender-Smith and proposed method was also studied. The results show that the proposed algorithm gives the desired accuracy of calculating BHPs in the low- productivity and low-pressure CBM wells. FBHP is resulted from the combined action of wellhead pressure, gas column pressure and fluid column pressure. Variation of kinetic energy term, compressibility and friction factors with depth increments and liquid holdup with velocity should be considered to simulate the real BHPs adequately. BHP is a function of depth of each column segment. The small errors of less than 1.5% between the calculated and measured values are obtained with each segment within 25 m. Adjusting BHPs can effectively increase production pressure drop, which is beneficial to CBM desorption and enhances reservoir productivity. The increment of pressure drop from 5.37 MPa2 to 8.66 MPa2 leads to an increase of CBM production from 3270 m3/d to 6700 m3/d and is attributed to a decrease in BHP from 2.25 MPa to 1.33 MPa.

Effects of tube cross-sectional shapes on flow pattern, liquid film and heat transfer of n-pentane across tube bundles

The heat transfer of hydrocarbon refrigerant across tube bundles have been widely used in refrigeration.Three-dimensional simulation model using volume of fluid(VOF) was presented to study the effects of tube shapes on flow pattern, film thickness and heat transfer of n-pentane across tube bundles, including circle, ellipse-shaped, egg-shaped and cam-shaped tube bundles. Simulation results agree well with experimental data in the literature. The liquid film thickness of sheet flow and heat transfer for different tube shapes were obtained numerically. The flow pattern transition occurs lower vapor quality for ellipse-shaped tube than other tube shapes. For sheet flow, the liquid film on circle tube and ellipseshaped tube is symmetrically distributed along the circumferential direction. However, the liquid film on egg-shaped tube at circumferential angles(θ) = 15°–60° is thicker than θ = 135°–165°. The liquid film on cam tube at θ = 15°–60° is slightly thinner than θ = 135°–165°. The liquid film thickness varies from thinner to thicker for ellipse-shaped, cam-shaped, egg-shape and circle within θ = 15°–60°. The effect of tube shape is insignificant on thin liquid film thickness. Ellipse-shaped tube has largest heat transfer coefficient for sheet flow. In practical engineering, the tube shape could be designed as ellipse to promote heat transfer.

Gas–liquid flow mass transfer in a T-shape microreactor stimulated with 1.7 MHz ultrasound waves

This paper describes the application of ultrasound waves on hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics in the gas–liquid flow in a T-shape microreactor with a diameter of 800 μm. A 1.7 MHz piezoelectric transducer(PZT) was employed to induce the vibration in this microreactor. Liquid side volumetric mass transfer coefficients were measured by physical and chemical methods of CO_2 absorption into water and Na OH solution. The approach of absorption of CO_2 into a 1 mol·L^(-1) Na OH solution was used for analysis of interfacial areas. With the help of a photography system, the fluid flow patterns inside the microreactor were analyzed. The effects of superficial liquid velocity, initial concentration of Na OH, superficial CO_2 gas velocity and length of microreactor on the mass transfer rate were investigated. The comparison between sonicated and plain microreactors(microreactor with and without ultrasound) shows that the ultrasound wave irradiation has a significant effect on kLa and interfacial area at various operational conditions. For the microreactor length of 12 cm, ultrasound waves improved kLa and interfacial area about 21% and 22%, respectively. From this study, it can be concluded that ultrasound wave irradiation in microreactor has a great effect on the mass transfer rate. This study suggests a new enhancement technique to establish high interfacial area and kLa in microreactors.

Study on gas–liquid flow characteristics in stirred tank with dual-impeller based on CFD-PBM coupled model

Study on gas–liquid flow in stirred tank with two combinations of dual-impeller(six-bent-bladed turbine(6BT)+six-inclined-blade down-pumping turbine(6 ITD),the six-bent-bladed turbine(6BT)+six-inclinedblade up-pumping turbine(6ITU))was conducted using computational fluid dynamics(CFD)and population balance model(PBM)(CFD-PBM)coupled model.The local bubble size was captured by particle image velocimetry(PIV)measurement.The gas holdup,bubble size distribution and gas–liquid interfacial area were explored at different conditions through numerical simulation.The results showed that the 4 mm bubbles accounted for the largest proportion of 33%at the gas flow rates Q=0.76 m^(3)·h^(-1) and 22%at Q=1.52 m^(3)·h^(-1) for combined impeller of 6BT+6ITU,while the bubbles of 4.7 mm and 5.5 mm were the largest proportion for 6BT+6ITD combination,i.e.25%at Q=0.76 m^(3)·h^(-1) and 22%at Q=1.52 m^(3)·h^(-1),respectively,which indicated that 6BT+6ITU could reduce bubble size effectively and promote gas dispersion.In addition,the gas holdup around impellers was increased obviously with the speed compared with gas flow rate.So it was concluded that 6ITU impeller could be more conductive to the bubble dispersion with more uniform bubble size,which embodied the advantages of 6BT+6ITU combination in gas–liquid mixing.

Near-source characteristics of two-phase gas-solid outbursts in roadways

Coal and gas outbursts compromise two-phase gas-solid mixtures as they propagate as shock waves and flows from their sources.Propagation is influenced by the form of the outburst,proximity to source,the structure and form of the transmitting roadways and the influence of obstacles.The following characterizes the propagation of coal and gas outbursts as two-phase gas-solid flows proximal to source where the coupled effects of pulverized coal and gas flows dominate behavior.The characteristics of shock wave propagation and attenuation were systematically examined for varied roadway geometries using experiments and numerical models.The results demonstrate that the geometry of roadway obstructions is significant and may result in partial compression and sometimes secondary overpressurization in blocked and small comer roadways leading to significant attenuation of outburst shock waves.The shock waves attenuate slowly in both straight and abruptly expanding roadways and more significantly in T-shaped roadways.The most significant attenuation appears in small angle comers and bifurcations in roadways with the largest attenuation occurring in blocked roadways.These results provide basic parameters for simplifying transport in complex roadway networks in the far-field,and guidance for the design of coal and gas outburst prevention facilities and emergency rescue.

Calculating densities and viscosities of natural gas with a high content of C_(2+) to predict two-phase liquid-gas flow pattern

The paper is devoted to the two-phase flow simulation.The gas-condensate mixture flow in a horizontal pipe under high pressure is considered.The influence of the equation of state(EOS)choice for mixture properties modelling on the flow regime calculation results is studied for gas with high content of methane homologues.An analytical overview of the methods to predict the flow pattern is provided.Based on this analysis,two techniques are selected.For these techniques,values of density and viscosity for each phase are required.Density calculation for the gas phase is performed with Van der Waals based EOS.The propriate EOS is selected based on studies of calculation errors for test mixtures.Calculation of liquid phase density is done by means of Patela-Teja and Guo-Du equations,two different models are considered for viscosity estimation.The flow patterns of gas-condensate mixture in a range of temperatures and pressures are calculated and verified via probability map.The results of study allow to recommend the Brusilovsky EOS for calculation of densities for similar gas mixtures and make more rigorous flow regime evaluation.The probability map shows that for the chosen composition and parameters of media the flow pattern is mostly transitional between segregated and annular independent from EOS.

Godunov-type solutions for gas-liquid two-phase transient flows with gas release effects

The gas-liquid two-phase homogenous flow has been extensively investigated without the effect of gas release.However,the dissolved gas will release when internal water pressure drops below saturation pressure during hydraulic transients.This results in inaccuracy or even invalidity of the existing model for homogenous flows,especially for the reproduction of two-phase mass transfer processes.To address this problem,this paper couples the gas release model with conservation equations of homogenous flows,which are numerically solved by the second-order Godunov-type scheme(GTS).Specifically,a virtual-cell method is adopted at system boundaries to achieve the same second-order accuracy as interior cells,which is realized by the monotonic upwind scheme for conservation laws(MUSCL-Hancock scheme).Simulated pressure curves by the proposed model are compared with a series of analytical,numerical and experimental results.It indicates that the proposed model with gas release effects reproduces actual pressure responses most accurately,with minimum relative error and root mean squared error compared with experimental data.Moreover,the gas release leads to dynamic synchronous fluctuations of void fraction,wave speed and pressure head,including the opposite trends of void fraction and pressure,and higher void fraction leading to greater wave speed depression.Furthermore,sensitivity analysis is concluded with recommended Courant number,and different gas release effects in different initial void fractions.Present research increases the basic understanding of two-phase mass transfer processes and their implications for hydraulic transients.

Distribution performance of gas–liquid mixture in the shell side of spiral-wound heat exchangers

The non-uniformity of gas–liquid mixture is a critical issue which leads to the heat transfer deterioration of spiralwound heat exchangers(SWHEs).Two-phase mass flow rate and the content of gas are important parameters as well as structural parameters which have prominent influences on flow distribution uniformity of SWHE shell side.In order to investigate the influences of these parameters,an experimental test system was built using water and air as mediums and a novel distributor named"tubes distributor"was designed.The effects of mass flow rate and the content of gas on two-phase distribution performance were analyzed,where the mass flow rate ranged from 28.4 to 171.9 kg·h-1 and the content of gas changed from 0.2 to 0.8,respectively.The results showed that the mixture mass flow rate considerably influenced the liquid distribution than that of gas phase and the larger mass flow rate exhibited the better distribution uniformity of two-phase flow.It was also found that the tubes distributor had the better two-phase uniformity when the content of gas was around 0.4.Tube diameter played an important role in the distribution of gas phase and slit width was more significant for the uniformity of liquid phase.

RESEARCH ON METHOD TO CALCULATE VELOCITIES OF SOLID PHASE AND LIQUID PHASE IN DEBRIS FLOW

Velocities of solid phase and liquid phase in debris flow are one key problem to research on impact and abrasion mechanism of banks and control structures under action of debris flow. Debris flow was simplified as two-phase liquid composed of solid phase with the same diameter particles and liquid phase with the same mechanical features. Assume debris flow was one-dimension two-phase liquid moving to one direction, then general equations of velocities of solid phase and liquid phase were founded in two-phase theory. Methods to calculate average pressures, volume forces and surface forces of debris flow control volume were established. Specially, surface forces were ascertained using Bingham＇s rheology equation of liquid phase and Bagnold＇s testing results about interaction between particles of solid phase. Proportional coefficient of velocities between liquid phase and solid phase was put forward, meanwhile, divergent coefficient between theoretical velocity and real velocity of solid phase was provided too. To state succinctly before, method to calculate velocities of solid phase and liquid phase was obtained through solution to general equations. The method is suitable for both viscous debris flow and thin debris flow. Additionally, velocities every phase can be identified through analyzing deposits in-situ after occurring of debris flow. It is obvious from engineering case the result in the method is consistent to that in real-time field observation.

A liquid loading prediction method of gas pipeline based on machine learning

The liquid loading is one of the most frequently encountered phenomena in the transportation of gas pipeline,reducing the transmission efficiency and threatening the flow assurance.However,most of the traditional mechanism models are semi-empirical models,and have to be resolved under different working conditions with complex calculation process.The development of big data technology and artificial intelligence provides the possibility to establish data-driven models.This paper aims to establish a liquid loading prediction model for natural gas pipeline with high generalization ability based on machine learning.First,according to the characteristics of actual gas pipeline,a variety of reasonable combinations of working conditions such as different gas velocity,pipe diameters,water contents and outlet pressures were set,and multiple undulating pipeline topography with different elevation differences was established.Then a large number of simulations were performed by simulator OLGA to obtain the data required for machine learning.After data preprocessing,six supervised learning algorithms,including support vector machine(SVM),decision tree(DT),random forest(RF),artificial neural network(ANN),plain Bayesian classification(NBC),and K nearest neighbor algorithm(KNN),were compared to evaluate the performance of liquid loading prediction.Finally,the RF and KNN with better performance were selected for parameter tuning and then used to the actual pipeline for liquid loading location prediction.Compared with OLGA simulation,the established data-driven model not only improves calculation efficiency and reduces workload,but also can provide technical support for gas pipeline flow assurance.

On the Development of a Model for the Prediction of Liquid Loading in Gas Wells with an Inclined Section

The ability to predict liquid loading in horizontal gas wells is of great importance for determining the time of drainage and optimizing the related production technology.In the present work,we describe the outcomes of experiments conducted using air-water mixtures in a horizontal well.The results show that the configuration with an inclined section is the most susceptible to liquid loading.Laboratory experiments in an inclined pipe were also conducted to analyze the variation of the critical gas flow rate under different angles,pressure and liquid volume(taking the equal liquid volume at inlet and outlet as the criterion for judging on the critical state).According to these results,the related angle of the inclined section ranges from 45°to 60°.Finally,a modified approach based on the Belfroid model has been used to predict the critical gas flow rate for the inclined section.After comparison with field data,this modified model shows an accuracy of 96%,indicating that it has better performances with respect to other models used in the past to predict liquid loading.