Numerical Simulation of Oil-Water Two-Phase Flow in Low Permeability Tight Reservoirs Based on Weighted Least Squares Meshless Method

In response to the complex characteristics of actual low-permeability tight reservoirs,this study develops a meshless-based numerical simulation method for oil-water two-phase flow in these reservoirs,considering complex boundary shapes.Utilizing radial basis function point interpolation,the method approximates shape functions for unknown functions within the nodal influence domain.The shape functions constructed by the aforementioned meshless interpolation method haveδ-function properties,which facilitate the handling of essential aspects like the controlled bottom-hole flow pressure in horizontal wells.Moreover,the meshless method offers greater flexibility and freedom compared to grid cell discretization,making it simpler to discretize complex geometries.A variational principle for the flow control equation group is introduced using a weighted least squares meshless method,and the pressure distribution is solved implicitly.Example results demonstrate that the computational outcomes of the meshless point cloud model,which has a relatively small degree of freedom,are in close agreement with those of the Discrete Fracture Model(DFM)employing refined grid partitioning,with pressure calculation accuracy exceeding 98.2%.Compared to high-resolution grid-based computational methods,the meshless method can achieve a better balance between computational efficiency and accuracy.Additionally,the impact of fracture half-length on the productivity of horizontal wells is discussed.The results indicate that increasing the fracture half-length is an effective strategy for enhancing production from the perspective of cumulative oil production.

Wax deposition modeling in oil-water stratified pipe flow

Wax deposition in oil-water stratified flow is commonly encountered onshore and offshore oil production pipe systems,and typically reduces transportation capacity of oil.The accurate predicted model of wax deposition has becomes an indispensable approach to design effective remediation strategies.However,a reliable mechanistic model for wax deposition prediction in oil-water two-phase stratified pipe flow is lacking to validate the deposition process.In this work,a three-dimensional(axial,radial,and angular)robust wax deposit model for oil-water stratified circular pipe flow was developed.The model of formation of a gel deposit based on the first principles of rheology was developed,associated with the results obtained from hydrodynamics and heat/mass transfer simulations.The predictions for wax deposition are found to compare satisfactorily with experimental data with two different oils for single phase and four different water cuts for oil-water stratified pipe flow.It can be seen from the wax gelation mechanism that an increase in water cut can help to reduce the wall/oil-deposit interface shear stress,thereby leading to an increase in the degree of gelation as well as the deposit rate.Furthermore,a local deposit analysis in the circumferential direction was conducted,for water cut 75%and total flow rate 5 m3/h,which provided insights to understand that the thickness on pipe wall was roughly uniformly distributed locates near the top of the pipe and the nearer the position gets close to two points,where the oil-water interface contacts the inner wall,the deposition thickness quickly dropped to 0.It was attributed to the fact that a roughly uniformly thickness far away from the oil-water interface contact the inner wall resulted in the slowly changes temperature along the circumferential pipe wall wetted by oil.

Ultrasonic method for measuring water holdup of low velocity and high-water-cut oil-water two-phase flow

Oil reservoirs with low permeability and porosity that are in the middle and late exploitation periods in China＇s onshore oil fields are mostly in the high-water-cut production stage.This stage is associated with severely non-uniform local-velocity flow profiles and dispersed-phase concentration（of oil droplets） in oil-water two-phase flow,which makes it difficult to measure water holdup in oil wells.In this study,we use an ultrasonic method based on a transmission-type sensor in oil-water two-phase flow to measure water holdup in lowvelocity and high water-cut conditions.First,we optimize the excitation frequency of the ultrasonic sensor by calculating the sensitivity of the ultrasonic field using the finite element method for multiphysics coupling.Then we calculate the change trend of sound pressure level attenuation ratio with the increase in oil holdup to verify the feasibility of the employed diameter for the ultrasonic sensor.Based on the results,we then investigate the effects of oildroplet diameter and distribution on the ultrasonic field.To further understand the measurement characteristics of the ultrasonic sensor,we perform a flow loop test on vertical upward oilwater two-phase flow and measure the responses of the optimized ultrasonic sensor.The results show that the ultrasonic sensor yields poor resolution for a dispersed oil slug in water flow（D OS/W flow）,but the resolution is favorable for dispersed oil in water flow（D O/W flow） and very fine dispersed oil in water flow（VFD O/W flow）.This research demonstrates the potential application of a pulsed-transmission ultrasonic method for measuring the fraction of individual components in oil-water two-phase flow with a low mixture velocity and high water cut.

Analysis of particle dispersion in a turbulent flow considering particle rotation

Non-spherical particles exist widely in natural and industrial fluid systems and the motions of nonspherical particles are significantly different from that of spherical particles.In this paper,a simplified model of non-spherical particles considering particle drag correction,lift,and rotation was established.Based on the Eulerian-Lagrangian simulation,the dispersion characteristics of spherical and nonspherical particles with different Stokes numbers in a high-speed turbulent jet were analyzed and compared considering the effect of particle rotation.The results show that,the differences in particle dispersion and radial velocity fluctuation between non-spherical particles and spherical particles in the jet are significant,especially when Stokes number is large.Moreover,the effects of different type of forces on the dispersion of non-spherical particles and spherical particles were compared in detail,which revealed that the change of the Magnus force caused by the increase in the angular velocity of non-spherical particles plays a dominant role in the differences of particle dispersion.

Advances in Studies on Turbulent Dispersed Multiphase Flows

Dispersed multiphase flows,including gas-particle(gas-solid),gas-spray,liquid-particle(liquid-solid) ,liquid-bubble,and bubble-liquid-particle flows,are widely encountered in power,chemical and metallurgical,aeronautical and astronautical,transportation,hydraulic and nuclear engineering. In this paper,advances and re-search needs in fundamental studies of dispersed multiphase flows,including the particle/droplet/bubble dynamics,particle-particle,droplet-droplet and bubble-bubble interactions,gas-particle and bubble-liquid turbulence interac-tions,particle-wall interaction,numerical simulation of dispersed multiphase flows,including Reynolds-averaged modeling(RANS modeling),large-eddy simulation(LES) and direct numerical simulation(DNS) are reviewed. The research results obtained by the present author are also included in this review.

Partial phase flow rate measurements for stratified oil-water flow in horizontal wells

To accurately measure and evaluate the oil-water production profile of horizontal wells, a dynamic measurement experiment of oil-water two-phase flow in horizontal wells and numerical simulation were combined to establish a method for measuring the partial phase flow rate of oil-water two-phase stratified flow in horizontal wells. An experimental work was performed in horizontal oil-water two-phase flow simulation well using combination production logging tool including mini-capacitance sensor and mini-spinner. The combination tool provides a recording of holdup and velocity profiles at five different heights of the borehole cross-section. The effect of total flow rate and water-cut on the response of spinner and capacitive sensor at five measured positions were investigated. The capacitance water holdup interpolation imaging algorithm was used to determine the local fluid property and oil-water interface height, and the measured local fluid speed was combined with the numerical simulation result to establish an optimal calculation model for obtaining the partial phase flow rate of the oil-water two-phase stratified flow in the horizontal well. The calculated flow rates of five measured points are basically consistent with the experimental data, the total flow rate and water holdup from calculation are in agreement with the set values in the experiment too, suggesting that the method has high accuracy.

A seismic elastic moduli module for the measurements of low-frequency wave dispersion and attenuation of fluid-saturated rocks under different pressures

Knowledge about the seismic elastic modulus dispersion,and associated attenuation,in fluid-saturated rocks is essential for better interpretation of seismic observations taken as part of hydrocarbon identification and time-lapse seismic surveillance of both conventional and unconventional reservoir and overburden performances.A Seismic Elastic Moduli Module has been developed,based on the forced-oscillations method,to experimentally investigate the frequency dependence of Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio,as well as the inferred attenuation,of cylindrical samples under different confining pressure conditions.Calibration with three standard samples showed that the measured elastic moduli were consistent with the published data,indicating that the new apparatus can operate reliably over a wide frequency range of f∈[1-2000,10^(6)]Hz.The Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of the shale and the tight sandstone samples were measured under axial stress oscillations to assess the frequency-and pressure-dependent effects.Under dry condition,both samples appear to be nearly frequency independent,with weak pressure dependence for the shale and significant pressure dependence for the sandstone.In particular,it was found that the tight sandstone with complex pore microstructure exhibited apparent dispersion and attenuation under brine or glycerin saturation conditions,the levels of which were strongly influenced by the increased effective pressure.In addition,the measured Young's moduli results were compared with the theoretical predictions from a scaled poroelastic model with a reasonably good agreement,revealing that the combined fluid flow mechanisms at both mesoscopic and microscopic scales possibly responsible for the measured dispersion.

P-and SV-wave dispersion and attenuation in saturated microcracked porous rock with aligned penny-shaped fractures

P-and SV-wave dispersion and attenuation have been extensively investigated in saturated poroelastic media with aligned fractures.However,there are few existing models that incorporate the multiple wave attenuation mechanisms from the microscopic scale to the macroscopic scale.Hence,in this work,we developed a unified model to incorporate the wave attenuation mechanisms at different scales,which includes the microscopic squirt flow between the microcracks and pores,the mesoscopic wave-induced fluid flow between fractures and background(FB-WIFF),and the macroscopic Biot's global flow and elastic scattering(ES)from the fractures.Using Tang's modified Biot's theory and the mixed-boundary conditions,we derived the exact frequency-dependent solutions of the scattering problem for a single penny-shaped fracture with oblique incident P-and SV-waves.We then developed theoretical models for a set of aligned fractures and randomly oriented fractures using the Foldy approximation.The results indicated that microcrack squirt flow considerably influences the dispersion and attenuation of P-and SV-wave velocities.The coupling effects of microcrack squirt flow with the FB-WIFF and ES of fractures cause much higher velocity dispersion and attenuation for P waves than for SV waves.Randomly oriented fractures substantially reduce the attenuation caused by the FB-WIFF and ES,particularly for the ES attenuation of SV waves.Through a comparison with existing models in the limiting cases and previous experimental measurements,we validated our model.

Simulation of Oil-Water Flow in Shale Oil Reservoirs Based on Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics

A Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics(SPH)method is employed to simulate the two-phase flow of oil and water in a reservoir.It is shown that,in comparison to the classical finite difference approach,this method is more stable and effective at capturing the complex evolution of this category of two-phase flows.The influence of several smooth functions is explored and it is concluded that the Gaussian function is the best one.After 200 days,the block water cutoff for the Gaussian function is 0.3,whereas the other functions have a block water cutoff of 0.8.The effect of various injection ratios on real reservoir production is explored.When 14 and 8 m^(3)/day is employed,the water breakthrough time is 130 and 170 days,respectively,and the block produces 9246 m^(3) and 6338 m^(3) of oil cumulatively over 400 days.

Multifractal analysis of inclined oil-water countercurrent flow

Characterizing countercurrent flow structures in an inclined oil-water two-phase flow from one-dimensional measurement is of great importance for model building and sensor design.Firstly,we conducted oil-water two-phase flow experiments in an inclined pipe to measure the conductance signals of three typical water-dominated oil-water flow patterns in inclined flow,i.e.,dispersion oil-in-water pseudo-slug flow （PS）,dispersion oil-in-water countercurrent flow （CT）,and transitional flow （TF）.In pseudo-slug flow,countercurrent flow and transitional flow,oil is completely dispersed in water.Then we used magnitude and sign decomposition analysis and multifractal analysis to reveal levels of complexity in different flow patterns.We found that the PS and CT flow patterns both exhibited high complexity and obvious multifractal dynamic behavior,but the magnitude scaling exponent and singularity of the CT flow pattern were less than those of the PS flow pattern; and the TF flow pattern exhibited low complexity and almost monofractal behavior,and its magnitude scaling was close to random behavior.Meanwhile,at short time scales,all sign series of two-phase flow patterns exhibited very similar strong positive correlation; at high time scales,the scaling analysis of sign series showed different anti-correlated behavior.Furthermore,with an increase in oil flow rate,the flow structure became regular,which could be reflected by the decrease in the width of spectrum and the difference in dimensions.The results suggested that different oil-water flow patterns exhibited different nonlinear features,and the varying levels of complexity could well characterize the fluid dynamics underlying different oil-water flow patterns.

Simulation of Oil-Water Flow in a Shale Reservoir Using a Radial Basis Function

Due to the difficulties associated with preprocessing activities and poor grid convergence when simulating shale reservoirs in the context of traditional grid methods,in this study an innovative two-phase oil-water seepage model is elaborated.The modes is based on the radial basis meshless approach and is used to determine the pressure and water saturation in a sample reservoir.Two-dimensional examples demonstrate that,when compared to the finite difference method,the radial basis function method produces less errors and is more accurate in predicting daily oil production.The radial basis function and finite difference methods provide errors of 5.78 percent and 7.5 percent,respectively,when estimating the daily oil production data for a sample well.A sensitivity analysis of the key parameters that affect the radial basis function’s computation outcomes is also presented.

A CLOSED SYSTEM OF EQUATIONS FOR DENSE TWO-PHASE FLOW AND EXPRESSIONS OF SHEARING STRESS OF DISPERSED PHA’E AT A WALL

Inthis paper, each of the two phases in dense two-phase flow is considered as continuous medium and the fundamental equations for two-phase flow arc described in Eulerian form. The generalized constitutive relation of the Bingham fluid is applied to the dispersed phase with the analysis oj physical mechanism of dense two-phase flow. The shearing stress of dispersed phase at a wall is used to give a boundary condition. Then a mathematical model for dense two-phase flow is obtained. In addition, the expressions of shearing stress of dispersed phase at a wall is derived according to the fundamental model of the friclional collision between dispersed-plutse particles and the wall.

Modeling on Residence Time Distribution in Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetlands by Multi Flow Dispersion Model

As an important design factor for constructed wetlands,hydraulic retention time and its distribution will affect the treatment performance.Instantaneously injected sodium chloride tracers were used to obtain residence time distributions of the lab scale subsurface flow constructed wetland.Considering the presence of trailing and multiple peaks of the tracer breakthrough curve,the multi flow dispersion model(MFDM)was used to fit the experimental tracer breakthrough curves.According to the residual sum of squares and comparison between the experimental values and simulated values of the tracer concentration,MFDM could fit the residence time distribution(RTD)curve satisfactorily,the results of which also reflected the layered structure of wetland cells,thus to give reference for application of MFDM to the same kind of subsurface flow constructed wetlands.

Shear Flow Dispersion Under Wave and Current

The longitudinal dispersion of solute in open channel flow with short period progressive waves is investigated. The waves induce second order drift velocity in the direction of propagation and enhance the mixing process in concurrent direction. The 1-D wave-period-averaged dispersion equation is derived and an expression for the wave-current induced longitudinal dispersion coefficient （WCLDC） is propased based on Fiscber＇ s expression （1979） for dispersion in unidirectional flow. The result shows that the effect of waves on dispersion is mainly due to the cross-sectional variation of the drift velocity. Furthermore, to obtain a more practical expression of the WCLDC, the longitudinal dispersion coefficient due to Seo and Cheong （1998） is modified to incluee the effect of drift velocity. Laboratory experiments have been conducted to verify the propased expression. The experimental results, together with dimensional analysis, show that tbe wave effect can be reflected by the ratio between the wave amplitude and wave period. A comparative study between the cases with and without waves demonstrates that the magnitude of the longitudinal dispersion coefficient is increased nnder the presence of waves.

The dispersion of particles in turbulent semi-circular duct flows

The flow field in a semi-circular duct is simulated by Large Eddy Simulation(LES)and its particle field is simulated by Lagrange particle tracking method.Reynolds number Reb(based on bulk velocity and hydraulic diameter)is 80,000 and Ret(based on friction velocity and hydraulic diameter)is 3528.Particle diameter dpis chosen as 10,50,100,500 mm corresponding to St as 0.10,2.43,9.72,243.05.The results show that the intensity of the secondary flow near the ceiling is less than that near the floor because the ceiling is curved and able to inhibit the secondary flow.It is found that the difference between the semicircular duct and the square duct is that the secondary flow in a corner of the semi-circular duct is not symmetrical along the diagonal although they have the same generation mechanism.Regarding the particles,small particles(dp≤10 mm)are found to uniformly distribute in the duct,while large particles(dp≥50 mm)preferentially distribute in the corner and floor center.The maximum particles(dp=500mm)fall on the floor quickly and their dispersion mainly depends on the secondary flow near the floor.Particle deposition in the corner depends on particle size due to the effect of secondary flow and gravity.The effect of lift force on particles becomes more significant for 50 and 100 mm particles in comparison with other smaller particles.In the end,the effect of secondary flow is found to be more significant to dominate particle behavior than that of flow fluctuation.

Efect of double dispersion on non-Darcy mixed convective flow over vertical surface embedded in porous medium

A numerical study of a non-Darcy mixed convective heat and mass transfer flow over a vertical surface embedded in a dispersion, melting, and thermal radiation is porous medium under the effects of double investigated. The set of governing boundary layer equations and the boundary conditions is transformed into a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations with the relevant boundary conditions. The transformed equations are solved numerically by using the Chebyshev pseudospectral method. Comparisons of the present results with the existing results in the literature are made, and good agreement is found. Numerical results for the velocity, temperature, concentration profiles, and local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are discussed for various values of physical parameters.

On the time development of dispersion in electroosmotic flow througha rectangular channel

This is an analytical study on the time develop- ment of hydrodynamic dispersion of an inert species in elec- troosmotic flow through a rectangular channel. The objec- tive is to determine how the channel side walls may affect the dispersion coefficient at different instants of time. To this end, the generalized dispersion model, which is valid for short and long times, is employed in the present study. An- alytical expressions are derived for the convection and dis- persion coefficients as functions of time, the aspect ratio of the channel, and the Debye-Htickel parameter representing the thickness of the electric double layer. For transport in a channel of large aspect ratio, the dispersion may undergo several stages of transience. The initial, fast time develop- ment is controlled by molecular diffusion across the narrow channel height, while the later, slower time development is governed by diffusion across the wider channel breadth. For a sufficiently large aspect ratio, there can be an interlude between these two periods during which the coefficient is nearly steady, signifying the resemblance of the transport to that in a parallel-plate channel. Given a sufficiently long time, the dispersion coefficient will reach a fully-developed steady value that may be several times higher than that with- out the side wall effects. The time scales for these periods of transience are identified in this paper.

NEW APPROACH TO MINIMIZE DISPERSION INDUCED BY TURN IN CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS CHANNEL FLOWS

The mechanism of dispersion induced by turn in the capillary electrophoresis channel flows was analyzed firstly. Then the mathematical model of electroosmotic flow is built, and the dispersion of the flow, with different distribution of charge at inner and outer wall in the turns, was simulated numerically using the finite differential method. A new approach of altering the distribution of charge at inner and outer wall in the turns was presented, based on the computational results, to minimize the dispersion induced by turn. Meanwhile, an optimization algorithm to analyze the numerical results and determine the optimal distribution of charge in the turns was also developed. It is found that the dispersion induced by turn in the capillary electrophoresis channel flows could be significantly suppressed by this approach.

Study on water treatment effect of dispersion discharge plasma based on flowing water film electrode

To improve the utilization rate of plasma active species,in this study,a closed non-uniform air gap is formed by a flowing water film electrode and a sawtooth insulating dielectric layer to realize the diffuse glow discharge in the atmosphere.Firstly,the electric field distribution characteristics of non-uniform air gap in the sawtooth dielectric layer are studied,and the influence of aspect ratio on the characteristics of diffuse discharge plasma is discussed.Subsequently,the effects of wire mesh,the inclination angle of the dielectric plate,and liquid inlet velocity on the flow characteristics of the water film electrode are analyzed.The results show that the non-uniform electric field distribution formed in the sawtooth groove can effectively inhibit the filamentous discharge,and the 1 mm flowing water film is directly used as the electrode,and high-active plasma is formed directly on the lower surface of the water film.In addition,a plasma flowing water treatment device is built to treat the methyl orange solution and observe its decolorization effect.The experimental results show that after 50 min of treatment,the decolorization rate of the methyl orange solution reaches 96%,which provides a new idea for industrial applications of wastewater treatment.

DROPLET DISPERSION AND COALESCENCE IN A POLYMER BLEND IN FLOW FIELDS

In this paper,the deformation,breakup,and coalescence of dispersed phase droplets in Newtonian liquid systems and viscoelastic liquid systems are reviewed.For Newtonian liquid systems a generally good understanding of dispersed phase morphology has been gained,whereas for viscoelastic liquid systems the comprehension is limited,especially for the effect of elasticity.