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.

A unified fractional flow framework for predicting the liquid holdup in two-phase pipe flows

Two-phase pipe flow occurs frequently in oil&gas industry,nuclear power plants,and CCUS.Reliable calculations of gas void fraction(or liquid holdup)play a central role in two-phase pipe flow models.In this paper we apply the fractional flow theory to multiphase flow in pipes and present a unified modeling framework for predicting the fluid phase volume fractions over a broad range of pipe flow conditions.Compared to existing methods and correlations,this new framework provides a simple,approximate,and efficient way to estimate the phase volume fraction in two-phase pipe flow without invoking flow patterns.Notably,existing correlations for estimating phase volume fraction can be transformed and expressed under this modeling framework.Different fractional flow models are applicable to different flow conditions,and they demonstrate good agreement against experimental data within 5%errors when compared with an experimental database comprising of 2754 data groups from 14literature sources,covering various pipe geometries,flow patterns,fluid properties and flow inclinations.The gas void fraction predicted by the framework developed in this work can be used as inputs to reliably model the hydraulic and thermal behaviors of two-phase pipe flows.

Flow Patterns and Heat Transfer Characteristics of a Polymer Pulsating Heat Pipe Filled with Hydrofluoroether

Visualization experiments were conducted to clarify the operational characteristics of a polymer pulsating heat pipe(PHP).Hydrofluoroether(HFE)-7100 was used as a working fluid,and its filling ratio was 50%of the entire PHP channel.A semi-transparent PHP was fabricated using a transparent polycarbonate sheet and a plastic 3D printer,and the movements of liquid slugs and vapor plugs of the working fluid were captured with a high-speed camera.The video images were then analyzed to obtain the flow patterns in the PHP.The heat transfer characteristics of the PHPwere discussed based on the flowpatterns and temperature distributions obtainedwith thermocouples.Before starting heating,because of high wettability,large liquid slugs positioned at the evaporator section of the PHP.After starting heating,since the occurrence of boiling divided the large liquid slugs,oscillatory flowof smaller liquid slugs and vapor plugs was found in the PHP.Clear circulation flow of liquid slugs and vapor plugs was observed when the power input to the PHP was larger than 12.0 W.The flow patterns and temperature distributions confirmed that the circulation flow enhanced the heat transfer from the evaporator section to the condenser section of the PHP.In the circulation flow mode,large growth and contraction of vapor plugs were found one after another in all even-numbered PHP channels.However,the analysis of flow patterns clarified that the phase-change heat transfer rate by large growth and contraction of vapor plugs was 19%of the total heat transfer rate of the PHP.Although the generation of large vapor plugs was found in the PHP,most of the heat was transferred by the sensible heat of the working fluid.

Experimental Analyses of Flow Pattern and Heat Transfer in a Horizontally Oriented Polymer Pulsating Heat Pipe withMerged Liquid Slugs

Extended experiments were conducted on the oscillation characteristics of merged liquid slugs in a horizontally oriented polymer pulsating heat pipe(PHP).The PHP’s serpentine channel comprised 14 parallel channels with a width of 1.3 mm and a height of 1.1 mm.The evaporator and condenser sections were 25 and 50 mm long,respectively,and the adiabatic section in between was 75mmlong.Using a plastic 3D printer and semi-transparent filament made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene,the serpentine channel was printed directly onto a thin polycarbonate sheet to form the PHP.The PHP was charged with hydrofluoroether-7100.In the experiments,the evaporator section was heated,and the condenser section was cooled using high-temperature and low-temperature thermostatic baths,respectively.Flow patterns of the working fluid were obtained with temperature distributions of the PHP.A mathematical model was developed to analyze the flow patterns.Themerged liquid slugs were observed in every two channels,and their oscillation characteristics were found to be approximately the same in time and space.It was also found that the oscillations of the merged liquid slugs became slower,but the heat transfer rate of the PHP increased with a decrease in the filling ratio of the working fluid.This is because vapor condensation was enhanced in vapor plugs as the filling ratio decreased.However,the filling ratio had a lower limit,and the heat transfer rate was maximum when the filling ratio was 40.6%in the present experimental range.

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.

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.

Movement Properties of Pipe Flow Along Granite Slope of Three Gorges Area of Yangtze River in China

It is well known that, in most cases, soil water doesn't move in the form of laminar flow as described by Darcy law. Only when Reynolds number ( Re ) is no more than 10, does water movement follow Darcy law. A soil profile with 2 9 m long and 2 13 2 60 m deep was excavated on a lower slope located at Zigui County, Hubei Province, China. Field observation found that soil pipes were mainly distributed in the transient layer between horizon B with higher degree of granite weathering and horizon C with lower degree of granite weathering. At the foot of the slope, about 5 7 soil pipes per meter were observed along the vertical direction of the slope. The observed results, obtained by continuous observation of soil pipes and pipe flow processes at granite slope for many rainfall events, indicate that the relationship between velocity of pipe flow and hydraulic gradient along the pipe is parabolic rather than linear. Based on the investigated data of soil, landform, and land use etc., combined with observed data of pipe flow derived from many rainfall events, a pipe flow model was developed. For velocity V p, discharge Q p of pipe flow and radius r of soil pipe, great similarity was found between simulated and observed values. Particularly, the simulated length of soil pipes reflects the great difference among soil pipes as a result of its different position in the soil profile. The length values of 4 soil pipes were estimated to be 98 1%, 27 6%, 11 0% and 3 0% of the longest distance of the catchment, respectively. As a special case of water movement, soil pipe flow follows Darcy Weisbach law. Discharge of pipe flow is much greater than infiltration discharge in common. Only when the depth of groundwater is more than the diameter of soil pipe and water layer submerges soil pipes during rainfall, may pipe flow occur. Under these circumstances, discharge of pipe flow is directly proportional to the depth of groundwater.

An Experimental Study on the Flow Characteristics of OilWater Two-Phase Flow in Horizontal Straight Pipes

The flow patterns and their transitions of oil-water two-phase flow in horizontal pipes were studied. The experiments were conducted in two kinds of horizontal tubes, made of plexiglas pipe and stainless steel pipe with 40 mm ID respectively. No. 46 mechanical oil and tap water were used as working fluids. The superflcial velocity ranges of oil and water were: 0.04-1.2m·s-1 and 0.04-2.2m·s-1, respectively. The flow patterns were identified by visualization and by transient fluctuation signals of differential pressure drop. The flow patterns were defined according to the relative distribution of oil and water phases in the pipes. Flow pattern maps were obtained for both pipelines. In addition, semi-theoretical transition criteria for the flow patterns were proposed, and the proposed transitional criteria are in reasonable agreement with available data in liquid-liquid systems.

Three-phase flow of submarine gas hydrate pipe transport

In the hydraulic transporting process of cutter-suction mining natural gas hydrate, when the temperature-pressure equilibrium of gas hydrate is broken, gas hydrates dissociate into gas. As a result, solid-liquid two-phase flow(hydrate and water) transforms into gas-solid-liquid three-phase flow(methane, hydrate and water) inside the pipeline. The Euler model and CFD-PBM model were used to simulate gas-solid-liquid three-phase flow. Numerical simulation results show that the gas and solid phase gradually accumulate to the center of the pipe. Flow velocity decreases from center to boundary of the pipe along the radial direction. Comparison of numerical simulation results of two models reveals that the flow state simulated by CFD-PBM model is more uniform than that simulated by Euler model, and the main behavior of the bubble is small bubbles coalescence to large one. Comparison of numerical simulation and experimental investigation shows that the values of flow velocity and gas fraction in CFD-PBM model agree with experimental data better than those in Euler model. The proposed PBM model provides a more accurate and effective way to estimate three-phase flow state of transporting gas hydrate within the submarine pipeline.

Research on the orientation distribution of fibers immersed in a pipe flow

The computed orientation distribution of fibers immersed in laminar pipe flows showed that the longitudinal distributions are wide for small Reynolds numbers and become narrower with increasing Re . For low Re number, the axial orientation distributions are broad with almost no preferred orientations. For high Re number, the axial distribution becomes narrow, with sharp maxima. The mean values of the longitudinal orientation depend strongly on the Re number. The computed results are in qualitative agreement with relevant experimental results.

Flow Electrification of Insulated Liquid in Metal Pipes

When relative motion occurs between a liquid and a solid, the two phases carry electric charge with opposite signs. The created charge easily accumulates in the liquid, and the amount of the charge carried in an insulated liquid refers to many factors, such as contact area with the solid surface, the contact time, and so forth. However, current theories agree that the amount of charge created during flow electrification is proportional to the contact surface. In this paper, the classical wall current theory is applied to establish an interfacial electrical double-layer model of flow electrification phenomena when an insulated liquid passes over metal pipe surface. Meanwhile, in conjunction with charge relaxation function, the relation between the charge density and flow velocity, the contact time and the contact area is obtained during the liquid flowing process. The experimental result demonstrates that the flowing charge carried in the insulated liquid is not simply proportional to the contact area, but has a non-linear dependence on the contact area and the contact time. Moreover, down flow experimental equipment pipes of different length and diameter, and dielectric hydraulic oil VG46 are used in an experimental study of laminar flow, in order to understand electrification phenomena in dielectric liquid flowing over metal pipes of different length and aperture. If they both increase linearly, charge relaxation will increase exponentially. As a result, the test result verifies related theoretical analysis, and the method given provides a theoretical basis to analyze interracial electrical phenomena.

An Investigation on the Void Fraction for upward Gas-Liquid Slug Flow in Vertical Pipe

In order to investigate the influence of the entrance effect on the spatial distribution of phases, the experiments on gas-liquid two-phase slug flow in a vertical pipe of 0.03m ID were carried out by using optical probes and an EKTAPRO 1000 high speed motion analyzer. It demonstrates that the radial profile of slug flow void fraction is parabolic. Influenced by the falling liquid film, the radial profile curve of liquid slug void fraction in the wake region is also parabolic. Since fully turbulent velocity distribution is built up in the developed region,the void fraction profile in this region is the saddle type. At given superficial liquid velocity, the liquid slug void fraction increases with gas velocity. The radial profiles of liquid slug void fraction at different axial locations are all saddle curves, but void fraction is obviously high around the centerline in the entrance region. The nearer the measuring station is from the entrance, the farther the peak location is away from the wall.

Numerical Simulations of Liquid-Solid Flows in A Vertical Pipe by MPS-DEM Coupling Method

In the process of deep-sea mining,the liquid-solid flows in the vertical transportation pipeline are very complex.In the present work,an in-house solver MPSDEM-SJTU based on the improved MPS and DEM is developed for the simulation of hydraulic conveying.Firstly,three examples including the multilayer cylinder collapse,the Poiseuille flow and two-phase dam-break are used to validate the precision of the DEM model,the pipe flow model and MPS-DEM coupling model,respectively.Then,the hydraulic conveying with coarse particles in a vertical pipe is simulated.The solid particle distribution is presented and investigated in detail.Finally,the coupling method is successfully applied for the simulation of the liquid-solid flows in a vertical pipe with rotating blades,which shows the stability of the solver under rotating boundary conditions.This fully Lagrangian model is expected to be a new approach for analyzing hydraulic conveying.

Fluid−Structure Interaction of Two-Phase Flow Passing Through 90° Pipe Bend Under Slug Pattern Conditions

Numerical simulations of evolution characteristics of slug flow across a 90°pipe bend have been carried out to study the fluid−structure interaction response induced by internal slug flow.The two-phase flow patterns and turbulence were modelled by using the volume of fluid(VOF)model and the Realizable k−εturbulence model respectively.Firstly,validation of the CFD model was carried out and the desirable results were obtained.The different flow patterns and the time-average mean void fraction was coincident with the reported experimental data.Simulations of different cases of slug flow have been carried out to show the effects of superficial gas and liquid velocity on the evolution characteristics of slug flow.Then,a one-way coupled fluid-structure interaction framework was established to investigate the slug flow interaction with a 90°pipe bend under various superficial liquid and gas velocities.It was found that the maximum total deformation and equivalent stress increased with the increasing superficial gas velocity,while decreased with the increasing superficial liquid velocity.In addition,the total deformation and equivalent stress has obvious periodic fluctuation.Furthermore,the distribution position of maximum deformation and stress was related to the evolution of slug flow.With the increasing superficial gas velocity,the maximum total deformation was mainly located at the 90°pipe bend.But as the superficial liquid velocity increases,the maximum total deformation was mainly located in the horizontal pipe section.Consequently,the slug flow with higher superficial gas velocity will induce more serious cyclical impact on the 90°pipe bend.

Numerical Simulation of Turbulent Swirling Pipe Flow with an Internal Conical Bluff Body

Turbulent swirling flow inside a short pipe interacting with a conical bluff body was simulated using the commercial CFD code Fluent.The geometry used is a simplified version of a novel liquid/gas separator used in multiphase flow metering.Three turbulence models,belonging to the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS)equations framework,are used.These are,RNG k-ε,SST k-ωand the full Reynolds stress model(RSM)in their steady and unsteady versions.Steady and unsteady RSM simulations show similar behavior.Compared to other turbulence models,they yield the best predictions of the mean velocity profiles though they exhibit some discrepancies in the core region.The influence of the Reynolds number on velocity profiles,swirl decay,and wall pressure on the bluff body are also presented.For Reynolds numbers generating a Rankine-like velocity profile,the width and magnitude of flow reversal zone decreases along the pipe axis disappearing downstream for lower Reynolds numbers.The tangential velocity peaks increase with increasing Reynolds number.The swirl decay rate follows an exponential form in accordance with the existing literature.These flow features would affect the performance of the real separator and,thus,the multiphase flow meter,noticeably.

Nanoparticle Migration in a Fully Developed Turbulent Pipe Flow Considering the Particle Coagulation

Numerical simulations of nanoparticle migration in a fully developed turbulent pipe flow are performed.The evolution of particle number concentration,total particle mass,polydispersity,particle diameter and geometric standard deviation is obtained by using a moment method to approximate the particle general dynamic equation.The effects of Schmidt number and Damkhler number on the evolution of the particle parameters are analyzed.The results show that nanoparticles move to the pipe center.The particle number concentration and total particle mass are distributed non-uniformly along the radial direction.In an initially monodisperse particle field,the particle clusters with various sizes will be produced because of coagulation.As time progresses,the particle cluster diameter grows from an initial value at different rates depending on the radial position.The largest particle clusters are found in the pipe center.The particle cluster number concentration and total particle mass decrease with the increase of Schmidt number in the region near the pipe center,and the particles with lower Schmidt number are of many dif-ferent sizes,i.e.more polydispersity.The particle cluster diameter and geometric standard deviation increase with the increase of Damkhler number at the same radial position.The migration properties for nano-sized particles are different from that for micro-sized particles.