Numerical investigation of flow and heat transfer behind a two-dimensional backward-facing step equipped with a semi-porous baffle

The backward-facing step is a critical problem existing in many engineering and industrial applications.In this study,a semi-porous baffle(the root of the baffle is a porous medium and the tip is solid) is placed behind the step.The effects of the length of the porous part,and the baffle location on the energy transfer and pressure drop are studied in different Reynolds numbers(Re=100,200,300,400,500).The effect of the Darcy number of the porous medium on the aforementioned parameters is also investigated.Both the local maximum and average relative Nusselt numbers(divided by the Nusselt of the base case with no baffle at the same Reynolds) and relative pressure drop(calculated as the relative Nusselt number) are reported.The results show that by adoption of the proper length of the porous medium,the average relative and maximum local Nusselt numbers could be enhanced by 20% and 90%,respectively.Low permeable porous media give better energy transfer.For example,porous media with Da=10^(-5) give 30% better maximum local Nusselt number and about 7% higher average Nusselt number with respect to the same case with Da=10^(-2).

Research on properties of hollow glass microspheres/epoxy resin composites applied in deep rock in-situ temperature-preserved coring

Deep petroleum resources are in a high-temperature environment.However,the traditional deep rock coring method has no temperature preserved measures and ignores the effect of temperature on rock porosity and permeability,which will lead to the distortion of the petroleum resources reserves assessment.Therefore,the hollow glass microspheres/epoxy resin(HGM/EP)composites were innovatively proposed as temperature preserved materials for in-situ temperature-preserved coring(ITP-Coring),and the physical,mechanical,and temperature preserved properties were evaluated.The results indicated that:As the HGM content increased,the density and mechanical properties of the composites gradually decreased,while the water absorption was deficient without hydrostatic pressure.For composites with 50 vol%HGM,when the hydrostatic pressure reached 60 MPa,the water absorption was above 30.19%,and the physical and mechanical properties of composites were weakened.When the hydrostatic pressure was lower than 40 MPa,the mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of composites were almost unchanged.Therefore,the composites with 50 vol%HGM can be used for ITPCoring operations in deep environments with the highest hydrostatic pressure of 40 MPa.Finally,to further understand the temperature preserved performance of composites in practical applications,the temperature preserved properties were measured.An unsteady-state heat transfer model was established based on the test results,then the theoretical change of the core temperature during the coring process was obtained.The above tests results can provide a research basis for deep rock in-situ temperature preserved corer and support accurate assessment of deep petroleum reserves.

Phase Prediction of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and its Application in Fracturing Oil Wellbores

In recent oil and gas exploration, the most reservoirs are low permeability with abundant reserves. Conventional mining of low permeability reservoir is commonly utilizing the hydraulic fracturing technology, whereas, it encounters various technical issues, such as clay expansion and water lock damage. Using the fluid of supercritical carbon dioxide(S-CO_2) to exploit the low permeability oil and gas reservoirs is attracting more attention. The implementation of S-CO_2, without liquid phase, can help avoid the aforementioned problems. Nevertheless, the phase change of CO_2 during fracturing is complicate, and it is difficult to accurately predict the CO_2 phase transition. In this work, first, the physical properties of S-CO_2 were analyzed by the Span-Wagner model and Vesovic model. Next, S-CO_2 was applied to a typical oilfield, and an unsteady coupling model of heat transfer and pressure drop was developed. Then the staggered grid method and iteration procedures were used for numerical solutions, and the temperature and pressure distributions of wellbores were investigated. The results indicate that the temperature control of a wellbore is the key to the phase prediction of S-CO_2; CO_2 within the single-diameter pipeline below 2300 m can maintain the supercritical state, while CO_2 within the stepped pipeline can maintain the supercritical state at the depth of 2280 m. Moreover, compared with the single-diameter pipeline, the bottom pressure of the stepped pipeline is lower and the bottom temperature is higher. By analyzing the flow and heat transfer of S-CO_2 in the wellbores, the phase state of S-CO_2 was well predicted, which is helpful to improve the exploring performance of low permeability oil and gas reservoirs.