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Prediction of dynamic wellbore pressure in gasified fluid drilling

  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Published:
Petroleum Science

Abstract

The basis of designing gasified drilling is to understand the behavior of gas/liquid two-phase flow in the wellbore. The equations of mass and momentum conservation and equation of fluid flow in porous media were used to establish a dynamic model to predict wellbore pressure according to the study results of Ansari and Beggs-Brill on gas-liquid two-phase flow. The dynamic model was solved by the finite difference approach combined with the mechanistic steady state model. The mechanistic dynamic model was numerically implemented into a FORTRAN 90 computer program and could simulate the coupled flow of fluid in wellbore and reservoir. The dynamic model revealed the effects of wellhead back pressure and injection rate of gas/liquid on bottomhole pressure. The model was validated against full-scale experimental data, and its 5.0% of average relative error could satisfy the accuracy requirements in engineering design.

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Abbreviations

ρ:

Density, kg/m3

μ:

Viscosity, Pa·s

θ:

Deviation angle, degrees

σ:

Interfacial tension, N/m

ε:

Absolute roughness of pipe or hole, m

dp/dz:

Pressure gradient, Pa/m

D :

Equivalent hydraulic diameter, m

f :

Friction factor, dimensionless

g :

Gravity acceleration, m/s2

h :

Reservoir thickness, m

H 1 :

Liquid holdup, dimensionless

L :

Length, m

p :

Pressure, Pa

p r :

Average reservoir pressure, Pa

p bh :

Bottom-hole pressure, Pa

q omax :

Absolute open flow rate, m3/s

q o :

Oil flow rate, m3/s

Re :

Reynolds number, dimensionless

u :

Velocity, m/s

l:

Liquid

g:

Gas

m:

Mixture

sg:

Superficial gas

sl:

Superficial liquid

∞:

Discrete bubble

acc:

Acceleration

ls:

Liquid slug

tb:

Taylor bubble

su:

Slug unit

d:

Developing

el:

Elevation

f:

Friction

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of China, 102249, Beijing, China

    Wang Zhiming

  2. Institute of Drilling Engineering Technology, CNPC, 100097, Beijing, China

    Ping Liqiu & Zou Ke

Authors
  1. Wang Zhiming
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  2. Ping Liqiu
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  3. Zou Ke
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Additional information

Wang Zhiming was born in 1964 and received his PhD degree from China University of Petroleum in 1993. Now as a professor, he works in the China University of Petroleum (Beijing), with his research interests in fluid flow mechanics and well completion engineering. E-mail: wangzm@cup.edu.cn

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Zhiming, W., Liqiu, P. & Ke, Z. Prediction of dynamic wellbore pressure in gasified fluid drilling. Pet. Sci. 4, 66–73 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03187458

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03187458

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