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R&D and Field Application Background hammers, VVO-5A with 130-mm outside diameter and VVO
6-5/8 with 168-mm diameter, were developed and field tested.
General. The application of percussion drilling methods to Field testing of these hammers started in 1960 in Bashkiria, West
hard rock results in the following advantages as compared to ro- Ukraine, and the Belgorod region. In 1963, testing started in the
tary drilling: 1兲 the impact loads at the bit inserts in percussion Perm region as well. During the tests, more than 10,000 m of hard
drilling are much higher than the load levels typically achieved in formations were drilled as deep as 1400 m. The rate of penetration
rotary drilling; and 2兲 the time of total contact of inserts with the in medium hard rock, like limestone, sandstone with siliceous
rock is substantially less than during rotary drilling. Contact time interlayers, was in the range of 4–10 m/h. That rate was two to
in percussion drilling is typically 2 percent of the total operational three times more than rotary drilling results in the same condi-
time. This provides high efficiency rock destruction and decreases tions. During the field and bench tests, the application of
the abrasive wear of the drilling tool. percussion-rotary drilling in oil and gas wells using different types
The major feature of the percussion drilling is creation of a of bits 共cone, drag, and combined兲, was studied 关6兴.
crushed zone directly beneath the area of impact. Fractures are The Special Design Bureau 共SKB兲 ‘‘Geotechnika’’ commenced
initiated which allow shearing processes to remove the cuttings hydraulic hammer development in 1957, and at present is the only
easily and increase the rate of penetration. The most productive enterprise in Russia continuing R & D work in that area of drilling
method of rock destruction in this respect is percussion-rotary. technology. The hydraulic hammers of direct action, double ac-
This method optimizes the amount of impact load in relation to tion, diffuser types, and hydro-vibrators of different types, includ-
standard rotary drilling compressive and shear loads. ing ones without moving parts, have been developed. More than
At present, some institutions and companies involved in the 70 HH prototypes have been fabricated and tested both in the
drilling business are vigorously considering hydraulic hammers laboratory and in boreholes. These include tools with outside di-
for a variety of purposes, such as: coiled-tubing drilling; explor- ameters from 42 to 145 mm. Twenty types went into batch pro-
atory drilling for oil and gas, including extended reach boreholes; duction. During that time, the theory, bench test facilities, and
geothermal drilling; exploratory drilling for hard minerals; and measuring systems were improving continuously. Experience in
offshore scientific and geotechnical drilling, coring and sampling design, manufacture, and application was gained. The latest de-
of soft, unconsolidated soils and formations at sea and lake bot- signs provided wireline coring techniques, soil investigation, and
toms 关1–4兴. a core-type hammer for the continuous, reverse-circulation coring
system 关7,8兴.
FSU Experience. The start of hydro-percussion drilling de- The advantages of percussion drilling were confirmed by nu-
velopment in the USSR dates from the late 1940s. The main ob- merous comparative tests and jobs performed in different geologi-
jective was to increase rates of penetration and drill bit perfor- cal conditions. In 1988, the percussion-rotary and rotary-
mance both in geological prospecting, or ‘‘mining,’’ and slimhole percussion methods were used to drill over 3,000,000 m. The
oil field drilling in hard formations. R&D work, including inves- latter amounted to 15 percent of the total drilling for hard mineral
tigation of hydraulic machine operational processes and introduc- deposit exploration by the USSR Ministry of Geology 关9兴.
tion of percussion drilling to the industry, were implemented in Hydraulic percussion hammers were used to explore for all
several scientific research institutes and mechanical design bu- types of minerals, from coal and iron to mercury, gold, and water,
reaus. This work has resulted in a great improvement in the per- in boreholes with depths down to 2000 m and diameters from 46
formance of percussion drilling systems 关5兴. up to 220 mm. Penetration rates, as compared to rotary drilling
The All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Drilling Tech- 共depending on geological conditions兲, were increased from 30 to
niques 共VNIIBT兲 made the major contributions in theoretical and 100 percent; service life of the drill bit improved by 20 to 200
experimental studies of hydraulic percussion tools for oil field percent; and deviation of boreholes and their costs were drasti-
application. Several designs of the reverse action-type hydraulic cally reduced.
Contributed by the Petroleum Division for publication in the JOURNAL OF EN- Rock Destruction by Impact Loads
ERGY RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY. Manuscript received by the Petroleum Division,
February 2, 1997; revised manuscript received September 27, 1999. Associate Tech- Basic Principles. A downhole hydraulic hammer generates
nical Editor: A. K. Wojtanowicz. an impact load, which is transmitted to the drilling tool 共drill bit,
Journal of Energy Resources Technology Copyright © 2000 by ASME MARCH 2000, Vol. 122 Õ 1
core bit, etc.兲 through an anvil. The hammer and bit 共Fig. 1兲 form verified by numerous long-term studies of rock destruction by
a mechanical system that consists of the jar-peen 共sometimes this static and dynamic loads. Impact energy can be increased with
part of the hammer is named ‘‘hammer’’兲 and the intermediate bar increased jar-peen mass or increased velocity, once a critical im-
共anvil兲 with a length that is significantly greater than its diameter. pact speed has been exceeded. In practice, the rate of penetration
The latter is attached to the drill bit. is directly proportional to the impact energy. Experiments also
Transmission of load from the jar-peen to the drill is analyzed show that for complete energy transmission to the rock, the length
by using stress-wave theory for metal bars undergoing collision. of anvil has to be equal to or greater than the length of jar-peen.
This theory applies for flat parallel impact surfaces. In reality, Based on theoretical studies and industrial requirements, two
there are no flat impacts, because of misalignment of jar-peen and hydro-percussion drilling methods were developed: 1兲 rotary-
anvil, as well as other manufacturing tolerances. percussion with relatively high rotary speed and high-frequency
An applied theory of collision developed by Alexandrov and impacts, and 2兲 percussion-rotary with lower rotary speed and
Sokolinskyi assumed a bar with spherical ends and is useful in our lower frequency, but higher impact energy 关11兴.
case. This theory takes into account the observed impact time The first method was useful for coring with diamond core bits.
increase, in addition to the time predicted by the classical wave Their relatively low-impact energy was very productive in some
theory. fractured formations. Problems with core recovery caused by jam-
It was established that the amplitude of the stress wave created ming were overcome and the rate of penetration was increased.
at the top of a bar decreases along the axis according to an expo- Efficiency of the diamond percussion drilling with more than
nential law. The dampening depends on the number of thread 50-Hz impact frequency increased with increasing rotary speed.
connections between the components and the length of the system. The percussion-rotary approach was used to match the drilling
There is a step change of the stress wave at each change in cross method with solid bits, tungsten carbide crowns 共drag bits兲, or
section of jar-peen and anvil. This wave propagates down to the cone bits. For cone bit drilling, the percussion-rotary method gave
bit through the anvil and other members, and then divides into two the highest penetration rate, but the bit bearing design had to be
waves at the cutter-rock contact point. The first is the main trans- changed. Tungsten carbide crowns were designed for both meth-
mitted wave and the second is the reflected wave. Experimental ods. It has been demonstrated that core can be effectively frag-
studies show the reflected wave consists of two parts: tensile wave mented by the formation of disks with the application of high-
and compressive wave. The first is smoothly transformed to the frequency impact loads 关12兴.
second. In the case of rigid bottom connection, the stress in the It will be shown in the forthcoming that the Geotechnika hy-
contact point increases until it is double the magnitude of the draulic hammers 共GHH兲 develop impact loads and frequencies
down-coming wave. Hydro-percussion drilling in hard rocks is sufficient for the two drilling methods.
relevant to the latter case with double the contact stress, which
was proven both by calculations and experiments 关5,10兴. Hydraulic Hammer Design Concepts and Operation
Rock Destruction Approaches. Impact energy is the major Conditions
parameter determining percussion drilling efficiency. This was
Design Concept and Classification. Hydraulic hammers can
be divided into three groups determined by the method of energy
extraction from the drilling fluid as follows 关10兴:
1 Direct-action hydro-hammers 共DAHH兲 with a hydraulically
powered impact stroke and spring-powered return. Energy is ex-
tracted from the fluid when the jar-peen accelerates down, before
it strikes the anvil. Part of the hydraulic energy is used for impact
and the other part accumulated in the spring to provide jar-peen
return 共cock the peen兲.
2 Reverse-action hydro-hammer 共RAHH兲 with a spring-driven
hammer impact stroke and hydraulically powered return stroke.
Energy is extracted during the jar-peen reverse stroke and accu-
mulated in the spring, which is then applied to the impact itself.
3 Double-action hydraulic hammers 共DBHH兲: impact and re-
turn strokes are both hydraulically powered.
The hydraulic hammer as a self-sufficient and self-sustained
oscillating system can be operated in resonance. That characteris-
tic is usually observed in machines with a spring-loaded valve:
共DAHH兲 and 共RAHH兲. The forces acting at the jar-peen can be
divided into regular and irregular 共stochastic兲 forces. The latter
includes: 1兲 jar-peen rebound force, which depends on the bottom-
hole conditions; 2兲 drag forces; 3兲 forces activated by drill string
vibrations; and 4兲 forces induced by the reflecting hydraulic
waves coming into the working chamber. Reduction of the num-
ber of moving parts reduces the irregularity of jar-peen operation.
Simplification of design provides increased operating stability.
This approach, applied to the DAHH, has been the main trend of
GHH development.
DAHH Operational Concept. A schematic of the DAHH is
shown in Fig. 2 关10兴. The hammer is shown at the moment when
the drill bit is set on the borehole bottom. The housing together
with the valve is moving down and closes the hole in the jar-peen.
That action creates the hydraulic shock, and the pressure inside
Fig. 1 The hydraulic machine of Bassinger, USA, 1948–1957 the chamber above the valve increases rapidly. The pressure be-
†5‡ low the valve is: 1兲 the same as that in the annulus, or 2兲 less than
chine efficiency from 8–10 percent to 16–18 percent, with a two- cone bit performance. The experiments were conducted with a
fold reduction of flow rate. Similar results were obtained for elas- 6-in-dia milled-tooth bit while drilling blocks of granite and
tic reflectors. Vuselemovsky limestone. Rotary drilling tests were conducted to
These designs had definite drawbacks and did not solve the compare with the percussion drilling results. Some major trends
basic problem of increasing the efficiency of percussion drilling. were observed:
SKB ‘‘Geotechnika’’ developed a new design for the reflector,
which was based on long-term studies at special test facilities. 1 Rate of penetration varied linearly with the impact power.
This reflector provides significant reduction of the mud flow re- 2 Above the minimum threshold WOB, a lower WOB resulted
quired for rock destruction, and the machine efficiency increased in a higher percussion drilling rate. For example, in the rotary-
to 40 percent 关8兴. percussion mode of drilling, ROP of 3.3 m/h was achieved with
Cavitation is the other element that has to be considered when the 8-3/4-in. bit when the WOB was 4.5 tonne. To achieve the
developing hydraulic hammers. The jar-peen acceleration in- same ROP in rotary mode required 18.5 tonne.
creases when cavitation occurs, but with increase of the borehole
depth and hydrostatic pressure, the enhancement of the accelera- During the field tests in Bashkiria in hard limestone and dolo-
tion stroke is diminished, and eventually eliminated. In this case, mites, it was found that the effect of WOB is less important for
the premature valve cut-off results in a short stroke, nonimpact percussion drilling 关6兴.
operating cycle. There are two ways to solve the problem. The SKB ‘‘Geotechnika’’ developed a range of three and two-cone
first, is to eliminate the conditions for the cavitation. The second, bits for rotary and rotary-percussion drilling for 46, 59, 76, 112,
is to control the duration of cavitation by adjusting parameters of and 132-mm-dia boreholes in hard and superhard abrasive forma-
the hammer. The present GHH design eliminates cavitation. Some tions. In the early 1980s, R & D projects were conducted on the
preliminary experimental data supports the possibility of control- bearing assemblies. Several designs of the sleeve bearings for the
ling cavitation. small-diameter cone bits were tested. The main problem with
With all the foregoing considerations, and accounting for the sleeve bearing is to develop a lock mechanism to prevent loss of
drag forces in the valve motion, performance of GHH designs was the cones in the hole. Five batches of 76-mm bits were prepared
modeled. For each case, a model is developed with a system of with five types of lock units. The tests were conducted in granite
differential equations. The solutions are derived for each of the blocks. The segment lock was found to be the best one in terms of
operational phases described in the foregoing. bit life. This type of bit was field tested in the Krasnoyarsk city
The current GHH designs are tailored to operate in both region at 300–450 m depth in granite with quartzite layers. Aver-
percussion-rotary and rotary-percussion modes of drilling. GHH age penetration per bit was 11.8 m at an average ROP of 1.15 m/h.
designs are easily adjusted to operate in resonance, and have Some additional modifications in bearing lock design 共Fig. 5兲 and
25–40 percent efficiencies in borehole operations. Recent experi- drill tests were performed before these bits 共III76K-TsA兲 were
mental studies have shown the opportunity for a significant in- introduced for percussion-rotary drilling with GHH G-76U ham-
crease in power for the GHH, and efficiency should approach 70 mer. Tests achieved 17.8 m per bit 共80 percent more than stan-
percent. dard兲, and 2.7 m/h ROP 共34 percent more than standard兲 when
drilling very hard, fractured basalt. The important point was that
Drill Bits for Hydro-Percussion Drilling. Several types of the magnitude of drilling parameters, WOB and flow rate in
rock destruction tools have been developed in conjunction with percussion-rotary, were 40–50 percent less than for rotary drilling
percussion drilling. First, there were solid bits and drag-type bits, 关13兴. The results of this R & D work have been applied to other
with tungsten carbide cutting structures. In these tools, both bits bit sizes 共i.e., 46 and 59 mm兲.
and crowns are used, mainly for percussion-rotary drilling at rela- SKB ‘‘Geotechnika’’ completed the development of III59K-
tively shallow depths in medium and medium-hard rock. Impreg- TsA and III46K-TsA bits in 1987 共Fig. 6兲. Both bit sizes have
nated and surface-set diamond bits and crowns 共core drilling bits兲 never been manufactured outside of Russia. The 46-mm cone is
were developed as well. These bits are best suited to the rotary- the only commercial bit this size in the world. Field tests in hard
percussion method in deep mining boreholes with hard, abrasive, and superhard abrasive granites included more than 800 m with
fractured formations. The cone-type bit was the main subject of 59-mm bits, and 350 m with 46-mm bits. The average penetration
studies for percussion drilling. per bit was: 12–21 m with 4–5 m/h ROP for 59-mm bits and 7–8
During the percussion-drilling system development for oil and m with 1.5–2.3 m/h for 46-mm bits, respectively. These tests
gas field application, VNIIBT did some special studies of three- were for the rotary mode of drilling only 关14兴.
General Concept. To obtain additional information for better Conclusions From the Test Results.
evaluation of the proposed microborehole coiled-tubing percus- 1 The G-59U共V兲O-type hydraulic hammer results confirmed
sion drilling system components, the following prototypes were the expected performance advantages of percussion-rotary drilling
recommended for lab testing at the Maurer Engineering Inc. Drill- in hard rock.
ing Research Center 共MEI DRC兲 in Houston, Texas.
1 GHH G-59U共V兲O type, 1996 design model: housing diam-
eter 54 mm, single impact energy exceeding 12 J, and fre-
quency range 40–80 Hz;
2 Three-cone bit, III 59K-TsA type;
3 two-cone bit, II 59TK-TsA;
4 diamond impregnated bit, 59-mm diameter;
Testing included a series of 1–3 ft boreholes drilled with vari-
ous assemblies in blocks of granite and marble rocks. Both rotary
and percussion-rotary methods would be used over a range of
WOB, RPM, and flow rates.
The main objectives of the test program were:
1 demonstrate rock bit suitability for horizontal coiled-tubing
drilling in hard rocks;
2 evaluate GHH tool efficiency for horizontal coiled-tubing
drilling in hard rocks;
3 determine the influence of the percussion drilling parameters
on the ROP.
SKB ‘‘Geotechnika’’ prepared a standard G-59U共V兲O hammer
assembled from components manufactured at the SKB factory in
1994 共Fig. 7兲. Table 1 shows standard hammers available 关9兴. The
smallest hammer was selected for testing, disassembled, checked,
adjusted for the expected drilling conditions, and reassembled.
Bench tests at the SKB facilities were performed to check the
hammer operating parameters. The assembled tools, the hammer,
the reflector and a set of spare parts, were delivered to the DRC.
Cone-type drill bits as specified, and a surface-set-type diamond
bit, were purchased from stock in Russia. The 59-mm impreg- Fig. 7 Unified hydraulic hammer, SKB Geotochnika †9‡
V-for rotary-percussion drilling; with fluid flow reduction unit; U-for percussion rotary drilling; O-with hydrodynamic wave reflector
2 For the coiled-tubing drilling 共CTD兲 application, an efficient bly rotation. It is well known from field drilling and laboratory
method of rotation needs to be developed. The simplest way testing experience that ROP is linearly dependent on the rotary
might be to adapt the existing low-speed PDM for that purpose speed for rotary drilling. For percussion-rotary drilling, this de-
and conduct additional tests. The power required for the assembly pendency is supposed to be linear as well.
rotation was roughly evaluated on the basis of the hydraulic motor 4 ROP increased noticeably, with increased WOB from zero to
performance data. A 1.6-kW PDM should be sufficient for CTD 1,500–2,000 lb. Further increases in WOB to 3000 lb showed
drilling with the GHH assembly. different results: in marble 100 percent improvement, and granite
3 The modified test stand provided 150 rpm maximum assem- 15 percent improvement.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the United States Department of En-
ergy through contract W-7405-ENG-36.
Thanks to Jody Benson, Los Alamos National Laboratory, for
final proofing and formatting of this paper.
References
关1兴 Knott, D., 1996, ‘‘Deep Thoughts on Drilling Technology,’’ Oil & Gas Jour-
nal, June 10, p. 29.
关2兴 ‘‘High ROP Hammer Drill Sets Australian Records,’’ 1996, Hart’s Petroleum
Engineer International, Sept., p. 13.
关3兴 Gelfgat, M., Gamsakhurdia, G., Geise, J., and Spierings, H., 1994, ‘‘Complete
System For Continuous Coring With Retrievable Tools In Deep Water,’’
IADC/SPE Paper 27521, Dallas, TX.
关4兴 Finger, J. T., 1984, ‘‘Investigation of Percussion Drills for Geothermal Appli-
cation,’’ J. Pet. Tech., Dec., pp. 2128–2136.
关5兴 Graf, L. E., and Kogan, D. I., 1972, Hydro-Percussion Machines and Tools,
Nedra, Moscow, Russia.
关6兴 Kichigin, A. V., Nazarov, V. I., and Tagiev, E. I., 1965, The Percussion-
Rotary Wells Drilling, Nedra, Moscow, Russia.
关7兴 Kiselev, A. T., and Krusir, I. N., 1982, Rotary-Percussion Drilling of Geologi-
cal Prospecting, Wells, Nedra, Moscow, Russia.
关8兴 Melamed, Y. A., 1993, ‘‘The Hydraulic Impact Technology: Large Possibili-
ties and Wide Application Spectrum,’’ Razvedka I Okhrana Nedr (Russian
Journal ‘‘Bowels of the Earth Prospecting & Protection’’).
关9兴 Operations Manuals & Technical Descriptions, 1988, ‘‘Hydro-Percussion
Drilling Techniques and Technology,’’ USSR Ministry of Geology, Moscow,
Russia.
关10兴 Yasov, V. G., 1977, The Theory and Calculations of the Hydraulic Machines
Operational Processes, Nedra, Moscow, Russia.
关11兴 Kiselev, A. T., and Melamed, Y. A., 1984, ‘‘Perspectives of the Rotary-
Percussion Drilling Development with High-Frequency Hydro-hammers with
Fig. 8 Plots with percussion-rotary test results at the MEI DRC Low Flow Rates,’’ Proceedings, High School: Geology and Prospecting, No.
11, pp. 85–94.
关12兴 Melamed, Y. A., 1995, ‘‘The Theoretical Ground And Techniques For Hydro-
Percussion Core Drilling Development,’’ doctor of science thesis, Geological
5 The GHH must be operated at the proper flow rate, pressure Prospecting Academy, Moscow, Russia.
drop, and frequency; these are more important for this drilling 关13兴 Smirnov, V. G., 1983, ‘‘The Research In The Design Elements Of Three-Cone
method than appropriate WOB. Drill Bits 76 mm Diameter With Sleeve Bearing,’’ Techniques for the Ad-
vanced Drilling Methods, Moscow, VPO ‘‘Souzgeotechnika,’’ pp. 108–122.
6 The direct comparison of ROP at the equivalent drilling pa- 关14兴 Bodrov, S. M., Ivanovskaya, N. I., and Burinskyi, G. G., 1991, ‘‘Cone-Type
rameters can be made on the basis of test 527A and the rotary Drill Bits III59K-TsA and III46K-TsA,’’ Razvedka I Okhrana Nedr (Russian
drilling test at the same conditions: 150 rpm and 1500 lb WOB. Journal: ‘‘Bowels of the Earth Prospecting & Protection’’), No. 5, pp. 24–26.
conditions, and long transient flow periods of horizontal wells where p̄ is the volumetric average pressure of the reservoir, p w f is
exacerbate problems in the evaluation of the inflow performances the flowing wellbore pressure, A is the drainage area, ␥⫽0.5772
of individual wells and the overall field. . . . , and C A is the Dietz shape factor 共Earlougher 关4兴兲. Equation
Rodriguez and Cinco-Ley 关1兴 and Camacho-V et al. 关2兴 analyti- 共1兲 indicates that the productivity index, PI, defined as
cally investigated the inflow performances of multiple wells in
closed rectangular systems. Both studies, however, only consid- q kh
冉 冊
ered fully penetrating vertical wells and assumed that the produc- PI⫽ ⫽ (2)
p̄⫺p w f 4A
tion took place under boundary-dominated flow conditions 141.2B 0.5 ln
e ␥ C A r w2
共pseudo-steady state or exponential decline兲 for all times. In other
words, they assumed that the producing wells would reach is a constant and can be used to evaluate the inflow performance.
boundary-dominated flow condition as soon as the production be- For an M-well system where each well j produces at a sequence
gan and the changes in production rates and/or introduction of of N j constant rates, q jk , the counterpart of Eq. 共1兲 is given by
infill wells would not cause pressure transients. M Nj
In this paper, we present an analytical multi-well model that 141.2qB q jk
can take into account the pressure transients caused by intermit- p̄ 共 t 兲 ⫺p 共 x,y,t 兲 ⫽
kh 兺兺
j⫽1 k⫽1 q j
a (3)
tent production, production rate/pressure changes, and start of pro-
duction at different times in each well. The model is capable of where q is some reference rate, and a j is a constant depending on
considering a mixture of vertical and horizontal wells in the same the shape of the reservoir and the location of the well. For a
field. As in the previous models, we consider the flow of single- rectangular reservoir of dimensions x e ⫻y e , for example, a j is
phase liquids in homogeneous, isotropic porous media; but natu- given by 关3兴
rally fractured reservoirs and permeability anisotropy can be eas-
ily incorporated into the model along the lines suggested by 141.2qB
aj
Ozkan 关3兴. In addition, because our model is a transient flow kh
冉 冊
model and the general solution is in the Laplace transformation
⬁
domain, wellbore storage effects can be easily added and the ye 1 y y 2 ⫹y w2 j x xwj
model can be used for simulating well tests in multi-well systems. ⫽2 ⫺ ⫹
xe 3 ye 2y 2e
⫹2
k⫽1 x e
兺
cos k cos k
xe
In this study, however, we restrict our attention to the investiga-
tion of the interaction of wells producing from a common reser-
voir and to the discussion of the effect of multi-well production on
the individual and overall field IPRs. ⫻
cosh k 冉 xe 冊
y e ⫺ 兩 y⫺y w j 兩
⫹cosh k 冉
y e ⫺ 兩 y⫹y w j 兩
xe 冊 (4)
ye
k sinh k
xe
Multi-Well Inflow Performance
where x w j and y w j are the coordinates of the well with respect to
Here, we first present the expressions to evaluate the inflow
the origin located at one of the corners of the rectangular
performances of single and multiple wells in closed drainage re-
reservoir.
gions and then comment on the differences in the evaluation of
Equation 共3兲 can be used to define the PI of the field similar to
multi-well performances. For simplicity, we assume that the wells
Eq. 共1兲, provided that the rate sequence of each well is known.
are vertical and fully penetrate the pay thickness.
Note, however, that the derivation of Eq. 共3兲 neglects the pressure
transients caused by the rate changes, and therefore assumes that
Contributed by the Petroleum Division and presented at the ETCE/OMAE2000,
New Orleans, Louisiana, February 14–17, 2000, of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
the stabilized conditions are attained immediately after each
MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. Manuscript received by the Petroleum Division, October change in the constant production rate. It is well known, espe-
25, 1999; revised manuscript received January. Associate Technical Editor: M. Haci. cially for horizontal wells in highly productive formations, that
8 Õ Vol. 122, MARCH 2000 Copyright © 2000 by ASME Transactions of the ASME
the transient flow periods may be exceedingly long 共in the order tinuities in Eqs. 共10兲–共12兲. We compared the results obtained
of months, even years兲, rendering the direct application of Eq. 共3兲 from Eqs. 共11兲 and 共12兲 with those reported in Rodriguez and
for performance predictions. In such cases, the use of a model that Cinco-Ley 关1兴 and Camacho-V et al. 关2兴 and obtained excellent
can take into account the pressure transients is essential. In the agreement in stabilized flow periods. In the forthcoming, we dis-
forthcoming, we propose such a model. cuss example cases to demonstrate the use of the proposed model
and to highlight the characteristics of multi-well production with
Multi-Well Transient Flow Model rate or pressure changes.
The model we present assumes a rectangular reservoir with
arbitrary well locations. Although the general development does Example Cases
not assume any specific well type, here we concentrate on vertical Here we consider five examples. The data that are common to
and horizontal wells. Because of space restrictions, we will not all examples are given in Table 1. The reservoir is a closed square
discuss the derivation of the model here. It should be noted, how- and the total number of wells is three. Wells may be all horizon-
ever, that the model is in the Laplace transformation domain and tals or a mixture of horizontal and vertical wells. Table 2 presents
the results are inverted into the time domain by using the Stehfest the combinations of the wells and the other relevant information.
关5兴 numerical inversion algorithm. For all cases, the horizontal wells are in the x direction. We im-
For convenience, we will use the following definitions of the pose the infinite-conductivity condition along the horizontal wells
dimensionless variables in our discussions: by using the pressure averaging method 共Kuchuk et al. 关7兴兲.
kh 关 p i ⫺p 共 x,y,z,t 兲兴 Example 1. Here we consider three horizontal wells of equal
p D⫽ (5) length of 8000 ft 共see Table 2兲. The constant production rates of
141.2qB
the wells are also equal and 12,000 stb/d. Well 3, however, starts
where p i is the uniform initial pressure of the field production 200 d after Wells 1 and 2. The skin factors of the wells
6.328⫻10⫺3 k are S 1 ⫽5, S 2 ⫽0, and S 3 ⫽2.
t D⫽ t (6) Figure 1 shows the flowing wellbore pressures of the wells as a
c t l 2 function of time. We have also computed the long-time 共pseudo-
D ⫽ /l ⫽x, or y (7) steady-flow兲 approximations and included in Fig. 1. The points at
which the pressure versus time curves computed from our model
z D ⫽z/h (8) collapse with the long-time approximations indicate the times at
the onset of the pseudo-steady state 共PSS兲 and are marked in the
and figure. Table 3 summarizes the data and the results shown in Fig.
q wD ⫽q w /q (9) 1.
We make two observations from Fig. 1. First, the transient flow
In Eqs. 共6兲 and 共7兲, l is a characteristic length in the system. We periods of horizontal wells are considerably long 共approximately
will let f̄ (s) denote the Laplace transform of the function f (t D ), s 190 d兲 and may not be ignored in production design. Second, as
the Laplace transform variable with respect to dimensionless time expected, the start of production at Well 3 introduces a new tran-
t D , and p DU the constant 共unit兲 rate solution. Note that p DU de- sient flow period 共again for approximately 190 d兲 in the entire
pends on the shape of the reservoir and the type and location of field and then a second PSS flow period is attained. Well perfor-
the well. The appropriate expressions for p DU for the cases dis- mances are different during the transient, first, and second PSS
cussed in this paper are given in the Appendix. flow periods 共introduction of a new producing well in the field
Let us now consider M wells in a closed reservoir each produc- improves efficiency of reservoir depletion兲. As can be seen from
ing at a sequence of N j constant rates, q D jk , starting at t D jk⫺1 and
ending at t D jk 共with q D j0 ⫽0 and t D j0 ⫽0兲. Under the aforemen-
tioned assumptions, the pressure distribution in the Laplace do- Table 1 Reservoir and fluid data for the example cases
main is given by
M Nj
p̄ D 共 x D ,y D ,z D ,s 兲 ⫽ 兺 兺 sp̄
j⫽1 k⫽1
DU j 共 x D ,y D ,z D ,s 兲
共 q D jk ⫺q D jk⫺1 兲
⫻ exp共 ⫺st D jk⫺1 兲 (10)
s
Note that in computing pressures at wellbores, skin effects should
be added to Eq. 共10兲 as follows:
p̄ wDi 共 s 兲 ⫽p̄ D 共 x wDi ,y wDi ,z wDi ,s 兲 Table 2 Well lengths and locations for example cases
Nj
共 q Dik ⫺q Dik⫺1 兲
⫹ 兺 S
k⫽1
i i
s
exp共 ⫺st Dik⫺1 兲 (11)
N 共 p wD jk ⫺p wD jk⫺1 兲
兺 k⫽1
j
exp共 ⫺st D jk⫺1 兲
s
q̄ Di 共 s 兲 ⫽ (12)
j⫽1 sp̄ DU j 共 x wDi ,y wDi ,z wDi ,s 兲 ⫹ i S i
兺M
Note that the modification to the Stehfest’s algorithm suggested
by Chen and Raghavan 关6兴 is useful to evaluate the jump discon-
start production at the same time, but Well 1 is shut in at the 200th
day for a period of 300 d. Other pertinent information is given in
Fig. 3 and Table 4.
Results shown in Fig. 3 and Table 4 emphasize two points.
First, intermittent production in a well significantly effects the
performances of the other wells in the field. In general, as Fig. 4
clearly displays, the inflow performances of the wells in this ex-
ample are strong functions of time and should be obtained and
interpreted accordingly. Second, care should be taken in the inter-
pretation of the pressure buildup data taken at the shut-in well if
the other wells keep producing. Figure 5 shows the Horner plot of
the bottom-hole pressures recorded at the shut-in well 共Well 1兲.
Also shown by the circular data points in Fig. 5 are the ‘‘true’’
buildup responses that would have been recorded at Well 1 if all
three wells had been shut in at the same time. Figure 5 indicates
that the standard Horner analysis can be applied before the pres-
sure responses start deviating from the true buildup behavior un-
Fig. 2 Well PIs as a function of time; Example 1 der the influence of the producing wells. There are, however, two
problems. First, the confidence interval in the determination of the
straight line may be low. Second and more importantly, the drain-
age shape and area of the well must be known. The latter imposes
the additional requirement that all three wells produce at pseudo-
Fig. 2, if high PIs during the long transient flow periods are not steady state prior to shut in. In Example 3, we present a ‘‘true’’
taken into account in well design, significant production loses may buildup case where all three wells are shut in.
occur. On the other hand, if transient flow information is used in
PI estimations, long-term production figures may not justify the Example 3. In this example, we simulate a ‘‘true’’ buildup
well design. test to determine the average reservoir pressure. Again we con-
sider three horizontal wells. Well lengths, production rates, and
Example 2. The objective of this example is to examine the the skin values are noted in Fig. 6. All three wells start production
effect of intermittent production. As in Example 1, we consider at the same time and shut in after 400 d of production. After
three horizontal wells of equal length 共8000 ft兲. All three wells approximately 100 d, the pressures at all three wells stabilize at
Fig. 6 ‘‘True’’ buildup behavior; Example 3 Fig. 8 Well PIs for Example 4
Conclusions
In this work, we have presented a transient multi-well produc-
tion model and, using the results of this model, demonstrated the
importance of dynamic evaluation of inflow performances in
multi-well systems. The results indicate that extensive care should
be taken in applying the single-well performance models in multi-
well settings. In addition, especially for horizontal wells, transient
flow effects resulting from intermittent production or rate/pressure
Fig. 9 Pressure map for Example 4; t Ä50 d changes in one or more wells may have significant impact on
inflow performances. Therefore, care should be taken if the multi-
well performance models neglecting the transient flow periods
presented in the literature are to be used.
Nomenclature
A ⫽ reservoir area, L 2 , ft2
aj ⫽ constant used in Eq. 共3兲
B ⫽ formation volume factor, bbl/stb
CA ⫽ Dietz shape factor
D ⫽ dimensionless 共subscript兲
h ⫽ formation thickness, ft
k ⫽ permeability, L 2 , mD
Lh ⫽ horizontal well length, L, ft
M ⫽ no. of wells
Nj ⫽ no. of constant rates/pressures of well j
p̄ ⫽ reservoir volumetric average pressure, m/Lt 2 , psi
p ⫽ pressure, m/Lt 2 , psi
Fig. 10 Pressure map for Example 4; t Ä300 d p DU ⫽ constant 共unit兲 rate dimensionless pressure
pwf ⫽ flowing bottom-hole pressure, m/Lt 2 , psi
pi ⫽ initial pressure, m/Lt 2 , psi
the vicinity of Well 2. Such figures should be extremely useful for
PI ⫽ productivity index; L 4 t/m, stb/psi
production as well as reservoir engineering design purposes. q jk ⫽ flow rate k of well j, L 3 /t, stb/d
q ⫽ reference flow rate, L 3 /t, stb/d
Example 5. This example shows the use of our transient rw ⫽ wellbore radius, L, ft
multi-well model under constant pressure production conditions. s ⫽ Laplace space parameter
Here, we consider one horizontal 共Well 1兲 and two vertical wells. Si ⫽ skin factor of well, i
The horizontal well undergoes a wellbore pressure decrease at the t ⫽ time, days
200th day of production. Figure 11 clearly shows the transients Vp ⫽ pore volume, L 3 , ft3
x,y,z ⫽ physical coordinates
xe ⫽ reservoir boundary in x direction, L, ft
x w ,y w ⫽ wellbore coordinates, L, ft
ye ⫽ reservoir boundary in y direction, L, ft
␥ ⫽ Euler’s no. 共⫽0.5772...兲
⫽ fluid viscosity, m/Lt, cp
⫽ porosity
¯ ⫽ 共overbar兲 Laplace transform
SI Metric Conversion Factors
再 冉 兺 冊
p̄ DU v ⫽p̄ D1 ⫹p̄ DB1 ⫹p̄ DB2 (13) ⬁
where ⫻ E 共 s⫹a 兲 1⫹ e ⫺2m 冑s⫹ay eD
⬁ m⫽1
冉兺 冊冎
2 cos共 k x D1 兲 cos共 k x D2 兲 ⫺ 冑s⫹ay
p̄ D1 ⫽ 兺
x eD s k⫽1 冑s⫹a
e D1 (14)
⫹e ⫺ 冑s⫹ay D1
⬁
冉 冊
⬁
⬁ 4
p̄ DB1 ⫽
E 共 s 兲 1⫹ 兺 e ⫺2m 冑sy eD (16) F̄ DB2 ⫽
s n⫽1 兺
cos共 n z D 兲 cos共 n z wD 兲
x eD s 冑s m⫽1
⬁ 1
2 cos共 k x D1 兲 cos共 k x D2 兲 sin共 k /x eD 兲 cos共 k x D1 兲 cos共 k x D2 兲
兺
⬁
p̄ DB2 ⫽ E 共 s⫹a 兲 k
x eD s k⫽1 冑s⫹a ⫻ 兺 冑s⫹b
冉兺 冊
k⫽1
再 冉 兺 冊
⬁
⬁
⫹e ⫺ 冑s⫹ay D1 e ⫺2m 冑s⫹ay eD (17)
m⫽1 ⫻ E 共 s⫹b 兲 1⫹ e ⫺2m 冑s⫹by eD
m⫽1
冉兺 冊冎
In Eqs. 共14兲–共17兲
⬁
y D1 ⫽ 兩 y D ⫺y wD 兩 (18) ⫹e ⫺ 冑s⫹by D1 e ⫺2m 冑s⫹by eD (31)
m⫽1
y D2 ⫽ 兩 y D ⫹y wD 兩 (19)
where
y D3 ⫽2y eD ⫺ 兩 y D ⫺y wD 兩 (20)
y D4 ⫽2y eD ⫺ 兩 y D ⫹y wD 兩 (21) b⫽n 2 2 L D
2
⫹k 2 2 /x eD
2
(32)
x D1 ⫽x D /x eD (22) 2
⬁
cos共 n z D 兲 cos共 n z wD 兲 ⫺ 冑s⫹ay
x D2 ⫽x wD /x eD (23)
F̄ D1 ⫽ 兺
x eD s n⫽1 冑s⫹a
e D1
冉 冊
k⫽1
⬁
兺
(33)
p̄ DB1 ⫽ E 共 s 兲 1⫹ e ⫺2m 冑sy eD (26)
x eD s 冑s m⫽1
References
1
⬁ sin共 k /x eD 兲 cos共 k x D1 兲 cos共 k x D2 兲 关1兴 Rodriquez, F., and Cinco-Ley, H., 1993, ‘‘A new Model for Production De-
2 k
p̄ DB2 ⫽ 兺
s k⫽1 冑s⫹a
E 共 s⫹a 兲
cline,’’ Paper SPE 25480, presented at the Production operation Symposium,
Oklahoma, OK, March 21–23.
关2兴 Camacho-V, R., Rodriquez, F., Galindo-N, A., and Prats, M., 1994, ‘‘Opti-
冉 冊
⬁ mum Position for Wells Producing at Constant Wellbore Pressure,’’ Paper
兺
SPE 28715, presented at the SPE International Petroleum Conference & Ex-
⫻ 1⫹ e ⫺2m 冑s⫹ay eD hibition of Mexico, October 10–13.
m⫽1 关3兴 Ozkan, E., 1988, ‘‘Performance of Horizontal Wells,’’ Ph.D. dissertation, The
冉兺 冊
University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.
⬁
关4兴 Earlougher, R. C., Jr., 1977, ‘‘Advances in Well Test Analysis, Monograph
⫺ 冑s⫹ay D1
⫹e e ⫺2m 冑s⫹ay eD (27) Series, Society of Petroleum Engineers,’’ Dallas, TX, 5.
m⫽1 关5兴 Stehfest, H., 1970, ‘‘Algorithm 368, Numerical Inversion of Laplace Trans-
forms,’’ D-5, Commun. ACM, Jan 13, No. 1, p. 47.
1 关6兴 Chen, C. C., and Raghavan, R., 1994, ‘‘An Approach to Handle Discontinui-
⬁ sin共 k /x eD 兲 cos共 k x D1 兲 cos共 k x D2 兲 ties by the Stehfest Algorithm,’’ Paper SPE 28419, presented at the SPE 69th
2 k
兺
Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, September 25–28.
p̄ D1 ⫽ e ⫺ 冑s⫹ay D1 关7兴 Kuchuk, F. J., Goode, P. A., Wilkinson, D. J., and Thambynayagam, R. K. M.,
s k⫽1 冑s⫹a 1991, ‘‘Pressure-Transient Behavior of Horizontal Wells With and Without
(28) Gas Cap or Aquifer,’’ SPE Formation Evaluation, pp. 86–92.
Subash S. Jayawardena
e-mail: subash-jayawardena@utulsa.edu
Slug Dynamics in Gas-Liquid
Pipe Flow
Clifford L. Redus
e-mail: redus@utulsa.edu The continuity and momentum equations for fully developed and spatially developing slug
flows are established by considering the entire film zone as the control volume. They are
used for the calculations of pressure gradient, slug frequency, liquid holdup in the film,
James P. Brill flow pattern transition, slug dissipation, and slug tracking. Comparison with available
e-mail: brill@utulsa.edu experimental results shows that these equations correctly describe the slug dynamics in
gas-liquid pipe flow. 关S0195-0738共00兲00701-9兴
TUFFP, The University of Tulsa,
600 South College Avenue,
Tulsa, OK 74104
Introduction the pressure loss in the film zone can be important, especially the
Previous investigators used the film segment ⌬z as the control component due to friction between the liquid film and the pipe
volume 共see Fig. 1兲 in developing or applying the momentum wall. A balance exists between all the forces acting on the liquid
equations for the liquid film zone of a slug unit 关1–3兴. From these film. The mixing term is actually the momentum exchange be-
equations, a differential equation can be derived for the height and tween the slug body and the liquid film and plays an important
velocity of the liquid film. It is not easy to integrate the differen- role in affecting the film height and velocity, and, in turn, the
tial equation, especially for an irregular liquid film. Some inves- pressure loss due to friction between the film and the pipe wall.
tigators neglected the convective terms, and assumed that the liq- In this study, the momentum equation will be developed using
uid film is uniform when solving the equation 关3,4兴. the entire liquid film as the control volume 共see Fig. 2兲 to incor-
If the convective terms are not considered, the momentum porate the momentum exchange term. The film is represented with
equations are the same as those used by Taitel and Dukler 关5兴 for
an average velocity and an average liquid holdup. The velocity
equilibrium stratified flow, except they are related to the proper-
ties of the slug body by use of continuity equations. If these mo- and liquid holdup are allowed to change spatially or temporally.
mentum equations are used to calculate the film thickness and This approach will be shown to be appropriate when describing
velocities in upward or downward flow, the results can be unreal- slug dynamics in gas–liquid pipe flows.
istic. For upward flow, they can predict a significant negative film
velocity, even at a small inclination angle, e.g., ⫹1 deg. For
downward flow, they give a film velocity larger than the slug
共mixture兲 velocity if the inclination angle is larger than a few
degrees. According to our experimental observations, neither of
these results is valid in inclined slug flow unless the film length is
quite long.
When a liquid slug travels in a pipeline, it picks up liquid from
the film in front and sheds liquid to the film behind. There can be
a significant difference between the momentum it picks up and the
momentum it sheds. Normally, the latter is larger. Dukler and
Hubbard 关1兴 used a mixing 共or acceleration兲 term when calculat-
ing the pressure gradient across a slug unit. Nicholson et al. 关6兴
and Kokal and Stanislav 关7兴 also considered the pressure drop due
to the acceleration of the slow moving liquid in the film to the Fig. 1 Control volume „⌬ z … used by previous investigators
liquid velocity in the slug body.
Taitel and Barnea 关2兴 found that it was insufficient to consider
just the acceleration of the slow liquid as the mixing term. After a
careful examination of the force balance on the slug body, they
concluded that the contribution due to the change in the liquid
level between the film zone and the liquid slug zone should also
be included in the mixing term.
Normally, the pressure drop in the film zone is negligible if the
film length is relatively short. Many investigators used the pres-
sure loss due to friction and gravity in the slug body plus the
mixing term to calculate the overall pressure gradient. However,
14 Õ Vol. 122, MARCH 2000 Copyright © 2000 by ASME Transactions of the ASME
Theoretical Development For fully developed slug flow, the input mass flow rate should
equal the output mass flow rate, and a continuity equation for the
Assumptions. In this study, slug flow is assumed to be a se- liquid film can be obtained as
quence of slug units travelling at a translational velocity U t . This
velocity can be expressed as a function of the mixture velocity of R s 共 U t ⫺U s 兲 ⫽R f 共 U t ⫺U f 兲 (4)
the slug U s in the form proposed by Nicklin 关8兴
Similarly, the continuity equation for the gas pocket is
U t ⫽CU s ⫹U d (1)
共 1⫺R s 兲共 U t ⫺U s 兲 ⫽ 共 1⫺R f 兲共 U t ⫺U G 兲 (5)
where U d is the drift velocity 共or the velocity of the elongated
bubble at the limit of U s →0兲. The parameter C is approximately The sum of Eqs. 共4兲 and 共5兲 gives
the ratio of the maximum to the mean velocity of a fully devel-
oped velocity profile. Nicklin 关8兴 proposed a value of 1.2 for the U s ⫽R f U f ⫹ 共 1⫺R f 兲 U G (6)
parameter C for turbulent flow. For laminar flow, C is about 2
For the liquid and gas in the entire slug unit, there are volumet-
共Fabre 关9兴兲. For the drift velocity in horizontal and upward in-
ric continuity equations
clined pipe flow, Bendiksen 关10兴 proposed the use of
l u U SL⫽R s l s U s ⫹R f l f U f
U d ⫽0.54冑gD cos  ⫹0.35冑gD sin 
(7)
(2)
where  is positive for upward and negative for downward flows. and
Since there is no correlation available for the drift velocity in
l u U SG⫽ 共 1⫺R s 兲 l s U s ⫹ 共 1⫺R f 兲 l f U G (8)
downward flow, the foregoing correlation is also used for the
translational velocity of downward slug flow in this study. Momentum Equations. In the conventional direction of z
A slug unit consists of the slug body and the liquid film. It is shown in Fig. 2, the momentum output at the left boundary of the
assumed that the separation between gas and liquid in the film liquid film per unit time is
zone is complete and that slip between gas and liquid in the slug
body is negligible. The liquid holdup in the slug body is assumed L R f A 共 U f ⫺U t 兲 U f
to be a function of the mixture velocity. Gregory et al. 关11兴 pro-
posed the correlation, The momentum input at the right boundary of the film per unit
time is
1
冉 冊
R s⫽ 1.39 (3) L R s A 共 U s ⫺U t 兲 U s
Us
1⫹
8.66 The force acting on the left boundary of the liquid film due to
the static pressure is
where U s is in m/s. This correlation will be used to estimate R s in
this study.
According to the analyses of Taitel et al. 关12兴 and Barnea and
Brauner 关13兴, there exists a critical slug length for slugs to be
R f A P 1 ⫹ L g cos  冕 0
hfe
共 h f e ⫺y 兲 bdy
stable. Therefore, the slug length is assumed to be constant for where P 1 is the static pressure in the gas phase at the left bound-
either fully developed or spatially developing slug flow. A slug ary, h f e is the film height at the film end 共assumed to be same as
length of 30D will be used for horizontal and inclined pipe flows, the average film height兲, and b is the width of the film at a dis-
except when there is an available slug length from measurement. tance y from the pipe bottom. The force acting on the right bound-
Consequently, the slug front velocity, the slug tail velocity, and ary of the liquid film due to the static pressure is
the slug translational velocity are all identical.
In fact, either slug length or slug frequency has to be given to
close the formulations. The modeling in this study is based on the
assumption of constant slug length. However, it is very easy to
R s A P 2 ⫹ L g cos  冕 hfi
0
共 h f i ⫺y 兲 bdy
change the constant-slug-length mode to the constant-slug- where P 2 is the static pressure in the gas phase at the right bound-
frequency mode by assuming that the slug frequency is a known ary, and h f i is the front film height and can be calculated from the
constant and the slug length is an unknown. liquid holdup R s . Also, there is a force acting on the curved
Although there is no difficulty to include gas compressibility in surface of the film in the z direction due to the static pressure.
the formulation, the fluids are assumed incompressible in this Assuming the pressure on the curved surface is P 2 , the force
work. The liquid film is represented with an average velocity and component in the z direction is
an average liquid holdup. We assume that the film height and
velocity at the film tail is equal to the average values. P 2 A 共 R s ⫺R f 兲
The frictional force acting on the film at the wall 共in the oppo-
Equations for Developed Slug Flow site direction of z兲 is
Continuity Equations. In this work, the entire liquid film and ⫺ fS fl f
the gas pocket in the film zone of a slug unit will be used as the
control volume, as shown in Fig. 2. Continuity and momentum The frictional force acting on the film at the interface 共in the same
equations will be derived for them relative to a coordinate system direction of z兲 is
moving with the translational velocity U t .
The output liquid mass flow rate at the left boundary and the iS il f
input liquid mass flow rate at the right boundary of the liquid film
are The gravitational force is
L R f A 共 U f ⫺U t 兲 ⫺ L R f Al f g sin 
and All the foregoing forces should be in balance for fully devel-
oped slug flow. Therefore, the momentum equation for the liquid
L R s A 共 U s ⫺U t 兲 film can be obtained,
⫻ 冉冕 hfi
0
共 h f i ⫺y 兲 bdy⫺ 冕0
hfe
共 h f e ⫺y 兲 bdy 冊 (9) f ⫽C Re⫺n
where C⫽0.046, n⫽0.2. The Reynolds numbers were defined as
(16)
冉冕 冕 冊
factor, assuming there are small-amplitude waves on the interface.
L g cos  hfi hfe
⫺ 共 h f i ⫺y 兲 bdy⫺ 共 h f e ⫺y 兲 bdy Equations for Developing Slug Flow. For developing slug
lfRfA 0 0 flow, we do not focus on a specific slug unit, but on a statistical
⫺
fSf
⫹
GS G
R f A 共 1⫺R f 兲 A
⫹ iS i
1
⫹
1
冉
R f A 共 1⫺R f 兲 A 冊 slug unit. During slug dissipation, it is assumed that some slugs
disappear quickly, but others do not change in their length. The
slug unit length and film length will increase 共or decrease兲 with a
⫺ 共 L ⫺ G 兲 g sin  ⫽0 (11) decrease 共or increase兲 in the slug frequency.
The first two terms on the LHS of Eq. 共11兲 are the momentum Continuity Equations. As assumed, the slug frequency of a
exchange between the slug body and the liquid film zone. They developing slug flow may change while the slug length remains
appear in the combined momentum equation as a result of taking constant. All the mass in the disappearing slug units, which in-
the entire film as the control volume. If the gas part of the first clude the slug bodies and the liquid films, will be distributed to
term is neglected, the momentum exchange term in Eq. 共11兲 is the each liquid film of the remaining slugs passing a specific location
same as the mixing term derived by Taitel and Barnea 关2兴. If the per unit time. Therefore, the mass input rate to the liquid film due
integration term 共the second term in Eq. 共11兲兲 is also dropped, the to the change rate of the slug frequency is
momentum exchange becomes the same as the mixing term used L 共 R s l s ⫹R f l f 兲 A d
by Dukler and Hubbard 关1兴, Nicholson et al. 关6兴, and Kokal and ⫺
Stanislav 关7兴 in calculating the pressure gradient in slug flow.
dt
In fact, these investigators obtained the mixing term by consid- where the slug frequency is given by
ering the slug body as the control volume. Therefore, it is natural
that the same momentum input 共with opposite sign兲 should appear Ut
⫽ (19)
in the momentum equation when the entire liquid film is taken as lu
the control volume. The characteristics of the liquid film are gov-
erned by the foregoing continuity and momentum equations. Then, the mass input rate becomes
The slug unit length given by
l u ⫽l s ⫹l f (12)
L 共 R s l s ⫹R f l f 兲 A 冉 1 dl u 1 dU t
⫺
l u dt U t dt 冊
is not independent of the continuity equations, Eqs. 共7兲, 共8兲, for For developing slug flow, the mass change rate in the control
steady slug flow. Therefore, only two of them can be used at the volume should also be included in the balance equation
same time. In this work, we choose to use Eqs. 共12兲 and 共7兲 in d
solving different slug flow problems. 共 R l A兲
The continuity and momentum equations, Eqs. 共4兲, 共5兲, 共7兲, dt L f f
共11兲, and 共12兲, will be used for pressure drop, slug characteristics, Then, the continuity equation for the liquid in the film zone be-
and flow pattern predictions for fully developed slug flow. The comes
solution procedure is as follows: 1兲 Given an estimated value of
R f , U f and U G are calculated using Eqs. 共4兲 and 共5兲, respectively. d
l f is calculated using Eqs. 共7兲 and 共12兲. 2兲 Then, every term in Eq. 共 R l 兲 ⫽R s 共 U t ⫺U s 兲 ⫺R f 共 U t ⫺U f 兲
dt f f
共11兲 is calculated using the liquid holdups, liquid and gas veloci-
ties, and the film length. 3兲 If the residual of Eq. 共11兲 is smaller
than a given tolerance, the calculation is terminated. Otherwise, a
new R f is estimated according to the results of previous iterations
⫹ 共 R s l s ⫹R f l f 兲 冉 1 dl u 1 dU t
⫺
l u dt U t dt 冊 (20)
and the process is repeated. For a slug flow that experiences only a spatial development
The shear stresses in Eq. 共11兲 are evaluated as dU t
⫽0 (21)
L U 2f dt
f⫽ f f (13)
2 d
⫽U t (22)
G U G2 dt z
G⫽ f G (14)
2 The continuity equation for the film then becomes
l f lu
z
⫽
z
(24)
⫺
L g cos 
lfRfA 冉冕 0
hfi
共 h f i ⫺y 兲 bdy
After rearranging, the continuity equation for the liquid in the film
zone becomes
⫺ 冕0
hfe
共 h f e ⫺y 兲 bdy 冊 (29)
Similarly, the continuity equation for the gas in the film zone is G V t U SG l u
共 1⫺R f 兲 l f z
R f 共 1⫺R s 兲共 U t ⫺U s 兲 ⫺ 共 1⫺R f 兲共 U t ⫺U G 兲
⫺l f ⫽ G 关共 1⫺R s 兲共 U t ⫺U s 兲 U s ⫺ 共 1⫺R f 兲共 U t ⫺U G 兲 U G 兴
z Ut
⫽
共 1⫺R f 兲 l f
l s 共 R f ⫺R s 兲 l u
⫹ (26) iS i⫹ GS G 共 P 2⫺ P 1 兲
lu z
⫺ ⫺ G g sin  ⫺ (30)
共 1⫺R f 兲 A lf
From Eqs. 共25兲 and 共26兲, we can also reach Eq. 共6兲, which was
obtained from the continuity equations, 共4兲 and 共5兲, for steady slug
By equating the pressure drop in the foregoing momentum equa-
flow.
tions for liquid and gas in the film zone, the combined momentum
Momentum Equations. For developing slug flow, the momen- equation for spatially developing slug flow can be obtained,
tum change rate in the liquid film as the control volume is
Ut lu
d 共 LU f ⫺ GU G 兲
共 U R l A兲 lf z
dt L f f f
L 关 R s 共 U t ⫺U s 兲 U s ⫺R f 共 U t ⫺U f 兲 U f 兴
By use of Eqs. 共7兲 and 共19兲, this momentum change rate can be ⫽
Rflf
written in a different form, assuming U s R s is constant
G 关共 1⫺R s 兲共 U t ⫺U s 兲 U s ⫺ 共 1⫺R f 兲共 U t ⫺U G 兲 U G 兴
⫺
d d 共 1⫺R f 兲 l f
共 L U f R f l f A 兲 ⫽ L A 共 U f R f l f ⫹U s R s l s 兲
dt dt iS i⫺ f S f iS i⫹ GS G
⫹ ⫹ ⫺ 共 L ⫺ G 兲 g sin 
dl u RfA 共 1⫺R f 兲 A
⫽ L AU SL
冉冕 冕 冊
dt L g cos  hfi hfe
⫺ 共 h f i ⫺y 兲 bdy⫺ 共 h f e ⫺y 兲 bdy
LA d lfRfA
⫽⫺ 共 U f R f l f ⫹U s R s l s 兲 (27) 0 0
dt
(31)
It is clear from Eq. 共27兲 that the momentum change rate in the
liquid film is equal to the momentum change due to the change The continuity and momentum equations, Eqs. 共7兲, 共8兲, 共12兲,
rate of the slug frequency. 共25兲, and 共31兲, for spatially developing slug flow will be used for
The momentum change rate in every liquid film should equal calculations of slug dissipation and slug tracking. The solution
the net force exerted on it. Accordingly, the momentum equation procedure is: 1兲 The entrance conditions are specified normally by
for liquid in the film zone can be written as solving the continuity and momentum equations for fully devel-
oped slug flow assuming the entrance section is sufficiently long
L d L 关 R s 共 U t ⫺U s 兲 U s ⫺R f 共 U t ⫺U f 兲 U f 兴 to ensure the fully developed flow state. 2兲 U f and U G are calcu-
共 R l U 兲⫽ lated using Eqs. 共7兲, 共8兲, and 共12兲. 3兲 Equations 共25兲 and 共31兲 are
R f l f dt f f f Rflf integrated using a finite differencing method to obtain values of
iS i⫺ f S f 共 P 2⫺ P 1 兲 R f and l u at the next grid point. Steps 2 and 3 are repeated until
⫹ ⫺ L g sin  ⫺ the downstream boundary is reached.
RfA lf
⫺
L g cos 
lfRfA 冉冕 0
hfi
共 h f i ⫺y 兲 bdy
⫺ 冕 0
hfe
共 h f e ⫺y 兲 bdy 冊 (28)
Results and Discussions
Pressure Gradient. U f , U G , R f , and l u (l f ) are obtained
after solving the continuity and momentum equations for fully
Applying Eq. 共7兲 and assuming that the flow experiences only developed slug flow. Then, the pressure gradient in the film zone
spatial development, this equation becomes is calculated using
G 共 1⫺R f 兲共 U t ⫺U G 兲共 U s ⫺U G 兲
⫹
lf
⫺
L g cos 
lfA 冉冕 0
hfi
共 h f i ⫺y 兲 bdy⫺ 冕0
hfe
共 h f e ⫺y 兲 bdy 冊
f S f ⫹ GS G
⫺ ⫺ 关 L R f ⫹ G 共 1⫺R f 兲兴 g sin  (32)
A
冋 册
P
z s
⫽⫺
L R f 共 U t ⫺U f 兲共 U s ⫺U f 兲
ls
Fig. 4 Computed overall À dp Õ dx , compared with Stanislav
et al. †16‡ data
G 共 1⫺R f 兲共 U t ⫺U G 兲共 U s ⫺U G 兲
⫺
ls
冉冕 冕 冊
tum exchange term. It is apparent that a large difference from the
L g cos  hfi hfe
experimental data results if only the frictional term is considered
⫹ 共 h f i ⫺y 兲 bdy⫺ 共 h f e ⫺y 兲 bdy
l sA 0 0 in the pressure gradient calculation. More significantly, this dif-
ference shows conceptually the magnitude of the momentum out-
sS s put from the slug body to the liquid film.
⫺ ⫺ s g sin  (33) The calculations also show that the influence of the change in
A
liquid level between the film zone and the slug body is very small.
The slug body mixture density is calculated from The integration terms are only about 1 percent of the mixing term
共the momentum exchange term兲. Actually, the pressure drop due
s ⫽ L R s ⫹ G 共 1⫺R s 兲 . (34) to the change in liquid level across the film can be recovered as
long as the film is connected with the slug body. Therefore, it may
The pressure gradient for a slug unit will be not be necessary to consider it in calculation of the overall pres-
冋 册
sure gradient.
P l f f S f ⫹ G S G l s s S s g sin  Figure 4 shows a comparison of computed values of the overall
⫽⫺ ⫺ ⫺
z u lu A lu A lu pressure gradient for slug flow with the experimental results of
Stanislav et al. 关16兴. They used a light refined machine oil and air
g sin  as the liquid and gas phases flowing in a 25.8-mm i.d. upward
⫻l f 关 L R f ⫹ G 共 1⫺R f 兲兴 ⫺ l s s (35) inclined pipeline.
lu
Slug Characteristics. Figure 5 shows the computed liquid
The force due to the momentum exchange between the liquid film holdup in the film region of slug flow compared with the mea-
and the slug body does not appear in the pressure gradient for the surements of Kouba 关15兴. Figure 6 is a comparison between the
slug unit. However, it plays an important role in determining the computed average film liquid holdups and those measured by An-
velocity and liquid holdup of the film; and this, in turn, affects the dreussi et al. 关3兴. The test fluids of that study were water and air at
overall pressure gradient in the slug flow. atmospheric conditions and the test section was a 53-mm i.d. hori-
Figure 3 shows a comparison of the computed pressure gradient zontal pipe. Their measurements were made in the film region in
in the slug body with the experimental results of Kouba 关15兴. In front of the slugs.
Kouba’s study, kerosene and air were used as the liquid and gas In Fig. 7, the computed slug frequencies at different flow rates
phases flowing in a 3-in-dia horizontal pipeline. The dashed line are compared with the experimental results of Andreussi et al. 关3兴.
in Fig. 3 is the calculated pressure gradient without the momen- Good agreement is observed in all these cases.
Fig. 3 Computed À dp Õ dz in the slug body, compared with Fig. 5 Computed film liquid holdup, compared with Kouba
Kouba †15‡ data †15‡ data
Contributed by the Petroleum Division and presented at the 20th Annual Energy-
Sources Technology Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, February 1–3,
1999, of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. Manuscript re-
ceived by the Petroleum Division, October 24, 1998; revised manuscript received
January 4, 2000. Associate Technical Editor: W. P. Jepson. Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of annular flow
22 Õ Vol. 122, MARCH 2000 Copyright © 2000 by ASME Transactions of the ASME
In this study, we briefly review the existing transition mecha- Spontaneous Blockage. At high liquid flow rates, a thick film
nisms and propose a new unified model for predicting the transi- is formed, which eventually bridges the core, resulting in inter-
tion from annular flow to intermittent flow for the entire range of mittent flow 共slug or churn flows兲. This occurs when
inclination angles. Comparisons of the different transition models
against flow pattern data are presented. H LF⬎0.24 (10)
Ansari et al. Model. Ansari et al. 关6兴 modified the Barnea
model to account for liquid entrainment in the gas core. Core
Review of Existing Transition Models properties with liquid entrainment have been incorporated in the
definition of the Lockhart and Martinelli parameters: Y M and X M .
Several models have been proposed for the annular flow pattern They are given as
冉 冊
transition. Here, a brief description and assessment of each model
is given.
Taitel et al. Model. For vertical pipes, Taitel et al. 关3兴
XM⫽ 冑 共 1⫺FE兲 2
f F 共 dp/dL 兲 SL
f SL 共 dp/dL 兲 SC
(11)
claimed that annular flow cannot exist unless the gas velocity in g sin 共 L ⫺ C 兲
the gas core is sufficient to lift the entrained droplets. They devel- Y M⫽ (12)
oped the following transition criterion based on a balance between 共 dp/dL 兲 SC
gravitational and drag forces acting on the largest liquid droplet: For the interfacial friction correlating parameter, Ansari et al.
SG⫽3.1 冋 g 共 L⫺ G 兲
2g 册 1/4
(1)
found that a correlation developed by Wallis 关10兴 worked well for
thin liquid films, while the Whalley and Hewitt 关9兴 correlation
performed well for thick films. Thus
This criterion implies that the annular flow transition boundary Z⫽1⫹300␦គ for FE⬎0.9 (13)
is independent of superficial liquid velocity.
Barnea Model. Barnea 关5兴 attributed the annular flow transi-
tion to blockage of the gas core. She postulated that the blockage
Z⫽1⫹24 冉 冊
L
G
1/3
␦គ for FE⬍0.9 (14)
might result from two possible mechanisms, instability of the liq- The superficial friction gradients for the liquid and the gas core
uid film and spontaneous blockage. are given in Eqs. 共7兲 and 共8兲. In these equations, superficial core
Instability of the Liquid Film. At low liquid flow rates, the velocity, core density, and core viscosity are defined as follows:
instability occurs because of the low core shear stress, resulting in SC⫽FE SL⫹ SG (15)
downward flow of the film and blockage of the gas core. Instabil-
ity of the film occurs when C ⫽ L LC⫹ G 共 1⫺ LC兲 (16)
2⫺1.5H LF C ⫽ L LC⫹ G 共 1⫺ LC兲 (17)
Y M⭓ X 2M (2)
3
H LF共 1⫺1.5H LF兲 LC is the no-slip liquid holdup caused by the entrained liquid in
H LF is the fraction of the pipe cross section that is occupied by the the homogeneous mixture of gas and liquid in the core with re-
liquid film and can be expressed in terms of the minimum dimen- spect to the core cross section, and is given by
sionless film thickness, ␦គ , as
LC⫽1⫺FE SL / 关 SG⫹FE SL兴 (18)
H LF⫽4 ␦គ 共 1⫺ ␦គ 兲 (3)
The entrainment fraction, FE is given by Wallis 关10兴 as
␦គ can be obtained from the following combined momentum equa-
tion: FE⫽1⫺exp关 ⫺0.125共 10000 SG G / 共 G / L 兲 0.5⫺1.5兲兴
(19)
Z X 2M The friction factors f F , f SL , and f SC can be obtained from a
Y M⫺ 2.5 ⫹ ⫽0 (4)
4 ␦គ 共 1⫺ ␦គ 兲关 1⫺4 ␦គ 共 1⫺ ␦គ 兲兴 关 4 ␦គ 共 1⫺ ␦គ 兲兴 3 Moody diagram for the corresponding Reynolds numbers given in
the following:
Y M and X M are the modified Lockhart and Martinelli 关8兴 param-
eters, expressed as N Re,F ⫽ L SL共 1⫺FE兲 D/ L (20)
XM⫽ 冑 共 dp/dL 兲 SL
共 dp/dL 兲 SC
(5)
N Re,SL⫽ L SLD/ L
N Re,SC⫽ C v SCD/ C
(21)
(22)
g sin 共 L ⫺ C 兲
Y M⫽ (6) The mechanism of bridging, based on the minimum liquid
共 dp/dL 兲 SC holdup to form a liquid slug, is modified for rhombohedral pack-
The superficial frictional pressure gradients for the liquid and ing of bubbles and liquid entrainment as follows:
the gas core are given, respectively, as
共 dp/dL 兲 SL⫽ f SL L SL
2
/ 共 2D 兲 (7)
冉 H LF⫹ LC
AC
A
⬎0.12 冊 (23)
metric flow fraction 共no-slip gas holdup兲. In their experimental where the Lockhart and Martinelli parameters, Y M and X M , are
study, Jepson and Taylor 关12兴 also observed that liquid film void the same as given in the Barnea model by Eqs. 共5兲 and 共6兲.
fraction tends to a limit of 0.76 as the gas volumetric flow fraction
is increased in intermittent flow. After the void fraction exceeds Comparison and Discussion of Transition Models
0.75, it increases exponentially with an increase in gas volumetric
flow fraction. This can be interpreted as follows. When the void Performance of Models for Low-Pressure Systems. Figures
fraction is less than 0.75, liquid is the continuous phase, and gas is 2–10 compare the proposed new model and previous transition
distributed in the continuous liquid phase, whether the two-phase models with the Shoham 关14兴 data for air-water flow at 1.0 bar
flow is in bubbly flow, slug flow, or churn flow. Also, the void and 25°C in 5.1-cm-dia pipes having different inclination angles
fraction of these gas discontinuous flow patterns has almost the
same profile versus the gas volumetric flow fraction. When the
void fraction is greater than 0.75, annular flow occurs in the pipe,
and both the gas and liquid phases are continuous. The void frac-
tion profile of annular flow versus the gas volumetric flow fraction
is totally different from that of the gas discontinuous flow pat-
terns. Therefore, after Chen 关13兴, the transition criterion from an-
nular flow is set at
␣ ⭐0.75 (24)
Since it is normally assumed that the gas phase in intermittent
flow does not have entrained liquid droplets, the no entrainment
assumption can also be made at the transition from annular to
intermittent flow. Chen used this assumption and combined con-
servation of momentum in the gas core and the liquid film, which
yields
is i 冉 1
⫹
1
AG AL 冊SL
⫺ L ⫺ 共 L ⫺ G 兲 g sin ⫽0
AL
(25)
Fig. 2 Comparison of annular flow transition models „90 deg,
5.1 cm pipe…
In Eq. 共25兲, i is the interfacial shear stress, L is the shear stress
at the pipe wall, A G and A L are the cross-sectional areas occupied
by the gas core and liquid film, respectively, and S i and S L are the
perimeters upon which i and L act, respectively.
The shear stresses are estimated in the conventional manner
L L2 G共 G⫺ L 兲 2
L⫽ f L , i⫽ f i (26)
2 2
The liquid/wall friction factor, f L , is evaluated from
f L ⫽C L 冉 LD L L
L 冊 ⫺n
(27)
f G ⫽C G 冉 L D G SG
G 冊 ⫺m
(29)
D2 D2
A G⫽ ␣ , A L ⫽ 共 1⫺ ␣ 兲 (31)
4 4
Upon substitution of Eqs. 共26兲–共31兲 and the transition criterion,
Eq. 共24兲, into Eq. 共25兲, the following transition boundary equation Fig. 4 Comparison of annular flow transition models „30 deg,
can be obtained: 5.1 cm pipe…
for upward and downward directions. Figures 11–13 compare the 1 deg inclination angle, all models show inaccurate results with
transition models with Shoham’s horizontal and vertical upflow respect to the data. In horizontal and near horizontal pipes, par-
and downflow data in 2.54-cm pipe. Although Barnea’s 关5兴 spon- ticularly for the low liquid flow rates, the poor performance of the
taneous blockage criterion gives satisfactory predictions with the spontaneous blockage or critical void fraction mechanisms is not
correct trend, the film stability criterion displays an incorrect trend surprising due to the low liquid supply. The mechanisms for the
of decreasing superficial gas velocity with increasing superficial Ansari et al. model and the Barnea model are almost identical.
liquid velocity over part of the transition boundary. In Fig. 5, for However, the blockage criterion in the Ansari et al. model has
eter on the transition from annular flow. The new model also
displays the physically correct trend for both low and high liquid
flow rates.
Performance of Models for High-Pressure Systems. No
published flow pattern data for high-pressure, high-temperature
共HPHT兲 wellbore conditions could be found in the open literature.
The only way to evaluate transition models for HPHT conditions
is to test them against the expanded Tulsa University Fluid Flow
Projects 共TUFFP兲 well data bank and compare their pressure drop
results. The expanded TUFFP well data bank consists of 2052
well cases from various sources covering a wide range of flow
parameters.
Comparison Criteria. A variety of statistical parameters are
used to evaluate the model predictions using the entire data bank.
Following are the definitions of the statistical parameters used.
Fig. 12 Comparison of annular flow transition models „À90 Average Percentage Error
冋 册
deg, 2.54 cm pipe… N
1
E1⫽
N 兺e
i⫽1
ri ⫻100 (33)
where
e ri ⫽ 共 ⌬ P i,calc⫺⌬ P i,mean兲 /⌬ P i,meas (34)
and N is the number of well cases that successfully converged. E1
indicates the overall trend of the performance relative to the mea-
sured pressure drop.
Absolute Average Percentage Error
E2⫽
1
N 冋 兺 冏 冏册
N
i⫽1
e ri ⫻100 (35)
兺冑
N calc ⫽ calculated
共 e i ⫺E4 兲 2 F ⫽ film
E6⫽ (40)
i⫽1 N⫺1 G ⫽ gas
L ⫽ liquid
The performances of the new model and the Ansari et al. and
LC ⫽ gas core with liquid entrainment
Barnea transition models are compared. For these transition mod-
LF ⫽ liquid film
els, the Ansari et al. hydrodynamic model has been used. Table 1
M ⫽ mixture
reports the errors in predicting pressure drop calculations for those
meas ⫽ measured
well cases in the TUFFP well data bank for which annular flow is
mn ⫽ minimum
predicted to occur in the entire wellbore for the tested transition
n,m ⫽ power constant values for friction factor
model. Table 1 shows that the new model and the Barnea model
S ⫽ superficial
give higher error values than the Ansari et al. model. The Ansari
SC ⫽ superficial core
et al. model predicts that only 71 well cases have 100 percent
SL ⫽ superficial liquid
annular flow in the wellbore, while the new model and the Barnea
SG ⫽ superficial gas
model predict 162 and 206 well cases, respectively, with 100 per-
t ⫽ total
cent annular flow.
Conclusions
A new unified model for the annular flow transition is devel-
oped based on a critical void fraction mechanism. Available an- References
nular flow transition models and a new model are evaluated using 关1兴 Turner, R. G., Hubbord, M. G., and Dukler, A. E., 1969, ‘‘Analysis and Pre-
diction of Minimum Flow Rate for the Continuous Removal of Liquids From
the TUFFP well data bank for high pressures and Shoham’s flow Gas Wells,’’ J. Pet. Technol., Nov., 1475-82, p. 246.
pattern data for low pressures. Comparisons show that, for low- 关2兴 Ilobi, M. I., and Ikoku, C. U., 1981, ‘‘Minimum Gas Flow Rate for Continuous
pressure and temperature flow systems, the new model gives the Liquid Removal in Gas Wells’’ Paper SPE 10170 presented at SPE Annual
best results, while Ansari et al. model gives the best results for Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, TX, October 4–7.
关3兴 Taitel, Y., Barnea, D., and Dukler, A. E., 1980, ‘‘Modeling Flow Pattern
high pressure and temperature systems. Transitions for Steady State Upward Gas-Liquid Flow in Vertical Tubes,’’
AIChE. J., 26, pp. 345–354.
Acknowledgments 关4兴 Taitel, Y., and Dukler, A. E., 1976, ‘‘A Model For Prediction Flow Regime
Transition in Horizontal and Near Horizontal Gas-Liquid Flow,’’ AIChE. J.,
We thank the TUFFP member companies whose membership 22, pp. 47–55.
fees were used to fund part of this research project. 关5兴 Barnea, D., 1987, ‘‘A Unified Model for Predicting Flow-Pattern Transition
for the Whole Range of Pipe Inclinations,’’ Int. J. Multiphase Flow, 13, pp.
1–12.
Nomenclature 关6兴 Ansari, A. M., Sylvester, N. D., Sarica, C., Shoham, O., and Brill, J. P., 1994,
‘‘A Comprehensive Mechanistic Model for Upward Flow in Pipes,’’ SPE
A ⫽ cross-sectional area Prod. Facil., Trans. AIME, 297, May, pp. 217–226.
C ⫽ coefficient 关7兴 Barnea, D., Shoham, O., and Taitel, Y., 1982, ‘‘Flow Pattern Transitions for
D ⫽ pipe diameter Downward Inclined Two-Phase Flow; Horizontal to Vertical,’’ Chem. Eng.
Sci., 37, pp. 735–740.
e ⫽ error function 关8兴 Lockhart, R. W., and Martinelli, R. C., 1949, ‘‘Proposed Correlation of Data
E1 ⫽ average percentage error for Isothermal Two-Phase Two-Component Flow in Pipes,’’ Chem. Eng.
E2 ⫽ absolute average percentage error Prog., 45, Jan., No. 1, pp. 39–48.
Journal of Energy Resources Technology Copyright © 2000 by ASME MARCH 2000, Vol. 122 Õ 29
avoid excessive wear to the bottom of the pipe. In this case, sand
settling velocity is defined as the minimum velocity to keep solid
particles suspended in the flow, and thus avoid their drop-out. For
oil and gas transport, sand settling flow rate can be defined by the
transition between scouring and moving dunes 共i.e., sand is on the
bottom of the pipe, but moving along the pipe兲. The flow velocity
at this condition would be lower than the velocity to disperse the
sand, i.e., keep all the sand in suspension. Since the settling ve-
locity is defined as the transition between sand settling and sand
transport, the transport and settling velocities are almost the same.
This is not true for cases when the bottom sand layer has been
stationary for some time. A higher flow rate will be required to
initiate the movement of such a layer because sand tends, with
time, to become more compacted and more adherent to itself and
Fig. 1 Comparison between predicted and measured sand
erosion rate in bends
to the pipe surface. This level of flow rate increase is not well
established. Therefore, it is recommended that under conditions of
sand production, the periods of shutdown and production below
the sand settling flow rate should be kept to a minimum. Also, if
where ER is erosion rate in mm/yr. W is sand flow rate in kg/d.
the flowlines are operated for an extended period of time under
V m is fluid flow velocity in m/s. d is the sand size in micron
conditions below the sand settling flow rate, care must be taken
共effect of d becomes negligible above 400 microns; therefore, for
when the flow rate is increased to avoid the sudden transport of
d⬎400, the limit of 400 is used兲. D is pipe internal diameter in
large quantities of sand.
mm. m is fluid mixture density in kg/m3. S m is geometry factor
Prediction models for solid transport in pipelines are based on
that equals 5.5 for pipe bends.
two main approaches. The first approach is based on deriving an
The accuracy of this model 共Eq. 共1兲兲 is clearly illustrated by
expression for the forces necessary to roll a solid particle by in-
Fig. 1. Figure 1 presents a comparison between the model predic-
vestigating the forces acting on a single particle 共i.e., gravity,
tions and multi-phase flowloop erosion measurements on pipe
buoyancy, lift, and drag forces兲. This approach was used by
bends. The experimental data used in this comparison were gen-
Wicks 关11兴 to develop his model for predicting sand transport in a
erated by Weiner and Tolle 关7兴, Tolle and Greenwood 关8兴, Bour-
single-phase flow. Wicks’ model does not account for the effect of
goyne 关9兴, and Salama 关6兴. The details of the testing conditions
particle diameter on settling characteristics. Holte et al. 关12兴
are summarized by Salama 关6兴. The main data were developed
modified Wicks’ model to account for the effect of particle diam-
using a 1-in. medium pressure flowloop. The test section consisted
eter as reflected by experimental data. Holte et al. 关12兴 also ex-
of three parts: one inlet pipe section for simulation of erosion in a
tended Wicks model to two-phase flow and to account for tilted
vertical pipe, a 5-D pipe bend, and a horizontal outlet pipe section
pipes. Using the modified model, Anglesen et al. 关10兴 developed a
similar to the one in the vertical pipe. All pipes were fabricated of
sand settling subroutine which was integrated within DNV’s flow
duplex stainless steel. The test specimens were assembled ensur-
model and corrosion prediction package 共Corroline兲. The second
ing a smooth transition between the various pipe elements. All
approach is based on turbulence theory by considering the energy
tests were conducted using distilled water and nitrogen. Two sand
dissipated from turbulent eddies. Based on a detailed regression
sizes were used in the tests, 150 and 250 micron, and the sand was
analysis of more than 350 experiments, Oroskar and Turian 关13兴
not recirculated through the test. The sand was injected into the
derived a sand settling prediction equation, which was also veri-
test section via the liquid flow downstream of the liquid pump and
fied by Davies 关14兴 using simple turbulence theory. Both modified
was collected in a separator downstream of the test section.
Wicks 共Wicks/Holte兲, and Oroskar and Turian models can be
written in the following form:
Sand Settling
Below some minimum flow velocity in a horizontal pipeline,
solid particles in the fluid can form a bed on the bottom of the
line. Deposition of the solids can lead to partial or complete
V m ⫽Kd n 1 n 2 冉 冊
⌬
f
n3
D n4 (3)
V m ⫽1.2 冉 冊冋 冑
d
⫺1⫹ 1⫹0.073 冉 冊冉 冊 册
⌬
f
d
2
(5)
developed and calibrated by injecting known amounts of sand
upstream of the sensor and measuring the transducer output sig-
nal. Therefore, the optimum monitor location is where sand im-
The foregoing models ignore the impact of condensate and added pact on the internal pipe wall is greatest, such as on the outside
chemicals on sand behavior and sand settling predictions. It is, curve of the first bend downstream of a well. The sensitivity of
however, expected that Eq. 共4兲 can lead to conservative results acoustic detectors can be influenced by factors that prevent sand
because oil-wetted sand should be expected to settle at a lower particles from striking the pipe wall such as sand settling and
velocity than water wetted sand. This situation may be reversed, buildup of deposits on the pipe wall. The sensitivity can also be
as previously discussed, when predicting sand lifting flow rates. influenced by interference from other noise sources such as hy-
In cases when the fluid composition is corrosive, an effective drate crystals, liquid particles, opening and closing valves, and
inhibition program is implemented when carbon steel pipes are operation of pumps and compressors.
used. The effect of sand beds on the effectiveness of inhibitors As part of an effort to evaluate the accuracy of several of these
should be an issue of concern because of the possibility of high commercially available monitors, they were tested on two test
ERD 2 m
loops. Some of the tests were conducted in a 6-in. horizontal M ⫽S m 2 (6)
Vm dp
flowloop using single phase 共air or water兲, and two-phase 共air and
water兲. Acoustic detectors were mounted on 1 1/2D bends located where
at least 14 m of straight pipe from the sand injection point. The ER ⫽ reduction in probe element thickness due to erosion, nm
ER probes were located at 10D downstream of the bend. Other M ⫽ amount of flowing sand, kg
tests were conducted in a circulating flowloop using a 3-in. test dp ⫽ sand particle diameter, micron
section that contained a blinded Tee-bend, a horizontal pipe, an D ⫽ pipe diameter, mm
ordinary bend, and a vertical downward pipe. The tests were per- Vm ⫽ fluid mixture velocity, m/s
formed at a pressure of 8 bara and ambient temperature. The ER m ⫽ fluid mixture density, kg/m3
probes were installed in the horizontal pipe downstream of the Sm ⫽ geometry-dependant constant
Tee-bend and in the vertical pipe downstream of the ordinary Equation 共6兲 is the same as Eq. 共2兲 that was proposed for pre-
bend. The acoustic probes were installed on the vertical pipe dicting erosion in pipe bends. The correlation between erosion
downstream of the ordinary bend. predictions of the ER probe elements using Eq. 共6兲 and the erosion
Figure 4 presents a comparison between the predictions of measured on the ER probe elements is shown in Fig. 5. Since ER
acoustic monitors and actual sand injected in a flowloop under the sand monitors are intended for use in long-term monitoring, it is
different test conditions of sand size, sand injection rate, and gas- more appropriate to compare the accuracy of both the monitor and
liquid ratios. To further understand the scatter in the data, the the calibration equation based on the cumulative sand production,
prediction accuracy was analyzed in terms of the gas velocity, as as shown in Fig. 6. Figure 6 compares the cumulative sand in-
shown in Fig. 5. The results show that the predictions greatly jected in the flow loop and the predictions using Eq. 共6兲 based on
improve for gas velocities greater than 15 m/s. the measurement of the probe erosion rate and selecting the value
Electrical resistance 共ER兲 sand probes, such as those produced of S m by calibration with the result of a single test. The value
by CorrOcean, monitor the change in the electrical resistance of derived in this set of experiments was 1/325. The value of the
sensing elements due to reduction in the element thickness by constant S m depends on the geometry of the piping system and the
sand erosion. Each probe has two to four sensing elements 共20– location of the sand probe. In field operation, the value of the
500 micron thick兲 manufactured of a corrosion resistance alloy constant S m can be determined using computational fluid dynam-
film to eliminate the possibility of material loss due to corrosion. ics 共CFD兲 simulations of the actual piping geometry, including the
The thickness of the sensing element is determined by passing a probe.
fixed current and measuring the resultant voltage drop. To com-
pensate for resistance change due to temperature variations, a ref-
erence element is installed on the backside of the probe holder so
that it will be shielded from the flow. Since element resistances
are low, inherent electrical noise generated by the system elec-
tronics can result in random fluctuations in the measured thickness
of the element. Typical element thickness variations due to elec-
trical noise, under conditions of no flow, for the 35 and 100-
micron-thick elements are ⫾4 and ⫾30 nm, respectively. These
limits can be translated into sand production resolution, i.e., mini-
mum quantity of sand required to obtain a significant response
from the detector. While thinner elements are desirable because
they are more sensitive because of their higher resistance than
thicker elements, they will have shorter lives.
The relationship between sand flow rate and reduction in ele-
ment thickness is based on an empirical calibration equation. The
accuracy of sand predictions depend on the accuracy of the sens-
ing element thickness measurement, the accuracy of the calibra-
tion equation, the accuracy of the input parameters, and the uni-
formity of sand distribution upstream of the probe. The empirical
equation relating erosion of probe elements to amount of sand is Fig. 6 A comparison between ER probe measurements and
given as follows: predictions
where
V m ⫽ minimum mixture flow velocity to avoid sand settling,
m/s
V sl /V m ⫽ ratio between liquid superficial velocity and mixture
velocity at sand settling condition 共for single phase,
this ratio is 1兲
d ⫽ particle diameter, m
D ⫽ pipe diameter, m
⌬ ⫽ density difference between particles and liquid, kg/m3
f ⫽ liquid density, kg/m3
⫽ kinematic viscosity, m2/s
4 Experimental results have shown that sand settling will not
have negative impact on the effectiveness of inhibitors to suppress
uniform corrosion. However, not all inhibitors are effective in
suppressing pitting. The possible bacteria growth under sand beds
Fig. 7 Unexplained response of ER and acoustic sand moni- is an area that requires more investigations.
tors under no-flow condition 5 Commercially available monitors have the potential of pro-
viding high accuracy for quantitative sand production, providing
the effects of flow conditions and geometry on sand transport are
The foregoing results clearly demonstrate that accurate quanti- properly accounted for.
tative predictions of sand can be obtained using both acoustic and
ER probes. It is, however, the author’s view that acoustic probes Acknowledgment
are more suitable for short-term assessment of sand production,
such as well testing, while ER probes are more suitable for long- The author would like to thank the management of Conoco for
term monitoring. ER probes offer the advantage of being able to their permission to publish this paper. The author would also like
validate the accuracy of sand production prediction by physically to express his appreciation to Oddmund Kvernvold of DNV and to
examining the amount of erosion on the probe elements. In addi- Simon Dawson and Tim Locket of AEA for their input.
tion, erosion measurements from the ER probe elements can be
used to assess erosion at different locations in the piping system References
by comparing the values of the constant S m for the probe with the 关1兴 Salama, M. M., and Venkatesh, E. S., 1983, ‘‘Evaluation of Erosional Velocity
values for the different pipe locations. In spite of the advances Limitations in Offshore Gas Wells,’’ Proceedings of the 15th Annual Offshore
being made to filter out extraneous noises that may be wrongly Technology Conference, OTC Paper 4485.
关2兴 Svendeman, S. J., and Arnold, K. E., 1994, ‘‘Criteria for Sizing Multi-phase
interpreted as sand production, unexplained noise signals could Flow Lines for Erosive/Corrosive Services,’’ SPE Prod. Facil., 9, No. 1, pp.
sometimes be detected. Figure 7 presents unexplained responses 74–80.
that were measured by both ER 共top兲 and acoustic sand monitors 关3兴 Shirazi, S. A., Shadley, J. R., McLaury, B. S., and Rybicki, E. F., 1993, ‘‘A
共bottom兲 at a time when the flowloop and all neighboring equip- Procedure to Predict Solid Particle Erosion in Elbows and Tees,’’ Proceedings
of Codes and Standards in a Global Environment, ASME PVP-Vol. 259, pp.
ment were shut down. This signal, which is indicated by a reduc- 159–167.
tion in the element thickness of ER probes 共top兲 and an acoustic 关4兴 Shirazi, S. A., McLaury, B. S., Shadley, J. R., and Rybicki, E. F., 1994,
signal in the acoustic probe 共bottom兲, would have been wrongly ‘‘Generalization of the API RP 14E Guidelines for Erosive Services,’’ Pro-
interpreted as sand production if it occurred when the flow veloc- ceedings of SPE 69th Annual Technical Conf., SPE Paper 28518, pp. 583–592.
关5兴 Birchenough, P. M., and Dawson, S. G., 1993, ‘‘Design Procedure for Erosion
ity was not zero. Although the noise was registered in the 100- in Multi-Phase Flow,’’ private communication.
micron ER probe, it was not registered by the 35-micron probe, 关6兴 Salama, M. M., 1998, ‘‘An Alternative to API 14 E Erosional Velocity Limits
suggesting that thinner ER elements are less sensitive to spurious for Sand Laden Fluids,’’ Proceedings of the Annual Offshore Technology Con-
noise. ference, OTC Paper 8898.
关7兴 Weiner, P. D., and Tolle, G. C., 1976, ‘‘Detection and Prevention of Sand
Erosion of Production equipment,’’ API OSAPER Project No. 2, American
Conclusions and Recommendations Petroleum Inst., Texas A&M Research Foundation.
关8兴 Tolle, G. C., and Greenwood, D. R., 1977, ‘‘Design of Fittings to Reduce
1 Safe operations and proper equipment integrity can be Wear Caused by Sand Erosion,’’ API OSAPER Project No. 6, American Pe-
achieved under conditions of sand production, providing the tech- troleum Institute, Texas A&M Research Foundation.
关9兴 Bourgoyne, A. T., 1989, ‘‘Experimental Study of Erosion in Diverter Systems
nical issues of sand erosion, sand settling, and sand monitoring are Due to Sand Production,’’ Proceedings of the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference,
properly addressed. New Orleans, LA, SPE/IADC 18716.
2 For sand-laden fluids, erosion allowances and maximum flow 关10兴 Angelson, S., Kvernvold, O., Linglem, M., and Olsen, S., 1989, ‘‘Long Dis-
rate limit can be established using the following equation: tance Transport of Unprocessed HC. Sand Settling in Multi-Phase Flow
Lines,’’ Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Multi-Phase
2 Flow, Paper D2, BHRA., Nice, France.
1 WV m d
关11兴 Wicks, M., 1971, ‘‘Transport of Solids at Low Concentration in Horizontal
ER⫽
Sm D m
2 Pipes,’’ Advances in Solid-Liquid Flow in Pipes & Its Application, I. Zandi,
ed., Pergamon Press, pp. 101–124.
where ER is erosion rate in mm/yr; W is sand flow rate in kg/d; 关12兴 Holte, S., Angelson, S., Kvernvold, O., and Raeder, J. H., 1987, ‘‘Sand Bed
V m is fluid flow velocity in m/s; d is sand size in micron 共effect of Formation In Horizontal and Near Horizontal Gas-Liquid-Sand,’’ The Euro-
pean Two-Phase Flow Group Meeting, Trondheim, Norway.
d becomes negligible above 400 microns; therefore, for d⬎400, 关13兴 Oroskar, A. R., and Turian, R. M., 1980, ‘‘The Critical Velocity in Pipeline
the limit of 400 is used兲; D is pipe internal diameter in mm; m is Flow of Slurries,’’ AIChE. J., 26, No. 4, pp. 550–558.
fluid mixture density in kg/m3; S m is geometry factor which 关14兴 Davies, J. T., 1987, ‘‘Calculations of Critical Velocities to Maintain Solids in
equals 5.5 for pipe bends. Suspension in Horizontal Pipes,’’ J. Eng. Sci., 42, No. 7, Pergamon Journal
Ltd, UK, pp. 1667–1670.
3 The minimum flow velocity below which solid particles in 关15兴 Chein, S. F., 1994, ‘‘Settling Velocity of Irregularly Shaped Sand Particles,’’
the fluid can form a bed on the bottom of a horizontal pipeline can SPE Paper 26121, Proceedings of Drilling and General Petroleum Engineer-
be predicted using the following equation: ing, SPE.
34 Õ Vol. 122, MARCH 2000 Copyright © 2000 by ASME Transactions of the ASME
c⫽ 冉 冊
zRT
Mg
1/2
(4) R៝ 共 U
៝ 兲⫽
F៝ 共 U
x
៝兲
៝ 共U
⫺Q ៝兲 (8)
In order to minimize numerical dispersion, the foregoing equa- using the technique developed by Jameson et al. 关7兴, which for an
tions were recast in the conservative form. This aids resolution of mth-order approximation is given by
sharp frontal discontinuities. The conserved variables are g and
m 共where m⫽ g v 兲. The governing equations are rearranged into a ៝ 0j ⫽U
U ៝ nj (9)
set of 1-D, first-order, nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential
equations as follows: ៝ kj ⫽U
U ៝ 0j ⫺ k •⌬t•R 共 U k⫺1
j 兲 k⫽1,m (10)
៝ F៝ 共 U
U ៝兲 ៝ n⫹1
U ៝ mj
⫽U (11)
⫹ ៝ 共U
⫽Q ៝兲 j
t x when m⫽4 then 1 ⫽1/4, 2 ⫽1/3, 3 ⫽1/2, 4 ⫽1.
冉 冊
(5)
The numerical handling of the source term Q(U) is achieved
冉 冊
m using the same procedure as that used by Ahmed 关8兴, which is
g
៝⫽ ៝ ⫽ m2
冉 冊
U F given in the following:
m ⫹c 2
g
冉 冊
m j⫺1 共 S j ⫺S j⫺1 兲
m S Sj ⌬x
⫺ ៝ 共U
Q ៝ j 兲 ⫽⫺ (12)
S x m j⫺1 兩 m j⫺1 共 S j ⫺S j⫺1 兲
៝ 共 Ū 兲 ⫽
Q (6) ⫹F j ⫹F grav
兩 m 兩 •m S jS j ⌬x
⫺ ⫺F f ⫺F grav
gS x It can be seen that while handling the jth block, the mass flux
Apart from the constitutive relationships already mentioned, the used in the foregoing is that of the j⫺1th block. This was neces-
model uses empirical correlations for estimating fluid properties sary in order to maintain mathematical consistency. However, this
such as gas viscosity 关4兴, along with relations for the forces F f , representation of the mass flux in the jth block causes the numeri-
and F grav . cal artifact seen in Figs. 2 and 3.
The Initial Conditions. The integration of Eq. 共5兲 must pro- The Boundary Conditions. The handling of boundary con-
ceed from an admissible starting point, the initial conditions. ditions numerically differs from that of mathematical physics. If
There are three distinct options that can be specified as the initial an analytical solution of Eq. 共5兲 exists, the requirement from a
conditions for Eq. 共5兲. The best option when possible, is to start mathematical point of view would be that two boundary condi-
up with real field data of the primary variables. However, in the tions are needed in order to arrive at a unique solution to Eq. 共5兲.
absence of field data, the other two, which are analytical assump- However, numerically, the situation is different; in order to pro-
tions, can be used as well. These are either a steady-state formu- ceed with a numerical solution and arrive at a unique solution, we
lation, which is in fact a late-time solution of Eq. 共5兲, or a line require that all values of the primary variables, at the boundaries,
packing or start-up specification where the mass flux everywhere be known at the start of each time step. Again, as with the initial
is set to zero and the pressure is set to a constant value every- condition, the solution that we arrive at is strongly driven by
where. The former is of greater practical interest, since we would where we start. Therefore, great care needs to be given to how the
like to predict a blockage without necessarily shutting down a other boundary variable is determined at the inlet, knowing the
portion of the system, which the physical state described by the value of one of the variables; the same is true about the outlet.
former. However, the present study is aimed at discovering the It should be noted that at the outlet, we only control the mass
physical process that occurs and how the pressure response at the flux, since from a practical point of view, this is what is required.
inlet due to a pulse reflected by the pipe’s internal structure can be At the end of the day, an operator only knows how much gas is
analyzed in order to predict the internal structure. There are sev- needed at the outlet to satisfy a contractual obligation. Therefore,
eral numerical and analytical late-time approximations to Eq. 共5兲. the questions are:
An analytical technique developed by Zhou and Adewumi 关5兴 was • If the mass flux at the inlet is a constant or known function of
used to test the validity of the numerical scheme. time, what is the pressure 共hence density兲 at the inlet?
The Numerical Scheme. Equation 共5兲 constitutes a set of • If the pressure at the inlet is a constant or known function of
first-order, nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations, to time, what is the mass flux at the inlet?
which there is no known analytical solution. There is, however, a • If the mass flux at the outlet is a constant or known function
large variety of numerical schemes that can be used to find an of time, what is the pressure 共hence density兲 at the outlet?
approximate solution to Eq. 共5兲. Such numerical solutions are usu- In all the foregoing, the method of characteristics was used to find
ally corrupted to varying degrees by either numerical dispersion the unknown variable 关9兴.
or numerical oscillations, or both.
The total variation diminishing 共TVD兲 scheme developed by The Numerical Experiments. Before one could begin to
Harten 关6兴 is well suited to finding admissible solutions to Eq. 共5兲 study the problem of pipeline blockage, a validation of the tran-
since it is not only a monotonic scheme, but also second-order sient code is necessary. In doing this, we used similar experiments
accurate in space, thus prohibiting the creation of oscillations at to those used by Zhou and Adewumi 关9兴. This validation is nec-
the wave front. This is achieved by limiting the value of the essary since this code is going to be used to generate the propa-
second-order term by the use of a suitable flux limiter. However, gation of the transients through the pipeline; therefore, we need to
the scheme is only first-order accurate in time, and for increased be sure that it can simulate this transient to a high degree of
accuracy the Runge–Kutta multistage method of numerical inte- accuracy. This was achieved to high level of satisfaction.
gration of ordinary differential equations is applied to the time Three distinct sets of numerical experiments were carried out.
derivative. Equation 共5兲 can be rewritten as In all the experiments, a 1-mi long pipe, whose internal diameter
is 8 in. is divided into 200 blocks. The objective of each experi-
៝
U ment was to simulate the propagation of different transients in a
៝ 共U
⫽⫺R ៝兲 (7) pipeline, which is partially blocked. Imposing different boundary
t
conditions at the inlet generated the different transients. As the
where the primary variables are then updated to time level n⫹1 transient propagates through the pipe, the pressure at the inlet was
At this point, the potential difference between the outlet and the
next upstream block becomes zero. Therefore, there can be no
flow between these blocks. This causes the fluid in the upstream
block to decelerate to zero. This again means that the KE of its
fluid must be converted into a pressure head of ⌬ P inc . In this
manner, the pressure discontinuity, caused by flow stoppage, is
propagated upstream 共Fig. 6, label 2兲. Note that propagation of the
pressure front upstream occurs as the fluid flow is halted in se-
quential blocks and that it is the flow stoppage that propagates
upstream and not the fluid mass. As can be seen on the mass flux
profiles 共Fig. 7, label 1兲, it is the zero mass flux that propagates
towards the inlet.
Upon arrival of this frontal discontinuity at the inlet, the pres-
sure there rises by 2 * ⌬ P inc . This can be seen in both the inlet
response curve of Fig. 1, and the pressure profile curve of Fig. 6.
This rise in pressure head is caused by two different compressions
that occur simultaneously. First, the arrival of the 共zero兲 mass flux
front necessitates the pressure head to rise by ⌬ P inc as before.
This is due to the conversion of the fluid’s KE to a pressure head.
Fig. 5 „a… The square compression pulse at the inlet; „b… the Secondly, the boundary condition at the inlet necessitates the mass
compression pulse at the inlet; „c… the expansion pulse at the flux there to be at the prespecified constant value 共Table 1兲. There-
inlet fore, the new incoming fluid compresses the fluid already in the
pipe further and sets it in motion 共hence KE兲, thus satisfying the
inlet BC. Now that a cycle has been completed, the new frontal
discontinuity begins to propagate downstream 共Fig. 6, label 3兲.
This cycle has a period of about 9.5 s. During this same period,
1100 scf of fluid is introduced into the system. Under the system’s
prevailing temperature and pressure, this is equivalent to 15 ft3, of
which only 0.075 ft3 actually arrives at the outlet, while the pres-
sure everywhere has risen by ⬃8 psia. So, it is the shock wave
that moves through the pipe so fast 共at the speed of sound兲, and
not the actual fluid mass. For this reason, great care must be
exercised during line packing, since if too much fluid is passed
into the pipe suddenly the pressure rise may cause the pipe to
rupture within an extremely short period of time.
Fig. 6 The pressure profiles along a pipe with no blockage
„profiles are 427 s apart…
Continuous Sudden Area Change Blockage. In this sce-
nario, the transient in Fig. 5共a兲 is imposed at the inlet of a pipe
with a cross-sectional profile of the type shown in Fig. 4共a兲. A
frontal discontinuity is created as before and begins to propagate
No Blockage. From the analysis of Fig. 6, which shows the downstream in the same manner. This is evident from the pressure
pressure profiles along the pipe at different times when there is no response curve shown in Fig. 1 for a pipe with a constriction of 36
blockage, it is clear that the pressure at the outlet rises by 2 * ⌬ P inc percent beginning at a distance of 3168 ft from the inlet.
upon the arrival of frontal discontinuity there. This is because, as Here, the flow stoppage occurs at the constriction first; whereas
the new fluid arrives at the outlet, it compresses the fluid in that for the no-blockage case, all the fluid is stopped at the outlet, since
block thereby causing its pressure head to rise by ⌬ P inc . How- there is nowhere for it to go. Now, only a fraction will be stopped
ever, the boundary condition 共BC兲 of a closed value at the outlet since the pipe is only partially blocked. The fraction of the flow
necessitates that the mass flux there be zero. This means that the held up at the constriction loses all its kinetic energy 共Fig. 3, label
fluid there must come to a halt; hence, all its KE is transformed 1兲, which is converted to a pressure head. This pressure head will
into potential energy, causing its pressure head to rise further. It do work against the flow coming in from the upstream block, thus
can be seen from the figure that the fluid’s KE must have been causing an equal amount to lose its KE and be held up in that
numerically equal to ⌬ P inc , since the pressure head at the outlet block. A frontal discontinuity of ␣ ⌬ P inc is propagated upstream
doubles. as a result of the partial fluid stoppage 共Fig. 2, label 2兲. It is clear
Limited Sudden Area Change Blockage at the inlet corresponds to the distance between the inlet and the
blockage marked by x miles in Fig. 4共c兲. Furthermore, the time
Figure 4共c兲 shows the type of blockage simulated in these nu- between that peak and the next minimum corresponds to twice the
merical experiments. The inlet response curves shown in Fig. 9 length of the blockage, while the ratio of the amplitude of these
corresponds to a limited sudden area change, which is approxi- two peaks can be used to calculate the severity of the blockage.
mately 450 ft in extent and the area available to flow at the con-
striction is 36 percent of the normal area 共heavy line兲 and 64 The Expansion Pulse at the Inlet. In this set of numerical
percent 共light line兲. experiments, the goal is to see how the inlet response would
As the compression pulse arrives at the blockage, the pressure change if the input waveform were an expansion pulse rather than
builds up due to the conversion of part of the fluid’s KE into a compression pulse. In the case of the compression pulse, we saw
potential energy. This converted energy is now reflected towards that we needed to ensure that the pulse would be able to do work
the inlet and arrives as the first peak on the inlet pressure response against friction and still be detectable. This can only be achieved
curve of Fig. 9. The fraction of energy reflected is proportional to if a large amount of pressure was applied at the inlet, which could
the blockage severity 共see the Appendix兲. The increased pressure be a safety concern. For this reason, the expansion pulse may be
head causes the fluid pushed into the constriction to flow faster. preferred at the inlet. Since mass would now be removed from the
Thus, the mass flux in the constriction is increased along with the system, there would be a pressure reduction almost everywhere.
KE. It should be noted that the increased density associated with As can be seen from Fig. 10, the response to the expansion pulse
the increased pressure also causes a further increase in mass flux. at the inlet mirrors that of the compression pulse; whereas, in the
Furthermore, these are increases in energy per unit volume and case of the compression pulse, there was compression, now there
not the total energy, which must remain constant. is expansion, and vice versa.
This compression pulse continues to propagate through the con- Blockage Detectability. The objective of the preceding
stricted section until it arrives at the enlarged section again. When analysis is to gain an understanding of the processes that cause the
this propagated fluid enters the enlarged section it expands and its generation of certain pressure response curves. These curves in-
velocity is decreased. As a result, its energy will decrease, and clude such things as the increase and decrease in inlet pressure,
since this is not possible, then the excess energy will be used in the creation of maxima or minima peaks, and the creation of pres-
removing more fluid from the last block in the constricted area sure plateaus. Once such an understanding was attained, we then
than was originally pushed in at the first block. This means that proceeded with writing a series of logical codes that can read the
the pressure there will fall below the original value of 1000 psia inlet response data and then attempt to interpret the data.
that was original everywhere in the pipe. This drop in pressure These curves are generated by the internal structure of the pipe,
initiates an expansion wave that then propagates towards the inlet. which manifests itself in the rate of change of the inlet pressure
The compression wave created in the enlarged section propagates response with respect to time. A study of these rates of change is
to the outlet where it is reflected into the pipe. a good starting point from which we can make inferences about
When the expansion wave 共with its pressure drop兲 encounters this structure.
the other end of the constriction the pressure differential there During the learning stage of this study, it was necessary to
causes fluid to be sucked into the constriction. The expansion then incorporate data about the type of blockage. However, this would
continues to propagate towards the inlet where its arrival is be impractical since it must be assumed that this information is
marked by the first minima in Fig. 9. not known when we try to analyze and interpret the inlet pressure
The fluid sucked into the constriction initiates a compression response curve. Having said that, in practice it is futile to assume
wave that propagates towards the downstream end. Upon arrival impractical types of blockages since they will make it impossible
there, another expansion wave is created that travels into the con- to predict the internal structure from the inlet pressure response
striction towards the inlet side, while a compression pulse is ini- curve alone. But this does not constitute a severe limitation on the
tiated in the enlarged section propagating towards the outlet. technique since, in practice, the blockage is most likely normally
When this expansion wave encounters the upstream end of the distributed.
constriction, a new expansion wave is created in the enlarged The results from the foregoing numerical experiments are given
section that arrives at the inlet as the second minima 共Fig. 9兲. Note as follows:
that this phenomena is repeated indefinitely, however the ampli-
tude of the waves created each time decreases as can be seen in • For a square waveform, applied at the inlet to a pipe with
Fig. 9. continuous sudden area change, the results show that from the
The next peak in Fig. 9 represents the arrival of the first com- response generated by the transient, the location and severity of
pression wave at the inlet. The arrival of further compression the blockage can be accurately determined. In fact, all the results
waves at the inlet represents the compression waves formed each were within 0.5 percent error 共see Figs. 11 and 12兲.
time the foregoing phenomena take place within the constriction • For the normally distributed deposition, the results showed
共Fig. 9兲. that the throat of the blockage could be located with an error of no
In Fig. 9, the time taken for the first compression wave to arrive more than 0.5 percent. The results for the spreads of the deposi-
Conclusion
The primary goal of this work is to study the interaction of
pipeline transients with blockages in pipes. Having achieved this Fig. 17 Actual blockage severity versus percentage error for
goal, we tried to explore the possibility of using the understanding limited sudden area change starting at 0.6 m from the inlet
冉 冉 冊冊
t⫽t end
by t•c
兺
冉 冊
P norm共 t 兲 •
S 1 ⫺S 2 2
t⫽0 2
R ⫽ ⫽
S 1 ⫹S 2 t⫽t end
Pr
兺 P norm共 t 兲
␣ ⫽ 冑R ⫽
t⫽0
冉 冉 冊冊
Pi t⫽t end
冪
2
t•c
where S 1 and S 2 represent the areas of the unconstricted and con-
stricted pipe section, respectively, and P i and P r are the incident
兺
t⫽0
P norm共 t 兲 •
2
⫺
⫽ t⫽t end
acoustic pressure and the reflected acoustic pressure at
constriction.
The acoustic pressure is defined as the excess pressure at any
兺
t⫽0
P norm共 t 兲
point, i.e., the actual pressure minus the pressure in the absence of where t end⫽2L/c.
the sound wave at that point. Then, the incident acoustic pressure
is given by
References
P i ⫽ P inc⫺ P O
关1兴 Adewumi, M. A., 1997, ‘‘Natural Gas Transportation Issues,’’ J. Pet. Technol.,
where P inc is the total incident pressure and P O is the initial pres- 49, No. 2, Feb., p. 139.
sure before the propagation arrives. The total acoustic pressure in 关2兴 Chen, N. H., 1979, ‘‘An Explicit Equation for Friction Factor in Pipe,’’ Ind.
Eng. Chem. Fundam., 18, p. 3.
the unconstricted pipe is now given by 关3兴 Dranchuk, P. M., and Abou-Kassem, J. H., 1974, ‘‘Calculation of Z Factor for
Natural Gas using Equation of State,’’ J. Can. Pet. Technol., 14, No. 3, p. 34.
P tot⫽ P i ⫹ P r ⫽ 共 1⫹ ␣ 兲 P i 关4兴 Lee, A. L., Gonzales, M. H., Eakin, B. E., 1966, ‘‘The Viscosity of Natural
Gas,’’ Society. Pet Eng., SPE 1340.
Defining a pressure reflection ratio as
冉 冊
关5兴 Zhou, J., and Adewumi, M. A., 1995, ‘‘The Development and Testing of a
P tot P ref⫺ P O ⌬ P ref 2 New Flow Equation,’’ Proc., Pipeline Simulation Interest Group, 27th Annual
R P⫽ ⫽ ⫽ ⫽ Meeting. Albuquerque, NM, October 19–20.
Pi P inc⫺ P O ⌬ P inc S2 关6兴 Harten, A., 1983, ‘‘High Resolution Schemes for Hyperbolic Conservation
1⫹ Laws,’’ J. Comput. Phys., 49, p. 357.
S1 关7兴 Jameson, A., Schmidt, W., and Turkel, E., 1981, ‘‘Numerical Solutions of the
Euler Equations by Finite Volume Method Using Runge-Kutta Time-Stepping
Now, because of the doubling effect described in the text, we Schemes,’’ AIAA, Paper No. 81–1259.
know that 关8兴 Ahmed, W. H., 1996, ‘‘Location of Partial Blockage in Natural Gas Pipelines
Using Transient Modeling,’’ M.S. thesis, The Pennsylvania State University,
⌬ P ref兩inlet⫺⌬ P inc⫽2 共 ⌬ P ref⫺⌬ P inc兲 University Park, PA.
关9兴 Zhou, J., and Adewumi, M. A., 1996, ‘‘Simulation of Transients in Natural
Dividing through by ⌬ P inc , we get Gas Pipelines,’’ SPE Prod. Facil., 11, No. 4, p. 202.
42 Õ Vol. 122, MARCH 2000 Copyright © 2000 by ASME Transactions of the ASME
Thus, for conventional multiple passage connections, difficulty in
obtaining rotational orientation 共as described previously兲 coupled
with axial and cross-axes rotational misalignment may cause the
fine alignment of the tubulars relative to the metal seals practically
impossible. If not aligned within the acceptable envelope, the
metal seals and/or the seal pockets may be damaged—causing
leakage.
These problems, either separately or combined, can cause sig-
nificant unanticipated operational and possibly additional capital
costs. These unanticipated costs can make conventional multiple
passageway connections less attractive than using an equivalent
additional number of single connections.
Ahead-of-the-Art, Nonoriented, Multiple Connections. A
new method of connecting multiple flowlines 共see Fig. 4兲 has been
developed which attempts to prevent many of the experienced
problems associated with multiple connections. This new method
Fig. 1 GSR marine connector eliminates many of the current problems by:
• Precluding the Need to Rotationally Align Prior to Making
the Connection. The general seal arrangement is shown in Fig. 5.
improperly due to the incorrect length of flexible remaining 共i.e., For the two-passageway system shown, there are three concentric,
too long or short兲, improper approach to the target area, or diffi- metal-to-metal seal elements. The first innermost seal element,
culties stemming from unexpected surface geography. These called the primary seal, seals the inner tubular as in a conventional
problems compound the difficulty during rotational alignment and connection. The outer two seals, the inner and outer gallery seals,
have caused kinks to be created in the flexible lines. This problem provide the flow passage for the second tubular. The inner gallery
can be solved only by extensive operational activity to reposition seal is a pressure-energized dual-lipped seal element similar to the
the flexible lines. standard inner bore seal, except that the seal has been reversed.
• Additional Axial and Cross-Axes Rotational Misalignment The outer gallery seal is a conventional pressure-energized metal
Adds to the Rotational Misalignment Which can Damage Seal seal. Thus, with the geometry shown, no rotational orientation is
Elements. Most marine connections require the use of metal-to- required during the connection process. This drastically reduces
metal seals to ensure life-of-field service and virtually zero per- the operational difficulties normally associated with multiple pas-
meation of gas across the seal body and interface. The use of sageway connections.
metal seals, however, place an additional requirement on the • Maintaining a Large Alignment Envelope Using Concentric
pull-in and connection system by necessitating near-perfect align- Seals. Since concentric seals are used throughout the design, the
ment in the axial, cross-axis rotational, and rotational directions. alignment requirements are reduced to the same alignment re-
quirements of single passageway systems. This fact dramatically
increases the total alignment envelope and makes fine alignment
consistent with existing proven technologies.
• Maintaining a Uniform Preload Path Throughout the Connec-
tion. Since the seal elements are arranged in a concentric manner
共see Fig. 5兲, the connection preload path is nearly identical to
standard single bore applications. In conventional multiple pas-
sage systems, the preload paths are usually asymmetric, which
makes the total connection preload path impossible to predict with
two-dimensional finite-element techniques. This path can also
vary from connection to connection due to its inherent geometri-
cal tolerance sensitivity. Concentric seal elements eliminate asym-
metric load paths and provide easily predictable connection per-
formance using standard two-dimensional finite element
techniques.
Fig. 2 Three-piece clamp assembly As a result of the inherent features of the concentric multiple
passageway connection, the operational costs approach that of a
single passageway connection. Since there is no rotational orien-
tation required, conventional and existing pull-in techniques can
be employed. Thus, true cost savings can be realized.
Design Methodology
In a remote pull-in operation, there are various loading and
operational conditions which must be included in the design of the
connector/hub system to ensure both safety and performance. The
addition of multiple flowlines in a single hub further increases the
complexity of this analysis, as the interaction of multiple seals and
the behavior of a more complex flow path must be taken into
account. The starting point for the design of the nonorienting
multibore flowline connection system begins with the conceptual
development of the hub. The design criteria for the multibore hub
Fig. 3 Conventional multi-bore hub is summarized as follows:
• Nonorienting Design. A nonorienting hub significantly sim- eccentric 2.5-in. bore is isolated from both the external environ-
plifies the pull-in operation by eliminating large, complicated ment and the production bore through the use of two metal seals
tools designed solely to rotationally align the two tubulars. which are concentric to the inner production seal. The two metal
• All Metal Sealing. To insure a reliable seal throughout the seals for the gas lift line form an annular cavity or ‘‘gallery’’ into
life of the field, a metal sealing system is used. which the gas will flow through prior to exiting the corresponding
• Provision for the Remote Verification of the Metal-to-Metal mating hub. A flow analysis was performed in order to optimize
Sealing System. The metal-to-metal seal rings used must be ex- the geometry associated with the transition of the 2.5-in. line into
ternally pressure tested by ROV. This ensures that the seals are the gallery area as well as the gallery area itself.
fully energized and will function properly. The three metal seals used on the multibore connection system
• Remote Retrieval of the Metal-to-Metal Sealing System by are held together in an assembly which allows the sealing system
ROV. The seal plate/seal ring assembly can be remotely retrieved to be removed as a single unit 共see Fig. 6兲. The assembly, starting
and replaced if necessary. This eliminates the need to retrieve the from the inside, consists of the production seal which is directly
manifold and/or flowbase in order to perform a seal change-out, attached to the inner gallery seal through a simple breach-locking
which, in many cases, is both time intensive and cost prohibitive. system. The breach-lock system consists of three tabs which pro-
• Misalignment Correction Capability. The multibore hubs in- trude from the outside diameter of the inner gallery seal and
corporate an alignment profile integral to the hub to correct the which mate with three corresponding slots cut on the rib of the
misalignment conditions present during the final stages of the seal ring 共see Fig. 6兲. Once the tabs are engaged, the seal-rings are
flowline pull-in. rotated 180 deg relative to each other to interlock them. Next, an
• Minimal Pressure Loss Across the Connection. The design of
intermediate seal-plate is used to attach the inner gallery seal to
the system must minimize the pressure losses across the connec-
the outer gallery seal. This seal plate incorporates three slots on
tion.
the face of the plate to allow the gas coming from the 2.5-in. line
A nonorienting design is achieved through the use of a concen- to the gallery area to cross-over to the adjacent hub. Finally, an
tric metal sealing system for the hub. The first system developed outer seal plate is used to secure the outer gallery seal to the plate
consists of a conventional 8-in. inner bore for the production fluid which retains the assembly in the hub. To secure the entire seal-
and a 2.5-in. bore for gas lift. The production bore utilizes a plate assembly to the hub, the outer seal plate incorporates several
standard metal seal to isolate the fluid from the environment. The beam-type segments around its circumference 共integral to the
plate兲 which collapse radially during its installation. When the alignment profile, which is integral with the hub 共see Fig. 5兲,
seal plate reaches the retaining groove in the hub, the beam seg- provides the misalignment correction during the final pull-in por-
ments expand outward to hold the seal plate and seal ring inside tion of the flowline installation. The performance requirements for
the connector inboard hub. An axial push/pull action is all that is the internal alignment profile are summarized in Table 1 for the
required to install/remove the seal plate assembly from the hub. In three misalignment conditions.
addition, elastomer face seals are used on both sides of the seal A three-step profile was developed 共see Fig. 5兲 to accommodate
plate to create a pressure cavity which isolates the metal seal the alignment requirements. The geometry of the profile was ana-
when the clamp is fully made-up. The external pressure test, lyzed mathematically to ensure that the hub would not prema-
which is performed through an ROV hot stab coming from the turely contact any of the metal seal rings prior to contacting the
hub, injects a pressure of 500 psi into this cavity to ensure that a alignment profile. The geometric model was examined under both
metal-to-metal seal has been achieved prior to the retrieval of the nominal and worse-case tolerance conditions. For both of these
connection tool. conditions, the gaps between the outboard hub 共the hub being
The design of the concentric sealing system required the devel- pulled in兲 and the seal rings was calculated as the out-board hub
opment of two new seals for the gallery area. These seals were contacted each portion of the alignment profile. The geometric
designed to work in conjunction with the existing bore seal. In analysis showed that the worse-case misalignment condition re-
order to reliably set the three seals simultaneously, several key sulted from the axial misalignment condition alone.
variables in the design of the gallery seals were optimized through
the use of finite element analysis. These variables included the
seal stand-off, the rib thickness, and the radial interference. Dur-
ing connector make-up, it is normal for the hubs to elastically flex Flow Analysis
as the initial preload is generated. In a similar fashion, the hubs The flow path associated with the 2.5-in. gas lift line as it trav-
respond to the conditions of internal pressure and external load- els through the multibore hub gallery area needed to be analyzed
ing. What is important is that the hubs remain in contact with the in order to minimize the pressure drop across the connection. The
rib of all three metal seals under all loading conditions while pressure drop was determined by first partitioning the flow path
maintaining the central load path through the inner seal ring. In into several discrete regions which contribute to the pipe friction
addition, the contact band and the bearing pressures between the and minor losses. The flow area and wetted perimeter 共see Fig. 7兲
seal and seal seat on the hub must be sufficient to effect a metal for each region is determined from a solid modeling design pack-
seal. To analyze the seal performance, bearing pressure plots were age. Next, using information on the volume flow of the gas, a
made which show the contact pressures mapped along the length calculation is performed to determine whether the flow is subsonic
of the seal leg. An internal metal seal design criteria is then used or supersonic. Once the flow characteristic is known, the pressure
to evaluate the seal performance depicted in the analysis. losses due to choking and Mach waves 共for supersonic flow only兲
The design of the metal sealing system has a direct effect on the and for pipe wall friction and flow path discontinuities in each of
design of the alignment profile used in the multibore hub. The the flow path regions can be calculated. The individual head