FLOW OF OIL AND SAND IN A HORIZONTAL WELL

Q. DOAN S.M.F. ALI A. GEORGE

this article begins on the next page F

SS93-3@ PETROLEUM SOCIETY OF CIM AND CANMET PAPER NO. 34 THIS IS A PREPRINT - SUBJECT To CORRECTION FLOW OF OIL AND SAND IN A HORIZONTAL WELL 0. Doan & M. Farouq Ali University of Aborta A. G@ ERL/CANMETtEMR PUBUCATION RESERVED THIS PAPER IS TO BE PRESENTED AT THE FIFTH PETROLEUM CONFERENCE OF THE SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN SECTION, THE PETROLEUMSOCIETYOFCIM,HELDWITHCANMETINREGINAOCTOBERI@.1993. DISCUSSIONOFTHISPAPERISINVITED. SUCH DISCUSSION MAY BE PRESENTED AT THE TECHNICAL MEETING AND WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR
PUBLICATION IN CIM JOURNALS IF FILED IN WRITING WITH THE TECHNICAL PROGRAM CHAIRMAN PRIOR TO THE CONCLUSION OF THE MEETING. ABSTRACT Despite the increasing acceptance of horizontal wells as a potentially productive means of recovering oil and gas from underground reservoirs, the hydrodynamics of flow inside a horizontal well remains incompletely understood - especially for multiphase flow. Sand production into a horizontat well presents a formidable problem as the sand deposits at the bottom of the horizontal wel4 and thus reduces the effective size of the flow conduit. This
study focuses on the flow of oil and sand in a horizontal well. The model developed in this study treats the flow of oil and sand as that of a monodisperse, dilute suspension. 7hefluid phase (oil) is assumed to be incompressible and Newtonian. The particulate phase, composed of spherical sandparticles, is assumed to behave as a continuum. 7he diffusive movement of the particulate phase is controlled by gravity force. The model allows for the determination of the axial velocity of the fluid phase and particulate phase, and the particulate phase density distribution at different
positions along the horizontal well length. Examination of the dimensionless groups allows for an analysis of the dominant parameters controlling the transport of sand in a horizontat well, including condition(s) promoting sedimentation. The rate of sediment bed buildup is correlated with fluid phase flow and interaction between the fluid phase and the particulate phase. INTRODUCTION Solid-liquid niultiphase flows encompass many different areas of science and engineering, ranging from transport of colloids in rain water, sediment @Port in _ river streams, waste nmport in sewers, bed
fluidization, flotation to slurry pipeline mwportation, drill cuttings removal and @port of fracture proppants etc. As more horizontal wells are drilled to recover oil and gas from oil reservoirs, problems associated with sand production into, and their transport inside dme horizontal wells beconie more prominent - particularly for wells drilled in unconsolidated or fracwmd formtions. Deposition of sand and fines inside these horizontal wells could have adverse impact on their productivity, even negating much of the advantages of horizontal dril@g. Few studies investigating the
hydrodynamic @port of sand and fines in horizontal wells are available in current petroleum literature. This paper attempts to identify parameters goveniing the flow of oil and sand inside a horizontal well, including conditions promoting sand deposition, as well as the rate of sedin-ent buildup at different positions along the horizontal well length. Hydrodynamic Fundamentals From a hydrodynamic viewpoint, the most important and fundamntal aspects of solid-liquid multiphase flow are interphase interaction (i.e. interaction between the fluid phase and the particulate phase) and
intraphase interaction (i.e. interaction among solid particles making
 5S93-3'1
PETROLEUM SOCIETY OF CIM AND CANMET PAPER NO. 34

THIS IS A PREPRINT - SUBJECT TO CORRECTION

FLOW OF OIL AND SAND IN A HORIZONTAL WELL

Q. Dcan
S. M. Farouq Ali
Universily of Alberta
A. George
;.
ERUCANMETJEMR

PUBUCATION RIGHTS RESERVED

THIS PAPER IS TO BE PRESENTED AT THE FIFTH PETROLEUM CONFERENCE OF THE SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN SECTION, THE
PETROLEUM SOCIETY OF CIM. HELD WITH CANMET IN REGINA OCTOBER 18-20, 1993. DISCUSSION OF THIS PAPER IS INVITED.
SUCH DISCUSSION MAY BE PRESENTED AT THE TECHNICAL MEETING AND WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBUCATION IN CIM
JOURNALS IF FILED IN WRITING WITH THE TECHNICAL PROGRAM CHAIRMAN PRIOR TO THE CONCLUSION OF THE MEETING.

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

Despite the increasing acceptance of horizontal wells as
a potentially productive means of recovering oil and gas
from underground reservoirs, the hydrodynamics of flow
inside a horizontal well remains incompletely understood -
especially for multiphase flow. Sand production into a
horizontal well presents a formidable problem as the sand
deposits at the bOllom of the 11Orizontal well. and thus
reduces the effective size of the flow conduit. This study
focuses on the flow of oil and sand in a horizontal welL
The model developed in this study treats the flow of oil and
sand as that of a monodisperse. dilute suspension. The fluid
phase (oil) is assumed to be incompressible and Newtonian.
The particulate phase, composed of spherical sand particles,
is assumed to behave as a continuum. The diffuSive
movement of the particulate phase is controlled by gravity
force. The model allows for the determination of the axial
velocity of the fluid phase and particulate phase. and the
particulate phase density distribution at different positions
along the horizontal well length.
Examination of the dimensionless groups allows for an
analysis of the dominant parameters controlling the
transport ofsand in a horizontal well, including condition(s)
promoting sedimentation. V,e rate of sediment bed buildup
is correlated with fluid phase flow and interaction between
the fluid phase and the particulate phase.
Solid-liquid multiphase flows encompass many
different areas of science and engioeering, ranging from
transport of colloids in raio water, sediment transport io
river streams, waste Ir3DSport io sewers, bed fluidization,
flotation to slurry pipelioe transportation, drill cuttings
removal and transport of fracture proppaots etc. As
more horizonlal wells are drilled to recover oil and gas
from oil reservoirs, problems associated with sand
production into, and their transport ioside these
horizonlal wells become more promioent - particularly
for wells drilled in unconsolidated or fractured
formations. Deposition of sand and fioes ioside these
horizonlal wells could have adverse impact on their
productivity, even negating much of the advantages of
horizonlal drilling. Few studies investigating the
hydrodynamic transport of sand and fines in horizonlal
wells are available in current petroleum literature. This
paper attempts to identify parameters governing the flow
of oil and sand inside a horizonlal well, including
conditions promoting sand deposition. as well as the rate
of sediment buildup at different positions along the
horizontal well length.
Hydrodynamic Fundamentals
From a hydrodynamic viewpoint, the most important
and fundamental aspects of solid-liquid multiphase flow
are interphase interaction (i.e. interaction between the
fluid phase and the particulate phase) and intraphase
interaction (i.e. interaction among solid particles making
up the particulate phase)~ Interphase interaction
between the fluid phase and the particulate phase is
mcmifested mainly in the drag force exerted on the
particles by the fluid stream and the transfer of
momentum from one phase 10 another. 500 [I] reported
equations formulated by Newton and Stokes to
determine the magnitude of the drag force exerted by
the fluid phase on a solid sphere at different fluid flow
regimes~ Newton' s equation accounts mainly for the
inertia effect of the fluid phase (turbulent flow), whereas
Stokes' law is applicable when the viscous effects
predominate over inertia effects (laminar flow)~
Substituting lhese two drag forces into standard drag
coefficient definition resulls in a Cd (drag coefficient)
value of 0.44 for Newton's turbulent flow regime; and
for Stokes ' laminar flow Cd = 24/(Re), with the
Reynolds Number being defined in terms of the diameter
of lhe spherical particle. 500 [I] also presented a log-
log plot correlating the drag coefficient of a sphere with
a wide range of sphere Reynolds Numbers.
Meyer [2J developed a generalized drag coefficient
correlalion applicable for all flow regimes for 000-
Newtonian, power-law fluids. It was compared with
experimental data and other empirical correlalions La
predict the drag coefficient and terminal sellling
velocity for fracture proppanls of various mesh sizes.
This correlation filled experimental data much closer
than 5 tokes' law which was found to underestimate the
drag coefFicient and overestimate the terminal settling
velocity at large Reynolds Numbers. In addition, the
seWing velocity was deemed to be independent of
power-law fluid rheological properties such as the fluid
consistency index and fluid flow behaviour index at
large flow Reynolds Numbers.
500 [I]. based on a correlation of pressure drop versus
height in a fluidized bed. presented the following
equation for the drag coefficient of a cloud of umform
size particles
C =200(1-£) II +~ (I)
d £' 2aw,Pr 3£
This drag coefficient for a panicles cloud reverts to the
coefficient for a single particle as the void fracLion, E,
approaches 0.92 and the interstitial velocity, w"
approaches the free-stream (unobstructed flow area)
velocily. W
The relaxation Lime constanL for momentum transfer,
defined as the ratio of the drag force to the product of
the panicle mass and the difference between the fluid
velocity and the particle velocity, is used to describe
the linear momentum transfer between the fluid phase
and the particulate phase due to the drag force~ In the
flow of a dilute suspension. 500 [7-8] defined the
relaxation lime constant for the momentum transfer
between the fluid phase and the particulate phase as
follows.
-2
F = F"(911/2a'p p )/[I+(Pr /2p p )] (2)
where
F" = (Cd /24)[2aprl v - v pl/ll] (3)
accounts for any deviation from Stokes' law, and is
calculated using the diameter of the solid sphere and the
velocity difference. The drag coefficient, Cd, accounts
for the effects of turbulence and spheres in a cloud of
particles~
Intraphase interaction between solid particles is
characterized mainly by the frequency of particle-
particle collision~ This is defined as the root-mean-
square velocity of the particles divided by the mean free
path between collisions. For a suspension with volume
fraction of the particulate phase less than 8%. the effect
of particle-particle interactions is negligible due to the
fael that the mean free path between particle-particle
collision is much larger than the interaction length
between a particle and the surrounding fluid phase.[l)
Flow 01 Solld"L1quld Suspensions
Van Deemter and Van der Laan [3] formulated
differential equations to describe the mass, momentum
and energy balance for the flow of a homogeneously
dispersed solid-liquid suspension~ The derivation. which
was based on integral volume elements containing
sufficiently numerous particles that it was valid to usc
continuous variables to describe local properties of the
system, took into account the effect due 10 differences
in velocity between the fluid and Ihe particles. The
stress tensors appearing in the momenLum and energy
balance equations were not. however. explicilly defined.
Hinze [4] utilized a different approach to derive the
same differential equations for the momentum and
mechanical energy balance. In this case, the
momentum and mechanical energy balance equations
for the continuous fluid phase were derived first. The
effects of the suspended discrete particles were treated
as akin to those of external forces acting on the fluid
phase. This approach enabled an explicit definition of
the shear stress tensors appearing in both of these
equations.
Thomas (5) experimentally studied the u-ansport of Iarge-
particle suspensions in cylindrical pipes. It was
determined that there was a minimum fluid phase
velocity at which a layer of stationary or sliding
particles started appearing at the bottom of the pipes.
This minimum transport velocity, also called the
deposition velocity, was directly correlated with the
volume fraction of the solids.
Wasp. Kenny and Gandhi [6] presented several
empirical correlations, commonly used in the design of
pipelines to transport heterogeneous slurries, for
minimum deposition velociLy as funcLions of particle
size, particle sizes distribution and solid volume
concentration.
500 f71 examined the fullv deveIooed flow of dilute