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Processes
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Study of Multiphase Flow and Its Application in Petroleum Engineering
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Study of Multiphase Flow and Its Application in Petroleum Engineering

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 May 2024 | Viewed by 4224

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Xian Shi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Oil and Gas well Engineering Research Institute, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao 266580, China
Interests: shale reservoir fracturing; rock mechanics; wellbore stability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The simultaneous transport of multiple fluid phases through a porous medium is known as multiphase flow. In the production of an oil or gas well, multiphase flow may occur under several operational circumstances. To enable appropriate engineering design, oil and gas professionals must precisely comprehend and forecast the physics of multiphase flow patterns. Multiphase flow data are related to important processes, including the movement of proppant in the fracture and drilling fluid in the wellbore. Typically, the flow regime and accompanying flow rate are used to study multiphase flow. The internal corrosion rate is further influenced by multiphase flow due to the diverse hydrodynamics and associated turbulence, and is notably different to that of single-phase flow. Additionally, multiphase flow must consider how the fluid phase condition changes under various pressure and temperature conditions. The composition of the fluid is temperature- and pressure-dependent, which means that multiphase flow is coupled with temperature and pressure. This is because the same fluid components have different proportional fractions and transport rates in different phase states due to differences in the physical properties of each phase. However, there are also barriers to observing complicated multiphase flow characteristics in the lab, in the field, and in numerical simulation. Despite recent advances in the creation of mathematical models to analyze the behaviors of multiphase flows, no correlations or mechanistic models have been thoroughly validated against field data. This Special Issue focuses on recent developments in multiphase flow research in petroleum science and engineering, including multiphase flow issues in drilling, stimulation, and reservoir simulation.

Dr. Xian Shi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • multiphase flow
  • petroleum engineering
  • oil and gas production
  • hydrodynamics
  • drilling
  • reservoir simulation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4435 KiB  
Article
Numerical Simulation of Proppant Transport in Transverse Fractures of Horizontal Wells
by Zhengrong Chen, Xin Xie, Guangai Wu, Yanan Hou, Bumin Guo and Yantao Xu
Processes 2024, 12(5), 909; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12050909 - 29 Apr 2024
Viewed by 283
Abstract
Proppant transport and distribution law in hydraulic fractures has important theoretical and field guidance significance for the optimization design of hydraulic fracturing schemes and accurate production prediction. Many studies aim to understand proppant transportation in complex fracture systems. Few studies, however, have addressed [...] Read more.
Proppant transport and distribution law in hydraulic fractures has important theoretical and field guidance significance for the optimization design of hydraulic fracturing schemes and accurate production prediction. Many studies aim to understand proppant transportation in complex fracture systems. Few studies, however, have addressed the flow path mechanism between the transverse fracture and horizontal well, which is often neglected in practical design. In this paper, a series of mathematical equations, including the rock elastic deformation equation, fracturing fluid continuity equation, fracturing fluid flow equation, and proppant continuity equation for the proppant transport, were established for the transverse fracture of a horizontal well, while the finite element method was used for the solution. Moreover, the two-dimensional radial flow was considered in the proppant transport modeling. The results show that proppant breakage, embedding, and particle migration are harmful to fracture conductivity. The proppant concentration and fracture wall roughness effect can slow down the proppant settling rate, but at the same time, it can also block the horizontal transportation of the proppant and shorten the effective proppant seam length. Increasing the fracturing fluid viscosity and construction displacement, reducing the proppant density and particle size, and adopting appropriate sanding procedures can all lead to better proppant placement and, thus, better fracturing and remodeling results. This paper can serve as a reference for the future study of proppant design for horizontal wells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study of Multiphase Flow and Its Application in Petroleum Engineering)
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20 pages, 4162 KiB  
Article
Wellbore Pressure Modeling for Pumping and Tripping Simultaneously to Avoid Severe Pressure Swab
by Cancheng Sheng, Feifei Zhang, Yaoyao Tang, Yafeng Li and Xuesong Liu
Processes 2024, 12(1), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12010097 - 31 Dec 2023
Viewed by 797
Abstract
A pumping-while-tripping method is proposed to mitigate pressure swabs during tripping out in wells with a narrow mud density window and extended reach. In the proposed tripping-out process, the fluid circulation is started by using a special pump from a customized circulation line [...] Read more.
A pumping-while-tripping method is proposed to mitigate pressure swabs during tripping out in wells with a narrow mud density window and extended reach. In the proposed tripping-out process, the fluid circulation is started by using a special pump from a customized circulation line before tripping is initiated. During the tripping out, drilling fluid is circulated in the wellbore simultaneously while the drilling string is moving. A model to simulate the dynamic pressure changes in this process is developed based on the Navier–Stokes (N-S) equations and a damped free vibration system. The model was initially developed for Herschel–Bulkley (H-B) fluid; however, it can be applied to other fluid models by eliminating the non-existing terms. An analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of tripping velocity and circulation pumping rate on the pressure changes. The results show that pumping-while-tripping is effective in mitigating the pressure swab during tripping out, which is especially useful for extended-reach wells. It can also help to increase tripping out velocity and save tripping time for drilling operations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study of Multiphase Flow and Its Application in Petroleum Engineering)
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15 pages, 3042 KiB  
Article
A New Bottom-Hole Assembly Design Method to Maintain Verticality and Reduce Lateral Vibration
by Zhong Cheng, Liang Zhang, Zhouzheng Hao, Xiangxiang Ding, Zhikun Liu and Tiantai Li
Processes 2024, 12(1), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12010095 - 31 Dec 2023
Viewed by 796
Abstract
Well deviation is a prevalent problem in deep oil and gas exploration, leading to a significant increase in drilling costs. The conventional bottom-hole assembly (BHA) anti-deviation design method does not consider the impact of the BHA structure on lateral vibration. This paper proposes [...] Read more.
Well deviation is a prevalent problem in deep oil and gas exploration, leading to a significant increase in drilling costs. The conventional bottom-hole assembly (BHA) anti-deviation design method does not consider the impact of the BHA structure on lateral vibration. This paper proposes an integrated BHA design method that takes into account both anti-deviation and vibration reduction. This method evaluates the BHA’s anti-deviation ability using the drilling trend angle. A negative value of the drilling trend angle indicates that the BHA can correct well deviation. A finite element linearized dynamics method is used to evaluate the lateral vibration intensity of the BHA. This method involves calculating the bending displacement caused by mass imbalance and then determining the magnitude of the bending strain energy based on this displacement. The structural factors affecting the anti-deviation ability and potential lateral vibration intensity of pendulum BHAs and bent-housing mud motor (BHMM) BHAs were studied, and field tests were conducted for verification. The research shows that for pendulum BHAs, the factor that has the greatest impact on anti-deviation ability and vibration intensity is the distance from the stabilizer to the drill bit. For BHMM BHAs, the length of the short drill collar has a significant impact on the vibration intensity. Compared with current design methods, the mechanical specific energy (MSE) of the single stabilizer pendulum BHA decreased by 12%, while the MSE of the BHMM BHA decreased by 26.4%. Both decreases indicate a reduction in vibration intensity. This study will help to further increase drilling speed while preventing well deviation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study of Multiphase Flow and Its Application in Petroleum Engineering)
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14 pages, 3320 KiB  
Article
Study on the Influence of Fluid Pulsation on Hydraulic Impactor Performance in Drilling Engineering
by Haibo Cui, Wei Li, Hongbing Xiao, Yufei Wang, Wei Chen and Wenting Liu
Processes 2023, 11(8), 2392; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11082392 - 09 Aug 2023
Viewed by 662
Abstract
The combination of the hydraulic impactor and positive displacement motor (PDM) is becoming more and more popular in drilling engineering. However, the negatives of the PDM on the impactor cannot be ignored. To improve the performance of the technique, the influence of fluid [...] Read more.
The combination of the hydraulic impactor and positive displacement motor (PDM) is becoming more and more popular in drilling engineering. However, the negatives of the PDM on the impactor cannot be ignored. To improve the performance of the technique, the influence of fluid pulsation from the PDM on the hydraulic impactor was studied first; then, the structure of the impactor was optimized to improve its impact force; finally, field tests were carried out in 2 wells in the shallow formation. The results indicate that the fluid fluctuation generated in the PDM can restrain the performance of the impactor, and that the impact force can be increased by 24.4% to 28.6% through the optimization of design. Field tests show that this technique can further improve the drilling efficiency and rotating stability of the polycrystalline diamond compact bit, and that the rate of penetration and bit footage increase by 32.5% and 34.6%, respectively. In the study, the effect of inlet fluid fluctuation on the performance of the hydraulic impactor was studied using the computational fluid dynamics method. This is unlike other studies that have mostly considered the inlet fluid as a steady flow. Furthermore, the performance of the combine used of the impactor and PDM can be improved through structural optimization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study of Multiphase Flow and Its Application in Petroleum Engineering)
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17 pages, 11426 KiB  
Article
A Possible Explicit Equation Fitting Method for the Gaseous Heat Capacity Near the Critical Point Based on Density and Temperature
by Mukun Li, Gang Wang, Lulu Sun, Xiaoqiang Cao and Hongjian Ni
Processes 2023, 11(6), 1605; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11061605 - 25 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1032
Abstract
CO2 is a potential fluid for absorbing and accumulating thermal energy; an accurate and fast calculation method for the heat capacity is essential for the study of the flow state near the critical point. However, the calculation of the heat capacity near [...] Read more.
CO2 is a potential fluid for absorbing and accumulating thermal energy; an accurate and fast calculation method for the heat capacity is essential for the study of the flow state near the critical point. However, the calculation of the heat capacity near the critical point by the equations suggested by NIST can easily be divergent, such as for CO2, nitrogen, methane, etc. Therefore, an explicit fitting equation was studied. The fitting equation, which used density and temperature as variables and contained three constants, was derived from the nature of heat capacity change (molecular kinetic energy and potential energy). Based on the heat capacity data of the NIST WebBook, the heat capacity of CO2 is taken as the example for the equation deduction and parameter fitting. The three constants were defined in order by Origin fitting software. By this new approach, it is found that the heat capacity at the critical point is below 1% deviant from that of the NIST WebBook. Moreover, the heat capacities that are difficult to be calculated in the NIST WebBook are well calculated. The study shows that the fitting equation is efficient for the prediction of heat capacity of gases near the critical point. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Study of Multiphase Flow and Its Application in Petroleum Engineering)
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