Experimental evaluation of wellbore flow models applied to worst-case-discharge calculations

Paulo J. Waltrich, Matheus S. Capovilla, Woochan Lee, Mohammad Zulqarnain, Richard Hughes, Mayank Tyagi, Wesley Williams, Seung Kam, Alexander Archer, Jagdeep Singh, Hai Nguyen, John Duhon, Craig Griffith

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

An experimental investigation was carried out to investigate the behavior of gas-liquid flows in a largediameter pipe with high flow-rates. The objectives are to experimentally evaluate two-phase flows in vertical pipes of large diameter and collect information to verify the accuracy of wellbore flow models applied to Worst-Case Discharge (WCD) calculations. The flow correlations developed for small diameters, used on Worst-Case-Discharge calculations, show errors of more than 100% compared to the experimental data for large-diameter pipes. However, for low gasliquid- ratios, the there is a reasonable agreement between experimental data and simulation results for all wellbore flow models tested, with errors lower than 10%. This study uses the experimental data to provide guidance on how to improve these flow correlations and proposes how to use the flow models to obtain improved results on WCD calculations.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSociety of Petroleum Engineers - SPE Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility Conference - North America 2017
PublisherSociety of Petroleum Engineers
Pages263-270
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781510842007
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes
EventSPE Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility Conference - North America 2017 - New Orleans, United States
Duration: Apr 18 2017Apr 20 2017

Publication series

NameSociety of Petroleum Engineers - SPE Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility Conference - North America 2017

Conference

ConferenceSPE Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility Conference - North America 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNew Orleans
Period04/18/1704/20/17

Funding

The authors want to thank the financial support from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), under the research contract award M15PC00007.

FundersFunder number
Bureau of Ocean Energy ManagementM15PC00007

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