Preliminary study of discharge characteristics of slim holes compared to production wells in liquid-dominated geothermal reservoirs

摘要

There is current interest in using slim holes for geothermal exploration and reservoir assessment. A major question that must be addressed is whether results from flow or injection testing of slim holes can be scaled to predict large diameter production well performance. This brief report describes a preliminary examination of this question from a purely theoretical point of view. The WELBOR computer program was used to perform a series of calculations of the steady flow of fluid up geothermal boreholes of various diameters at various discharge rates. Starting with prescribed bottomhole conditions (pressure, enthalpy), the WELBOR code integrates the equations expressing conservation of mass, momentum and energy (together with fluid constitutive properties obtained from the steam tables) upwards towards the wellhead using numerical techniques. This results in computed profiles of conditions (pressure, temperature, steam volume fraction, etc.) as functions of depth within the flowing well, and also in a forecast of wellhead conditions (pressure, temperature, enthalpy, etc.). From these results, scaling rules are developed and discussed.