Hydrodynamic Modeling of Pressure Drop for Two-Phase Flow in Vertical Wellbores

摘要

Problems peculiar to the design of oil and gas well tubing require the ability to analytically predict flow behavior in the wells. A number of correlations and mechanistic models have been proposed for the prediction of pressure drop encountered during gas-liquid two-phase flow in vertical wellbores. Some of these problems peculiar to the prediction of pressure drop liquid holdup in pipes have reduced the accuracy of these correlations. In this paper, a new hydrodynamic model applicable to slug flow design for tubing and surface facilities is developed for the prediction of pressure drop along a vertical wellbores. Result of the previous experimental studies using existing correlations and mechanistic models have been improved upon by the newly developed model for more accurate prediction for two-phase flow especially in slug flow. The model is validated using previously reported experimental data and these show improvement over the previous empirical correlations and mechanistic models in terms of highest correlation coefficient, lowest average absolute percent error, lowest standard deviation, lowest maximum error, and lowest root mean square error.