Abstract
This study focuses on analyzing the turbulent flow of drilling fluid in inclined wells using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique. The analysis is performed considering an annulus with a fixed eccentricity of 90% and varying fluid properties, diameter ratio, and bed thickness to examine velocity profile, pressure loss, and overall wall and average bed shear stresses. CFD simulation results are compared with existing data for validation. The pressure loss predicted with CFD agrees with the data. After verification, predictions are used to establish a correlation that can be applied to compute bed shear stress. The established correlation mostly displays a discrepancy of up to 10% when compared with simulation data. The correlation can be used to optimize hole cleaning and manage downhole pressure.
Highlights
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Analysis of Turbulent Flow of Hydrocarbon production from horizontal and inclined wells is a widespread practice
The results indicated the reduction of local fluid velocity and bed shear stress with an increase in the blockage level
A CFD study is conducted under turbulent flow conditions to investigate wellbore hydraulics for a power-law fluid in inclined and horizontal wells
Summary
CFD Analysis of Turbulent Flow of Hydrocarbon production from horizontal and inclined wells is a widespread practice. Even the effects of bed formation on the hydraulics of annular flows have been studied recently [7,8,9,10,11,12], the impact of bed thickness on the hydraulic parameters (pressure loss and bed shear stress) of turbulent flow in a partially blocked eccentric annulus has not been previously investigated. The goal of this investigation is to study the turbulent flow of power-law fluid in wellbores considering eccentric annuli with blockage and develop a relationship between bed shear stress and the level of blockage
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