Abstract
To reduce the cost of arranging air foam flooding equipment at each wellhead, a method of establishing centralized air foam flooding injection stations is proposed. The flow pattern and resistance characteristics of air foam flooding mixtures in different initial conditions are studied. Experimental results indicate that the probability density function of stratified flow is obtained by comparing stainless steel and transparent pipes. If the gas–liquid ratio is kept constant, then the shape of the probability density function remains unchanged in both stainless steel and transparent tubes. Meanwhile, the flow pattern under the gas–liquid ratio is determined by comparing the image recognition results with the probability density function, and a formula for calculating the resistance and pressure drop of the gas and liquid two-phase flow in the horizontal and upward pipes is established. Compared with the experiments, the error results of the calculation are small. Thus, the proposed equations can be used to predict the flow resistance of real air foam flooding.
Highlights
Oil is a very important energy source, so countries all over the world have always attached great importance to the development and utilization of oil
The proven reserves of low and ultra-low permeability reservoirs have accounted for a large proportion of the total reserves in China, and the research on the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of such reservoirs is becoming increasingly important
The findings indicate that the larger the friction coefficient is, the larger the pressure drop related to the pipe diameter is
Summary
We carried out indoor experiments on the changing laws of flow patterns under different initial conditions and the characteristics of resistance changes under different flow patterns. To facilitate the observation of the flow pattern in the pipeline, the experimental tube section is a transparent tube. To measure the resistance under high pipeline pressure, the experimental pipe section is a stainless steel pipe. In this experiment, three dynamic pressure sensor measuring points, as shown, and two differential pressure sensor measuring points, as shown, are installed. The instantaneous pressure collection in the experimental pipeline is completed by the three dynamic pressure sensors, and the measurement accuracy error is. ±0.2 kPa. The differential pressure sensor is used for differential pressure collection, and the measurement accuracy is ±0.25%.
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