Flow Simulation in Inflow Control Valves Using Lattice Boltzmann Modeling

Abstract

Abstract Flow simulation in inflow control valves (ICVs) plays an important role in production optimization and control. The number of ICVs required for deployment as well as their configuration impact strongly on the production forecast and planning. Optimization of ICVs focuses mainly on minimal flow disruption and pressure loss to allow continuous flow through a designated section. In some applications computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was employed to simulate the flow inside the inflow devices. These computational efforts based on solving the Navier-Stokes equations, always are subject to the type of geometry simulated which requires tremendous meshing efforts and the adequate of flow models to capture the physics involved in a particular flow mode. Frequently, single phase flows are only modeled in ICVs to visualize the basics of the fluid paths, but still require computational artifices to simulate the flow. Since more than a decade, lattice Boltzmann (LB ) flow simulations have shown gradual strength as an alternative to CFD methods. Opposite to traditional methods such as finite differences, finite elements, finite volumes, the LB methods (LBMs) are mesh free and only require little formulation efforts to simulate a fluid flow. On the other hand, LBMs do not always present problems often met in traditional CFD method such as long computational times, poor convergence and numerical instabilities. LBMs are more efficient since they are based on rigorous description of transport phenomena via the Boltzmann equation. In the present work, a flow simulation of a generic ICV configuration is shown by the use of an LBM. Flow properties and velocity distributions are shown and discussed for different flow scenarios. Based on these results, further design optimization can be proposed to minimize undesired effects such as excessive shear and additional pressure drop.