Investigation of flow regimes, pressure drop, void fraction, film thickness, friction factor and production of two-phase flow in a perforated horizontal wellbore

Abstract

This study focuses on investigating the impact of flow patterns on production in perforated horizontal wellbores. According to experimental and numerical results, this paper discussion the behaviour of total pressure drop, mixture superficial velocity, void fraction, liquid film thickness, and production that occur with various flow patterns in a perforated horizontal pipe. The flow patterns were predicted experimentally and numerically using a pipe with a length of 3 m and an internal diameter of 0.0381 m, with two perforations of inside diameter 0.004 m with a phasing angle of °180, to simulate the complex flow in horizontal wellbores. Total pressure drop and liquid film thickness were reduced by increasing the radial air flow of the perforations. At the same time, void fraction and mixture superficial velocity were observed to increase. Additionally, the film thickness increased with the holdup fraction but decreased with the void fraction. The local friction factor reflected the behaviour of the mixture's superficial velocity during the region of the perforations. The friction factor with the perforated horizontal pipe was greater than that in the unperforated horizontal pipe. The liquid product increased with an increase in the mixture's superficial velocity, and the percentage amounts of production shown were 10%, 40%, and 75%, depending on the water's superficial velocity. The convergence between experimental and numerical results was good during the flow patterns (slug flow and stratified flow). In contrast, some differences in the static pressure drop behaviour occur during flow patterns (bubble flow, dispersed bubble flow, and stratified wave flow).