Abstract
The utilization of Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESPs) stands as one of the foremost methods in artificially extracting oil, primarily within the oil industry. Under typical conditions, the pump encounters a two-phase flow of oil and gas. Should the gas phase within this mixture surpass an acceptable threshold, it can lead to a significant decline in performance and inflict detrimental damage upon the pump. To address this issue, the incorporation of a gas separator unit, one of the pivotal components within ESPs, is imperative at the pump's inlet section. Enhancing the gas separator unit holds paramount importance for ensuring pump safety and optimizing performance, particularly in wells with elevated gas contents.The conventional approach to calculating hydraulic losses in turbomachinery, relying on pressure drop calculations, often falls short in pinpointing the precise locations of losses. This paper delves into enhancing gas separator performance by augmenting gas separation efficiency through the application of the entropy generation method and leveraging the second law of thermodynamics. To achieve this, pivotal entropy-generating geometrical parameters of the gas separator were identified as the design variables necessary for forming the Taguchi sample space. Numerical simulations were conducted utilizing steady three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for incompressible fluid flow, coupled with a turbulence model. Results indicate that the gas separation efficiency (GSE) of the initial model surged from 45.6% to 88% in the improved sample, albeit with a concurrent rise in entropy generation rate (EGR) from 209 W/K to 243.1 W/K. To establish a more comprehensive criterion for analysis, the ratio of GSE to EGR was employed as an objective function. This ratio quantifies the efficiency of gas separation per unit of energy loss, and it escalated from 0.218 in the primary sample to 0.362 in the improved sample, representing a 66% increase. This signifies that despite simultaneous increases in EGR and GSE, the rate of energy loss per unit of gas separation has diminished. Furthermore, the heightened EGR in the improved sample can be attributed to an increase in total volume, leading to an expanded contact surface area and consequently an elevation in total entropy. This investigation underscores the advantages of the entropy generation method, particularly in delineating the precise location and magnitude of energy dissipation within the rotating gas separator.
Published Version
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