Theoretical model and numerical simulation of high-gravity backwashing process for deep bed filter in oilfield

Abstract

With the large-scale application of polymer flooding technology, the polymer concentration in produced water is increasing, which leads to incomplete regeneration of filter media by gravity field hydraulic backwashing technology only. In this study, the high-gravity backwashing technology is constructed by coupling gravity field and swirl field, which promotes the development of the oilfield. Based on the cascade theory, this paper establishes a mathematical expression of radial collision force in the high-gravity backwashing process in the vortex tube and solves a mathematical equation of high-gravity backwashing velocity gradient G based on the efficient zone of collision force action. Meanwhile, based on the discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics theory, the inter-particle collision regulation of the high-gravity backwashing process is simulated by the coupled FLUENT-EDEM method, and the high-efficiency zone of the backwashing process is verified. In this high-efficiency zone, the theoretical and simulated values of velocity gradient G for different high-gravity values match well, with differences ranging from –5.8 % to +7.1 %, indicating that the theoretical model of high-gravity backwashing is correct. When the high-gravity value is 210–240 g, the total impulse of the filter bed per unit time reaches a great value, and the backwashing velocity gradient G is 3047.1 s−1, which is much larger than the G value of combined air-water backwashing. The high-gravity backwashing technology breaks through the technical bottleneck of low efficiency in the action of the gravity field. It enriches and develops the gravity field hydraulic backwashing technology of the filter bed.