scholarly journals Dynamic behavior of coalbed methane flow along the annulus of single-phase production

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 547-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinfu Liu ◽  
Chunhua Liu ◽  
Guoqiang Liu

Abstract Dynamic behavior of coalbed methane (CBM) flow will provide the theoretical basis to optimize production performance for a given well. A mathematical model is developed to simulate flowing pressures and pressure drops of CBM column from well head to bottom hole. The measured parameters and independent variables of flow rates, flowing pressures and temperatures are involved in CBM producing process along the annulus. The developed relationships are validated against full-scale measured data in single-phase CBM wellbores. The proposed methodology can analyze the dynamic behavior in CBM reservoir and process of CBM flow with an overall accuracy of 2%. The calculating process of flowing pressures involves friction factor with variable Reynolds number and CBM temperature and compressibility factor with gravitational gradients. The results showed that the effect of flowing pressure on CBM column was more obvious than that on CBM and water column accompanied by an increase of dynamic water level. The ratios of flowing pressure on increment of CBM column to the whole column increased with the declined flow rates of water column. Bottom-hole pressure declined with the decreased flowing pressure of CBM column along the annulus. It will lead to the results of the increased pressure drop of CBM column and CBM flow rate in single-phase CBM wellbores.

Geofluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinfu Liu ◽  
Chunhua Liu ◽  
Jianjun Wu

A modern methodology is presented for the system analysis of flowing pressures in order to forecast the dynamic behavior and solve the forthcoming problems that emerge in two-phase coalbed methane (CBM) wellbores. The proposed methodology involves a numerical integration technique to calculate flowing pressures and pressure drops of CBM and water flow from the bottom hole to the well head. The methodology is validated against full-scale measured data in coalfields. The relationships developed match CBM reservoir behavior and wellbore conditions along the annulus with an overall accuracy of 1.13%. The computation of flowing pressures involves a liquid holdup and kinetic energy term with flow rate increments, a compressibility factor with depth increments, and a friction factor with Reynolds number. The flowing pressures of a two-phase column fully reflect the dynamic flowing performance due to the combined action of the water level, CBM, and water flow rates. The effect of CBM and water column pressures is more obvious than that of CBM column pressures. The pressure ratios of CBM and the water column to the bottom hole decline rapidly with the increase of the dynamic water level. CBM and water flow rates can be improved with increases in CBM and water column pressure for two-phase producing wellbores. The decrease of flowing pressures and increased increment of the pressure drop for the two-phase column are beneficial to CBM desorption and result in the increased CBM and water production. It will control the falling speed of the dynamic water level above CBM and the water column and enhance CBM reservoir productivity. The increases of CBM and water column pressure from 34.6 kPa to 922 kPa and the decreases of pressure in the bottom hole from 2.252 MPa to 1.328 MPa lead to the increases of the CBM flow rate from 3327 m3/d to 6721 m3/d.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinlu Yan ◽  
Songhang Zhang ◽  
Shuheng Tang ◽  
Zhongcheng Li ◽  
Qian Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe development of coalbed methane (CBM) is not only affected by geological factors, but also by engineering factors, such as artificial fracturing and drainage strategies. In order to optimize drainage strategies for wells in unique geological conditions, the characteristics of different stages of CBM production are accurately described based on the dynamic behavior of the pressure drop funnel and coal reservoir permeability. Effective depressurization is achieved by extending the pressure propagation radius and gas desorption radius to the well-controlled boundary, in the single-phase water flow stage and the gas–water flow stage, respectively, with inter-well pressure interference accomplished in the single-phase gas flow stage. A mathematic model was developed to quantitatively optimize drainage strategies for each stage, with the maximum bottom hole flow pressure (BHFP) drop rate and the maximum daily gas production calculated to guide the optimization of CBM production. Finally, six wells from the Shizhuangnan Block in the southern Qinshui Basin of China were used as a case study to verify the practical applicability of the model. Calculation results clearly indicate the differences in production characteristics as a result of different drainage strategies. Overall, if the applied drainage strategies do not achieve optimal drainage results, the coal reservoir could be irreversibly damaged, which is not conducive to expansion of the pressure drop funnel. Therefore, this optimization model provides valuable guidance for rational CBM drainage strategy development and efficient CBM production.


2020 ◽  
pp. 014459872096415
Author(s):  
Jianlin Guo ◽  
Fankun Meng ◽  
Ailin Jia ◽  
Shuo Dong ◽  
Haijun Yan ◽  
...  

Influenced by the complex sedimentary environment, a well always penetrates multiple layers with different properties, which leads to the difficulty of analyzing the production behavior for each layer. Therefore, in this paper, a semi-analytical model to evaluate the production performance of each layer in a stress-sensitive multilayer carbonated gas reservoir is proposed. The flow of fluids in layers composed of matrix, fractures, and vugs can be described by triple-porosity/single permeability model, and the other layers could be characterized by single porosity media. The stress-sensitive exponents for different layers are determined by laboratory experiments and curve fitting, which are considered in pseudo-pressure and pseudo-time factor. Laplace transformation, Duhamel convolution, Stehfest inversion algorithm are used to solve the proposed model. Through the comparison with the classical solution, and the matching with real bottom-hole pressure data, the accuracy of the presented model is verified. A synthetic case which has two layers, where the first one is tight and the second one is full of fractures and vugs, is utilized to study the effects of stress-sensitive exponents, skin factors, formation radius and permeability for these two layers on production performance. The results demonstrate that the initial well production is mainly derived from high permeable layer, which causes that with the rise of formation permeability and radius, and the decrease of stress-sensitive exponents and skin factors, in the early stage, the bottom-hole pressure and the second layer production rate will increase. While the first layer contributes a lot to the total production in the later period, the well bottom-hole pressure is more influenced by the variation of formation and well condition parameters at the later stage. Compared with the second layer, the scales of formation permeability and skin factor for first layer have significant impacts on production behaviors.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norah Aljuryyed ◽  
Abdullah Al Moajil ◽  
Sinan Caliskan ◽  
Saeed Alghamdi

Abstract Acid retardation through emulsification is commonly used in reservoir stimulation operations, however, emulsified acid are viscous fluids, thus require additional equipment at field for preparation and pumping requirements. Mixture of HCl with organic acids and/or chemical retarders have been used developed to retard acid reaction with carbonate, however, lower dissolving power. Development of low viscosity and high dissolving retarded acid recipes (e.g., equivalent to 15-26 wt.% HCl) addresses the drawbacks of emulsified acids and HCl acid mixtures with weaker organic acids. The objective of this study is to compare wormhole profile generated as a result of injecting acids in Indian limestone cores using 28 wt.% emulsified acid and single-phase retarded acids at comparable dissolving power at 200 and 300°F. Coreflood analysis testing was conducted using Indiana limestone core plugs to assess the pore volume profile of retarded acid at temperatures of 200 and 300° F. This test is supported by Computed Tomography to evaluate the propagation behavior as a result of the fluid/rock reaction. Wider wormholes were observed with 28 wt.% emulsified acid at 200°F when compared to test results conducted at 300°F. The optimum injection rate was 1 cm3/min at 200 and 300°F based on wormhole profile and examined flow rates. Generally, face-dissolution and wider wormholes were observed with emulsified acids, especially at 200°F. Narrower wormholes were formed as a result of injecting retarded acids into Indiana limestone cores compared to 28 wt.% emulsified acid. Breakthrough was not achieved with retarded acid recipe at 300°F and flow rates of 1 and 3 cm3/min, suggesting higher flow rates (e.g., > 3 cm3/min) are required for the retarded acid to be more effective at 300°F.


Author(s):  
Amir A. Mofakham ◽  
Goodarz Ahmadi ◽  
Matthew Stadelman ◽  
Kevin Shanley ◽  
Dustin Crandall

A Marcellus shale rock fracture was subjected to four shearing steps and at the end of each shearing step CT (computed tomography) scans with resolution of 26.8 μm were obtained. The CT images were used to generate full aperture maps of the fracture configuration at the end of each shearing phase. The pressure drops along the fracture were also measured for different water flow rates through the fracture. The aperture map of the fracture was used to generate the geometry of the fracture for use in numerical simulations. The water flows and pressure drops in the fracture were simulated with different computational methods that included the full Navier-Stokes simulation, Modified Local Cubic Law (MLCL), and Improved Cubic Law (ICL) methods. Full 3-D Navier-Stokes simulation is the most accurate computational approach which was done with use of the ANSYS-Fluent software for each shear step and different flow rates. The MLCL is a 2-D relatively fast method which is commonly used for prediction of transmissivity of fractures. ICL is a 1-D method proposed in this study in which the effects of surface roughness and tortuosity were included in calculation of the effective aperture height of fractures. To provide an understanding of the accuracy of each of these models their predictions were compared with each other and with the experimental data. Also, to examine the effects of resolution of CT scans and the surface roughness on prediction of fractures transmissivity, similar simulations were performed on average aperture maps. Here the fracture of the full resolution data was averaged over 10 × 10 pixels. Comparing the results of the average aperture maps with those of the full maps showed that the lower resolution of CT scans led to underestimation of the fracture pressure drop due to missing the small features of the fracture surfaces and smoothing out their roughness.


Author(s):  
Ashish Kotwal ◽  
Che-Hao Yang ◽  
Clement Tang

The current study shows computational and experimental analysis of multiphase flows (gas-liquid two-phase flow) in channels with sudden area change. Four test sections used for sudden contraction and expansion of area in experiments and computational analysis. These are 0.5–0.375, 0.5–0.315, 0.5–0.19, 0.5–0.14, inversely true for expansion channels. Liquid Flow rates ranging from 0.005 kg/s to 0.03 kg/s employed, while gas flow rates ranging from 0.00049 kg/s to 0.029 kg/s implemented. First, single-phase flow consists of only water, and second two-phase Nitrogen-Water mixture flow analyzed experimentally and computationally. For Single-phase flow, two mathematical models used for comparison: the two transport equations k-epsilon turbulence model (K-Epsilon), and the five transport equations Reynolds stress turbulence interaction model (RSM). A Eulerian-Eulerian multiphase approach and the RSM mathematical model developed for two-phase gas-liquid flows based on current experimental data. As area changes, the pressure drop observed, which is directly proportional to the Reynolds number. The computational analysis can show precise prediction and a good agreement with experimental data when area ratio and pressure differences are smaller for laminar and turbulent flows in circular geometries. During two-phase flows, the pressure drop generated shows reasonable dependence on void fraction parameter, regardless of numerical analysis and experimental analysis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Qiujia Hu ◽  
Xianmin Zhang ◽  
Xiang Wang ◽  
Bin Fan ◽  
Huimin Jia

Production optimization of coalbed methane (CBM) is a complex constrained nonlinear programming problem. Finding an optimal decision is challenging since the coal seams are generally heterogeneous with widespread cleats, fractures, and matrix pores, and the stress sensitivities are extremely strong; the production of CBM wells needs to be adjusted dynamically within a reasonable range to fit the complex physical dynamics of CBM reservoirs to maximize profits on a long-term horizon. To address these challenges, this paper focuses on the step-down production strategy, which reduces the bottom hole pressure (BHP) step by step to expand the pressure drop radius, mitigate the formation damage, and improve CBM recovery. The mathematical model of CBM well production schedule optimization problem is formulated. The objective of the optimization model is to maximize the cumulative gas production and the variables are chosen as BHP declines of every step. BHP and its decline rate constraints are also considered in the model. Since the optimization problem is high dimensional, nonlinear with many local minima and maxima, covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES), a stochastic, derivative-free intelligent algorithm, is selected. By integrating a reservoir simulator with CMA-ES, the optimization problem can be solved successfully. Experiments including both normal wells and real featured wells are studied. Results show that CMA-ES can converge to the optimal solution efficiently. With the increase of the number of variables, the converge rate decreases rapidly. CMA-ES needs 3 or even more times number of function evaluations to converge to 100% of the optimum value comparing to 99%. The optimized schedule can better fit the heterogeneity and complex dynamic changes of CBM reservoir, resulting a higher production rate peak and a higher stable period production rate. The cumulative production under the optimized schedule can increase by 20% or even more. Moreover, the effect of the control frequency on the production schedule optimization problem is investigated. With the increases of control frequency, the converge rate decreases rapidly and the production performance increases slightly, and the optimization algorithm has a higher risk of falling into local optima. The findings of this study can help to better understanding the relationship between control strategy and CBM well production performance and provide an effective tool to determine the optimal production schedule for CBM wells.


SPE Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (02) ◽  
pp. 681-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Sun ◽  
Juntai Shi ◽  
Keliu Wu ◽  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Dong Feng ◽  
...  

Summary Low-permeability coalbed-methane (CBM) reservoirs possess unique pressure-propagation behavior, which can be classified further as the expansion characteristics of the drainage area and the desorption area [i.e., a formation in which the pressure is lower than the initial formation pressure and critical-desorption pressure (CDP), respectively]. Inevitably, several fluid-flow mechanisms will coexist in realistic coal seams at a certain production time, which is closely related to dynamic pressure and saturation distribution. To the best of our knowledge, a production-prediction model for CBM wells considering pressure-propagation behavior is still lacking. The objective of this work is to perform extensive investigations into the effect of pressure-propagation behavior on the gas-production performance of CBM wells. First, the pressure-squared approach is used to describe the pressure profile in the desorption area, which has been clarified as an effective-approximation method. Also, the pressure/saturation relationship that was developed in our previous research is used; therefore, saturation distribution can be obtained. Second, an efficient iteration algorithm is established to predict gas-production performance by combining a new gas-phase-productivity equation and a material-balance equation. Finally, using the proposed prediction model, we shed light on the optimization method for production strategy regarding the entire production life of CBM wells. Results show that the decrease rate of bottomhole pressure (BHP) should be slow at the water single-phase-flow stage, fast at the early gas/water two-phase-flow stage, and slow at the late gas/water two-phase-flow stage, which is referred to as the slow/fast/slow (SFS) control method. Remarkably, in the SFS control method, the decrease rate of the BHP at each period can be quantified on the basis of the proposed prediction model. To examine the applicability of the proposed SFS method, it is applied to an actual CBM well in Hancheng Field, China, and it enhances the cumulative gas production by a factor of approximately 1.65.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Jian Chen ◽  
Liwen Guo ◽  
Yanwei Hu ◽  
Yong Chen

Based on airfoil curves that can effectively balance the rectification and drag reduction effects in flight hydrodynamics, we designed an internal streamline structure of jet nozzle for coalbed methane (CBM) mining. The three types of nozzles originating from three typical airfoil curves are compared with the conical nozzle. Results showed that the thin-type streamlined nozzle had the largest effective shock range and least radial divergence and was thus selected as the best nozzle. Moreover, the pressure distribution at the outlet of the nozzle was found to be related to the range and number of small-pressure fluctuations near the wall. A larger number of small-pressure fluctuations and a larger range caused faster pressure of the jet water column to decay along the axial direction. Rectification with a concentrated effect also slowed down the attenuation velocity of the jet-water-column pressure between the concentration point and the nozzle. The variation rule of shock pressure with range was further determined experimentally. We found that the shock pressure of jet water column initially increased within a short distance and then decreased rapidly. The effective shock range of the thin-type streamlined nozzle in air was 1.417 times that of the conical nozzle, and the effective reaming area was 1.104 times greater. Thus, the effect of reaming was effectively improved. The length of the water column at high pressure was larger than that of the conical nozzle, and the shock efficiency was relatively high.


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