A novel model for oil-water stratified flow in horizontal wells with a curved interface based on dynamic contact angle

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Songyi Guo ◽  
Zhiming Wang ◽  
Quanshu Zeng

Abstract During the process of oil production and transportation, oil-water two-phase flow is a common occurrence. Well completion optimization and production design are greatly affected by the prediction accuracy of two-phase flow characteristics. In this paper, a novel model was proposed to predict the influence of interface shape on stratified flow. Dynamic contact angle theory and minimum energy method were introduced to solve the momentum equations with a curved interface and dispersed phase holdup in the lower water layer or the upper oil layer, respectively. If the interface shape changes from a flat surface to a curved surface, the flow area of the upper water layer will increase, and the flow area of the lower oil layer will decrease. Results showed that the dynamic contact angle and pressure gradient are greatly affected by oil superficial velocity, oil viscosity, and pipe diameter. By comparing the prediction with available experiment results, the validity of the model was evaluated. Results showed that the novel model had an overall good prediction performance for the dimensionless height of the oil-water interface at the mid-plane, the dimensionless height of water climbing, and the pressure gradient, with an average percentage error of 8.32%,16.09%, and 13.12%, respectively. The novel model is a unified model that could be used to solve the problem with a curved/flat interface. It will also promote the oil well production design and horizontal well completion optimization.

2019 ◽  
Vol 894 ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
Thanh Long Le ◽  
Jyh Chen Chen ◽  
Huy Bich Nguyen

In this study, the numerical computation is used to investigate the transient movement of a water droplet in a microchannel. For tracking the evolution of the free interface between two immiscible fluids, we employed the finite element method with the two-phase level set technique to solve the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with the energy equation. Both the upper wall and the bottom wall of the microchannel are set to be an ambient temperature. 40mW heat source is placed at the distance of 1 mm from the initial position of a water droplet. When the heat source is turned on, a pair of asymmetric thermocapillary convection vortices is formed inside the droplet and the thermocapillary on the receding side is smaller than that on the advancing side. The temperature gradient inside the droplet increases quickly at the initial times and then decreases versus time. Therefore, the actuation velocity of the water droplet first increases significantly, and then decreases continuously. The dynamic contact angle is strongly affected by the oil flow motion and the net thermocapillary momentum inside the droplet. The advancing contact angle is always larger than the receding contact angle during actuation process.


Author(s):  
Long Thanh Le

In this study, the numerical computation is used to investigate the transient thermocapillary migration of a water droplet in a Microchannel. For tracking the evolution of the free interface between two immiscible fluids, we employed the finite element method with the two-phase level set technique to solve the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with the energy equation. Both the upper wall and the bottom wall of the microchannel are set to be an ambient temperature. The heat source is placed at the left side of a water droplet. When the heat source is turned on, a pair of asymmetric thermocapillary convection vortices is formed inside the droplet and the thermocapillary on the receding side is smaller than that on the advancing side. The temperature gradient inside the droplet increases quickly at the initial times and then decreases versus time. Therefore, the actuation velocity of the water droplet first increases significantly, and then decreases continuously. The dynamic contact angle is strongly affected by the oil flow motion and the net thermocapillary momentum inside the droplet. The advancing contact angle is always larger than the receding contact angle during actuation process.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 811-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongdong He ◽  
Huaxiong Huang

AbstractThe static shape of drop under electrowetting actuation is well studied and recent electrowetting theory and experiments confirm that the local contact angle (microscopic angle) is unaffected while the apparent contact angle (macroscopic angle) is characterized by the Lippmann-Young equation. On the other hand, the evolution of the drop motion under electrowetting actuation has received less attention. In this paper, we investigate the motion of a conducting water drop on an electrowetting device (EWD) using the level set method. We derive a contact line two-phase flow model under electrowetting actuation using energy dissipation by generalizing an existing contact line model without the electric field. Our model is consistent with the static electrowetting theory as the dynamic contact angle satisfies the static Young's equation under equilibrium conditions. Our steady state results show that the apparent contact angle predicted by our model satisfies the Lippmann-Young's relation. Our numerical results based on the drop maximum deformation agree with experimental observations and static electrowetting theory. Finally, we show that for drop motion our results are not as good due to the difficulty of computing singular electric field accurately. Nonetheless, they provide useful insights and ameaningful first step towards the understanding of the drop dynamics under electrowetting actuation.


Author(s):  
Le Thanh Long ◽  
Jyh Chen Chen ◽  
Nguyen Huy Bich

The migration of a small droplet has been developed during the last two decades due to its applications in industry and high technology such as MEMS and NEMS devices, Lap-On-a- chip, transportation of fluids and so on. There have many studies on this topic in which the energy source as a driving force for the moving of a droplet is quite a difference like heating, magnetics, pressure, electric, laser, and so on. In this study, the numerical computation is used to investigate the transient thermocapillary migration of a water droplet in a micro-channel under the effect of heating source. For tracking the evolution of the free interface between two immiscible fluids, we employed the finite element method with the two-phase level set technique to solve the Navier-Stokes equations and continuity equation coupled with the energy equation. Both the upper wall and the bottom wall of the microchannel are set to be ambient temperature. 40mW heat source is placed at a distance of 1 mm from the initial position of a water droplet. When the heat source is turned on, a pair of asymmetric thermocapillary convection vortices is formed inside the droplet, and the thermocapillary on the receding side is smaller than that on the advancing side. The temperature gradient inside the droplet increases quickly at the initial times and then decreases versus time. Therefore, the actuation velocity of the water droplet first increases significantly and then decreases continuously. Furthermore, the results also indicate that the dynamic contact angle is strongly affected by the oil flow motion and the net thermocapillary momentum inside the droplet. The advancing contact angle is always larger than the receding contact angle during the actuation process.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2832
Author(s):  
Moussa Tembely ◽  
Waleed S. Alameri ◽  
Ali M. AlSumaiti ◽  
Mohamed S. Jouini

The Darcy-scale properties of reservoir rocks, such as capillary pressure and relative permeability, are controlled by multiphase flow properties at the pore scale. In the present paper, we implement a volume of fluid (VOF) method coupled with a physically based dynamic contact angle to perform pore-scale simulation of two-phase flow within a porous medium. The numerical model is based on the resolution of the Navier–Stokes equations as well as a phase fraction equation incorporating a dynamic contact angle model with wetting hysteresis effect. After the model is validated for a single phase, a two-phase flow simulation is performed on both a Newtonian and a non-Newtonian fluid; the latter consists of a polymer solution displaying a shear-thinning power law viscosity. To investigate the effects of contact angle hysteresis and the non-Newtonian nature of the fluid, simulations of both drainage and imbibition are carried out in order to analyze water and oil saturation—particularly critical parameters such as initial water saturation (Swi) and residual oil saturation (Sor) are assessed in terms of wettability. Additionally, the model sensitivities to the consistency factor (χ), the flow behavior index (n), and the advancing and receding contact angles are tested. Interestingly, the model correctly retrieves the variation in Sor and wettability and predicts behavior over a wide range of contact angles that are difficult to probe experimentally.


Author(s):  
O.N Goncharova ◽  
◽  
I.V. Marchuk ◽  
A.V. Zakurdaeva ◽  
◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document