Steam Zone Growth in a Preheated Reservoir

1968 ◽  
Vol 8 (03) ◽  
pp. 313-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.J. Closmann

Abstract Steam zone growth as a function of time bas been calculated for the case of constant rate steam injection into a preheated reservoir. To simplify the calculation a linear temperature profile has been assumed in the cap and base rock at the start of steam injection. The results indicate that at early times augmentation of steam zone growth due to preheating should be greatest. At longer times the steam zone development becomes close to that calculated with no preheating. Introduction With the increasing application of thermal recovery processes to recover viscous oil, cyclic steam injection has become important in many large-scale projects. In this process the cycle of steam injection followed by oi1 production is repeated a number of times. At the beginning of the second and later cycles, steam is injected into a reservoir that has already been heated but that has lost part of its heat both in produced fluids and by conductive heat loss away from the injection zone. In such a case, the temperature level of the injection zone and the temperature distribution of the surrounding rock will affect the growth of the steam zone developed during the subsequent steam injection. Knowledge of the size of steam zone developed is important in determining the amount of oil displaced and the extent of heating in the reservoir. It is also useful to be able to compute the size of the steam zone for cases where thief zones take most of the injected steam. This paper presents a fairly straightforward method of estimating the steam zone developed in a preheated formation, based on certain simplifying assumptions. Some cases of steam injection into a reservoir at its original temperature have already been considered elsewhere. Because it is difficult or impossible to obtain an accurate representation of the temperature distribution in the reservoir some time after initial heating has taken place, in this work, a linear temperature profile in the cap and base rock is assumed (Figs. 1A and 1B). SPEJ P. 313ˆ

Author(s):  
Tianyong Yang ◽  
Bofu Wang ◽  
Jianzhao Wu ◽  
Zhiming Lu ◽  
Quan Zhou

AbstractThe horizontal convection in a square enclosure driven by a linear temperature profile along the bottom boundary is investigated numerically by using a finite difference method. The Prandtl number is fixed at 4.38, and the Rayleigh number Ra ranges from 107 to 1011. The convective flow is steady at a relatively low Rayleigh number, and no thermal plume is observed, whereas it transits to be unsteady when the Rayleigh number increases beyond the critical value. The scaling law for the Nusselt number Nu changes from Rossby’s scaling Nu ∼ Ra1/5 in a steady regime to Nu ∼ Ra1/4 in an unsteady regime, which agrees well with the theoretically predicted results. Accordingly, the Reynolds number Re scaling varies from Re ∼ Ra3/11 to Re ∼ Ra2/5. The investigation on the mean flows shows that the thermal and kinetic boundary layer thickness and the mean temperature in the bulk zone decrease with the increasing Ra. The intensity of fluctuating velocity increases with the increasing Ra.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2760
Author(s):  
Ruiye Li ◽  
Peng Cheng ◽  
Hai Lan ◽  
Weili Li ◽  
David Gerada ◽  
...  

Within large turboalternators, the excessive local temperatures and spatially distributed temperature differences can accelerate the deterioration of electrical insulation as well as lead to deformation of components, which may cause major machine malfunctions. In order to homogenise the stator axial temperature distribution whilst reducing the maximum stator temperature, this paper presents a novel non-uniform radial ventilation ducts design methodology. To reduce the huge computational costs resulting from the large-scale model, the stator is decomposed into several single ventilation duct subsystems (SVDSs) along the axial direction, with each SVDS connected in series with the medium of the air gap flow rate. The calculation of electromagnetic and thermal performances within SVDS are completed by finite element method (FEM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), respectively. To improve the optimization efficiency, the radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) model is employed to approximate the finite element analysis, while the novel isometric sampling method (ISM) is designed to trade off the cost and accuracy of the process. It is found that the proposed methodology can provide optimal design schemes of SVDS with uniform axial temperature distribution, and the needed computation cost is markedly reduced. Finally, results based on a 15 MW turboalternator show that the peak temperature can be reduced by 7.3 ∘C (6.4%). The proposed methodology can be applied for the design and optimisation of electromagnetic-thermal coupling of other electrical machines with long axial dimensions.


Geofluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Skarphagen ◽  
David Banks ◽  
Bjørn S. Frengstad ◽  
Harald Gether

Borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) exploits the high volumetric heat capacity of rock-forming minerals and pore water to store large quantities of heat (or cold) on a seasonal basis in the geological environment. The BTES is a volume of rock or sediment accessed via an array of borehole heat exchangers (BHE). Even well-designed BTES arrays will lose a significant quantity of heat to the adjacent and subjacent rocks/sediments and to the surface; both theoretical calculations and empirical observations suggest that seasonal thermal recovery factors in excess of 50% are difficult to obtain. Storage efficiency may be dramatically reduced in cases where (i) natural groundwater advection through the BTES removes stored heat, (ii) extensive free convection cells (thermosiphons) are allowed to form, and (iii) poor BTES design results in a high surface area/volume ratio of the array shape, allowing high conductive heat losses. The most efficient array shape will typically be a cylinder with similar dimensions of diameter and depth, preferably with an insulated top surface. Despite the potential for moderate thermal recovery, the sheer volume of thermal storage that the natural geological environment offers can still make BTES a very attractive strategy for seasonal thermal energy storage within a “smart” district heat network, especially when coupled with more efficient surficial engineered dynamic thermal energy stores (DTES).


2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Lei ◽  
Hongfang Ma ◽  
Haitao Zhang ◽  
Weiyong Ying ◽  
Dingye Fang

Abstract The heat conduction performance of the methanol synthesis reactor is significant for the development of large-scale methanol production. The present work has measured the temperature distribution in the fixed bed at air volumetric flow rate 2.4–7 m3 · h−1, inlet air temperature 160–200°C and heating tube temperature 210–270°C. The effective radial thermal conductivity and effective wall heat transfer coefficient were derived based on the steady-state measurements and the two-dimensional heat transfer model. A correlation was proposed based on the experimental data, which related well the Nusselt number and the effective radial thermal conductivity to the particle Reynolds number ranging from 59.2 to 175.8. The heat transfer model combined with the correlation was used to calculate the temperature profiles. A comparison with the predicated temperature and the measurements was illustrated and the results showed that the predication agreed very well with the experimental results. All the absolute values of the relative errors were less than 10%, and the model was verified by experiments. Comparing the correlations of both this work with previously published showed that there are considerable discrepancies among them due to different experimental conditions. The influence of the particle Reynolds number on the temperature distribution inside the bed was also discussed and it was shown that improving particle Reynolds number contributed to enhance heat transfer in the fixed bed.


Author(s):  
Ying Duan ◽  
Xiaogen Yi ◽  
Qinglong Xie ◽  
Zhengai Weng ◽  
Peng Yuan ◽  
...  

Microwave reactors equipped with microwave absorbent as high-temperature bed are effective for the pyrolysis reactions. The uniformity and stability of temperature distribution on the microwave absorbent bed surface is important to the microwave pyrolysis reactor especially in the large-scale reactor. Herein, the temperature distribution on the SiC microwave absorbent bed in a large-scale microwave pyrolysis reactor without feeding was examined by both infrared thermography and simulation. Considering the economics of using multiple low-power magnetrons in large-scale reactor, the effect of the working magnetrons location on the heating rate of bed surface and the COV of temperature distribution was investigated. The results showed that more uniform and stable temperature distribution of bed surface in the large-scale reactor was obtained when the magnetrons located at the bottom of the reactor were in use. This study provides guidance for the scale-up of microwave-assisted pyrolysis reactor with multiple low-power magnetrons.


Author(s):  
Tang Chian-ti

Taking account of the marine gas turbine operation features, the author has chosen the hot corrosion peak temperature of materials as the guide vane material limiting temperature while evaluating the overall temperature distribution factor. Along with the blade cooling effectiveness a safety margin factor has been introduced during its evaluation. The gas temperature distribution along blade height is assumed to satisfy the condition that approximately equal safety factor in respect of strength prevails along blade height. Once the gas radial temperature profile becomes known, the radial temperature distribution factor can be readily determined.


2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiqiang Li ◽  
Daulat D. Mamora

Abstract Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) is one successful thermal recovery technique applied in the Athabasca oil sands in Canada to produce the very viscous bitumen. Water for SAGD is limited in supply and expensive to treat and to generate steam. Consequently, we conducted a study into injecting high-temperature solvent instead of steam to recover Athabasca oil. In this study, hexane (C6) coinjection at condensing condition is simulated using CMG STARS to analyze the drainage mechanism inside the vapor-solvent chamber. The production performance is compared with an equivalent steam injection case based on the same Athabasca reservoir condition. Simulation results show that C6 is vaporized and transported into the vapor-solvent chamber. At the condensing condition, high temperature C6 reduces the viscosity of the bitumen more efficiently than steam and can displace out all the original oil. The oil production rate with C6 injection is about 1.5 to 2 times that of steam injection with oil recovery factor of about 100% oil initially-in-place. Most of the injected C6 can be recycled from the reservoir and from the produced oil, thus significantly reduce the solvent cost. Results of our study indicate that high-temperature solvent injection appears feasible although further technical and economic evaluation of the process is required.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Joshua Ingham ◽  
John Lewis ◽  
David Cheneler

This paper presents automated laser ablation strategies to improve the temperature distribution across the surface of inhomogeneous Ni-Fe-Cr-NiO electrical heating elements during joule heating. A number of iterative closed-loop laser control algorithms have been developed and analyzed in order to assess their impact on the efficacy of the heating element, in terms of homogeneous temperature control, and on the implications for automated fabrication of inhomogeneous metal oxide films. Analysis shows that the use of the leading method, i.e., use of a temperature-dependent variable-power approach with memory of previous processes, showed a 68% reduction in the standard deviation of the temperature distribution of the heating element and a greater uniformity of temperature profile as compared to existing manual methods of processing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 2759-2779
Author(s):  
Noureddine Abouricha ◽  
Mustapha El Alami ◽  
Khalid Souhar

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to model the convective flows in a room equipped by a glass door and a heated floor of length l = 0.8 × H and submitted to a sinusoidal temperature profile and mono alternative temperature profile. Design/methodology/approach The paper opts for a numerical study of convective flows in a large scale cavity using the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) by considering a two dimensions (2D) square cavity of side H and filled by air (Pr = 0.71). All the vertical walls, the ceiling and the rest of the floor are thermally insulated, the hot portion of length l = 0.8×H is heated with two imposed temperature profiles of amplitude values 0.2 ≤  a  ≤ 0.6 and for two different periods ζ = ζ0 and ζ = 0.4×ζ0. One of the vertical walls has a cold portion θc = 0 that represents the glass door. Findings A systematic study of the flow structure and heat transfer is carried out considering principal control parameters: amplitude “a” and period ζ for Rayleigh number Ra = 108. Effects of these parameters on results are presented in terms of isotherms, streamlines, profiles of velocities, temperature in the cavity, global and local Nusselt number. It has been found that an increase in amplitude or period increases the amplitude of the temperature in the core of cavity. The Nusselt number increases when the amplitude “a” of the imposed temperature increases, but this later is not affected by variation of the period. Originality/value The authors used LBM to simulate the convective flows in a cavity at high Ra, heated from below by tow imposed temperature profiles. Indeed, they simulate a local equipped by a solar water heater (SWH). The floor is subjected to a periodic heating: Sinusoidal heating (Case 1) for which the temperature varies sinusoidally (SWH without a supplement), and mono alternation heating (Case 2), the temperature evolves like a redressed signal (SWH with a supplement). The considered method has been successfully validated and compared with the previous work. The study has been conducted using several control parameters such as the signal amplitude and period in the case of turbulent convection. This allowed us to obtain a considerable set of results that can be used for engineering.


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