A shallow-gas-kick simulator including diverter performance

Journal Article · Thu Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1990 · SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Drilling Engineering; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/18019-PA· OSTI ID:6821653

Starrett, M P; Hill, A D; Sepehrnoori, K ^[1]

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1. Amoco Production Co. (US)

A computer simulator of the flow and pressure behaviors in wellbores and diverters (large horizontal flowlines from the wellhead) was developed to predict performance during shallow gas blowouts. The model is based on the solution of the unsteady-state mechanical energy-balance equation for pipe flow. Four main regions are considered: the reservoir, the two-phase gas/liquid region in the wellbore, the liquid being displaced ahead of the two-phase region, and the diverter. For the reservoir, equations for transient radial gas flow are used. In the two-phase region, Aziz {ital et al}.'s two-phase flow model is used to calculate liquid holdup and frictional pressure drop. For liquid ahead of the gas, pressure losses caused by the acceleration of the liquid column are considered. Flow in the diverter allows for two-phase critical flow at the diverter exit. At each timestep, the model calculates the pressure, fraction of each phase present, and velocity throughout the well and the diverter by use of an iterative procedure. The model has shown that the pressure and velocity behaviors depend strongly on the initial difference between bottomhole pressure (BHP) and reservoir pressure and on the wellbore and diverter diameters.

• OSTI ID: 6821653
• Journal Information: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Drilling Engineering; (USA), Journal Name: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Drilling Engineering; (USA) Vol. 5:1; ISSN SDENE; ISSN 0885-9744
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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