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Title: Wellflow for geothermal wells: description of a computer program including effects of brine composition

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7308925· OSTI ID:7308925

A computer program entitled ''WELLFLOW'' is presented for calculating wellhead flow and fluid conditions for a self-flowing geothermal well of constant diameter. The calculational model was developed by Elliott and has been modified to incorporate a more accurate analytical procedure for calculating brine thermophysical properties. An additional modification establishes the mass flow rate needed to just produce sonic liquid velocity at the wellhead (if the specified flow rate exceeds this value) in order to characterize the entire range of flow conditions for the well geometry and reservoir characteristics. Reservoir values of temperature, depth, salinity, mass flow rate and drawdown pressure factor must be specified. Wellbore parameters of casing inside diameter, Moody friction factor, gas/liquid velocity ratio and the overall heat transfer coefficient between the casing and ground must also be supplied. The calculated wellhead conditions consist of temperature, pressure, vapor mass fraction, enthalpy and entropy of the two-phase mixture, liquid velocity and vapor and liquid mass flow rates for either pure water or brine.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
7308925
Report Number(s):
UCID-17473
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English