An integrated multi-component reservoir-wellbore thermal model
Date
2012
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Abstract
As more and more wells have been put into operation, accurate modeling of wellbore flow plays a significant role in reservoir simulation, particularly in thermal recovery processes such as Steam Assistant Gravity Drainage (SAGD) and Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS). The main objective of wellbore modeling is to predict heat exchange and phase behaviour in the vertical and horizontal wellbores and therefore to predict their effect on the entire simulation process. Coupled reservoir and well modeling can provide a detailed description of these thermal processes. To model these processes, a thermal K-value multi-component reservoir model is developed. This model has the ability to simulate three-dimensional multi-component, three-phase thermal processes such as SAGD and CSS. Two corresponding sets of wellbore models, Sink/Source Well (SSW) and Multi-Segment Well (MSW) models, are developed and tested to achieve several result. The SSW model consists of a set of well control methods. It is chosen as the reference wellbore model in this study and validated with commercial software. In this study the MSW model is also constructed and tested for several thermal recovery processes. The MSW model includes mass and energy conservations for each component, constraints and a general pressure drop relationship. The multiphase wellbore flow is represented using a no- lip or slip model. It has the ability to deal with complex configurations such as multi-tubing situation; several reults are included in the thesis. Three type of coupling schemes for the MSW model are also tested and compared in this research: full, iterative or advancing-level coupling to the reservoir. In addition, An algorithm of dynamic gridding for solving a wellbore flow model is coupled with the General Propose Reservoir Simulator (GPRS), which has the capability to simulate the isothermal black oil reservoir model to obtain detailed information on such important quantities as flow pattern and mixture velocity in any specific location of wellbore. We apply the black oil model to the simulation of several cases on dynamical local mesh refinement isothermally, and compare the results with fixed coarse and fine meshes. The experiments demonstrate that the algorithm can yield accurate results with acceptable computational time.
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Bibliography: p. 204-208
Many pages are in colour.
Many pages are in colour.
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Citation
Dong, C. (2012). An integrated multi-component reservoir-wellbore thermal model (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/5064