Development of a Standalone Compositional Simulator for Modelling Multiphase Flow and Temperature Distribution Along Wellbore

Xiong, Wanqiang

Development of a Standalone Compositional Simulator for Modelling Multiphase Flow and Temperature Distribution Along Wellbore

dc.contributor.advisor	Chen, Zhangxing
dc.contributor.author	Xiong, Wanqiang
dc.contributor.committeemember	Azaiez, Jalel
dc.contributor.committeemember	Chen, Shengnan
dc.contributor.committeemember	Qin, Guan
dc.contributor.committeemember	Swishchuk, A. V.
dc.date	2020-06
dc.date.accessioned	2019-12-03T22:08:25Z
dc.date.available	2019-12-03T22:08:25Z
dc.date.issued	2019-12
dc.description.abstract	Well modeling of multiphase flow and temperature flow along a wellbore has wide applications in the petroleum industry especially in unconventional oil and gas recovery processes. Also, wellbore modeling can be applied in a geothermal well for optimizing production parameters. The main research works completed in this study include building mathematical equations for wellbore modeling and development of a standalone wellbore simulator. At first, a series of mathematical equations are built for wellbore modeling of fluid flow in tubing or annulus, heat loss to a surrounding formation and heat transfer in the formation. Then methods and workflows are determined for key steps in wellbore simulator development including discretization, a grid system, a solution method and a liner equation solver. A standalone compositional wellbore simulator is developed. Validation works against CMG SAM, CMG Flexwell and Eclipse Multi-Segment Well are conducted afterwards. Different scenarios have been modeled by the wellbore simulator that include hot water injection, steam injection, SAGD circulation, SAGD injection, multiphase well production, steam-solvent co-injection, liquid CO2 injection for a shale gas reservoir and geothermal well production. Different well trajectories and structures are handled such as vertical, deviated and horizontal wells, and the wells consisted of one or dual tubing strings. New correlations for more accurate heat loss calculations are regressed in this study based on CFD Fluent simulation and they can better estimate the convection heat transfer in annuli space with single tubing or dual-tubing strings. Also, a semi-numerical method and a fully numerical method for heat loss calculations are proposed. The semi-numerical method consists of heat loss through wellbore components calculated by correlations and heat loss in a surrounding formation numerically simulated, and the fully numerical method performs simulation for heat transfer both in wellbore components and the surrounding formation.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Xiong, W. (2019). Development of a Standalone Compositional Simulator for Modelling Multiphase Flow and Temperature Distribution Along Wellbore (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/37318
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1880/111307
dc.language.iso	eng	en_US
dc.publisher.faculty	Schulich School of Engineering	en_US
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary	en
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.	en_US
dc.subject	Thermal Wellbore Modeling Simulation	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Energy	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Engineering	en_US
dc.title	Development of a Standalone Compositional Simulator for Modelling Multiphase Flow and Temperature Distribution Along Wellbore	en_US
dc.type	doctoral thesis	en_US
thesis.degree.discipline	Engineering – Chemical & Petroleum	en_US
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary	en_US
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)	en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopy	true	en_US