CFD for multiphase fluid flow and transport in oil wells

Updated: about 5 hours ago
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Wells are commonly used in various industries, such are geothermal, hydrology, CO2 and gas storage, oil&gas and others. Wells consist of non-uniform tubings with long and complex trajectories (vertical, deviated), and are used to access the subsurface by injecting and/or producing multiple fluids of different thermodynamic states and properties. In the case of oil production, three phases often take place in the wellbore, including water, oil, and gas, where the hydrocarbon phases may change state as pressure and temperature change versus depth. When a producing well is shut-in, complex redistribution of fluids occurs within the wellbore, driven by gravity segregation, which can impact the readings of downhole instruments such as the pressure gauges. In other scenarios, when injecting multiple slugs of fluids, fluid mixing and associated reaction may occur within the wellbore which is a function of various parameters such as the Reynolds number.       

The objective of this project is to develop a rigorous 3D modeling tool to model multiphase fluid flow within the wellbore using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers, such as OpenFOAM and Ansys-fluent. The model should account for thermodynamics, fluid mixing and chemical reactions under different flow regimes (bubbly, slug, stratified, …). Simulations will be conducted on a supercomputer at KAUST.



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