Abstract

MARQUEZ, Richard  and  PRADO, Mauricio. Modelo de flujo bifásico para predecir la eficiencia de separación natural en fondo de pozo. Rev. Téc. Ing. Univ. Zulia [online]. 2007, vol.30, n.Especial, pp.344-352. ISSN 0254-0770.

Based on the need to determine how much free gas can be expected at the pump intake, a theoretical approaches for predicting natural separation efficiency is proposed in this paper. This approach is represented for a two-phase flow model, where a new variable given by the gas void fraction is considered in the solution of the system of equations. The proposed approach considers simultaneously the effect of important variables such as slip velocity at the radial and vertical direction, geometric characteristic of the bottomhole, gas and liquid flow rates, pressure, among others, being even sensible to the flow pattern regime. The two-phase flow model require knowing the gas bubble size, so available experimental data allowed to develop some correlations for this unknown variable. The proposed model represents a new, useful and important attempt in the prediction of downhole natural separation efficiency.

Keywords : Natural separation; free gas; slip velocity; artificial lift; two-phase flow model.