Application of CFD technique to simulate enhanced oil recovery processes: current status and future opportunities

Jafari, Arezou; Hasani, Mohammadreza; Hosseini, Mostafa; Gharibshahi, Reza

doi:10.1007/s12182-019-00363-7

“…Computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) is a methodology used to examine systems, such as fluid flow and the heat transport system, through computer simulations. When compared to experimental investigations, the CFD technique has the potential to study critical and unique circumstances in a process, reduce response time and research costs, and gain a complete and detailed understanding of the process [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 ].…”

Section: Numerical Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermophysical Properties of Nanofluid in Two-Phase Fluid Flow through a Porous Rectangular Medium for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Al-Yaari

¹

,

Ching

²

,

Sakidin

³

et al. 2022

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It is necessary to sustain energy from an external reservoir or employ advanced technologies to enhance oil recovery. A greater volume of oil may be recovered by employing nanofluid flooding. In this study, we investigated oil extraction in a two-phase incompressible fluid in a two-dimensional rectangular porous homogenous area filled with oil and having no capillary pressure. The governing equations that were derived from Darcy’s law and the mass conservation law were solved using the finite element method. Compared to earlier research, a more efficient numerical model is proposed here. The proposed model allows for the cost-effective study of heating-based inlet fluid in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and uses the empirical correlations of the nanofluid thermophysical properties on the relative permeability equations of the nanofluid and oil, so it is more accurate than other models to determine the higher recovery factor of one nanoparticle compared to other nanoparticles. Next, the effect of nanoparticle volume fraction on flooding was evaluated. EOR via nanofluid flooding processes and the effect of the intake temperatures (300 and 350 K) were also simulated by comparing three nanoparticles: SiO2, Al2O3, and CuO. The results show that adding nanoparticles (<5 v%) to a base fluid enhanced the oil recovery by more than 20%. Increasing the inlet temperature enhanced the oil recovery due to changes in viscosity and density of oil. Increasing the relative permeability of nanofluid while simultaneously reducing the relative permeability of oil due to the presence of nanoparticles was the primary reason for EOR.

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“…Numerical simulation can be used to study the detailed flow structures inside complex geometries under a wide range of operating conditions. 23,24 The commercial CFD code ANSYS CFX V17.2 25 was employed to solve the three-dimensional (3D) Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in this study. For numerical simplicity and excluding the end effects, the simulated flow domain comprises three stages assembled in series.…”

Section: Numerical Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiments and mechanistic modeling of viscosity effect on a multistage ESP performance under viscous fluid flow

Shi

¹

,

Zhu

²

,

Wang

³

et al. 2021

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A:

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Assembled in series with multistage, Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESP) are widely used in offshore petroleum production due to the high production rate and efficiency. The hydraulic performance of ESPs is subjected to the fluid viscosity. High oil viscosity leads to the degradation of ESP boosting pressure compared to the catalog curves under water flow. In this paper, the influence of fluid viscosity on the performance of a 14-stage radial-type ESP under varying operational conditions, e.g. rotational speeds 1800–3500 r/min, viscosities 25–520 cP, was investigated. Numerical simulations were conducted on the same ESP model using a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. The simulated average pump head is comparable to the corresponding experimental data under different viscosities and rotational speeds with less than ±20% prediction error. A mechanistic model accounting for the viscosity effect on ESP boosting pressure is proposed based on the Euler head in a centrifugal pump. A conceptual best-match flowrate QBM is introduced, at which the impeller outlet flow direction matches the designed flow direction. The recirculation losses caused by the mismatch of velocity triangles and other head losses resulted from the flow direction change, friction loss and leakage flow etc., are included in the model. The comparison of model predicted pump head versus experimental measurements under viscous fluid flow conditions demonstrates good agreement. The overall prediction error is less than ±10%.

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“…It is so-called viscous fingering. Viscous fingering is seen in many natural and industrial processes such as oil recovery [12], mixing of fluids in microfluidic devices [13], drugs delivery [14], pulmonary biomechanics [15], and complicated branching channels of biochemical testing [16]. In two-phase displacement flows, where fluid-1 and fluid-2 are represented displaced (defending) fluid and displacing (invading) fluid, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Triggering the Splitting Dynamics of Low-Viscous Fingers through Surface Wettability Inside Bifurcating Channel

Singh

¹

,

Pandey

²

,

Singh

³

2022

Mathematical Problems in Engineering

4

0

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This work presents the splitting dynamics of low-viscous fingers inside the single bifurcating channel through the surface wettability of daughter branches. The propagation of low-viscous fingers inside branching microchannels have importance in many applications, such as microfluidics, biofluid mechanics (pulmonary airway reopening), and biochemical testing. Several numerical simulations are performed where a water finger propagates inside the silicon oil-filled bifurcating channel, and at the bifurcating tip, it splits into two fingers and these fingers propagate into the separate daughter branches. It is noticed that the behaviour of finger splitting at the bifurcating tip depends upon numerous parameters such as surface wettability, capillary number, viscosity ratio, and surface tension. This study aims to trigger the behaviour of finger splitting through the surface wettability of daughter branches θ 1 , θ 2 . Therefore, a series of numerical simulations are performed by considering four different surface wettability configurations of daughter branches, i.e., θ 1 , θ 2 ∈ 78 ° , 78 ° ; 78 ° , 118 ° ; 78 ° , 150 ° ; 150 ° , 150 ° . According to the results obtained from numerical simulations, finger splitting may be categorized into three types based on splitting ratio λ , i.e., symmetrical splitting, nonsymmetrical splitting, and reversal (no) splitting. It is noticed that the surface wettability of both daughter branches is either hydrophilic 78 ° , 78 ° or superhydrophobic 150 ° , 150 ° , providing symmetrical splitting. The surface wettability of one of the daughter branches is hydrophilic and another is hydrophobic 78 ° , 118 ° , providing nonsymmetrical splitting. The surface wettability of one of the daughter branches is hydrophilic and another is superhydrophobic 78 ° , 150 ° , providing reversal splitting. The findings of this investigation may be incorporated in the fields of biochemical testing and occulted pulmonary airways reopening as well as respiratory diseases such as COVID-19.

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Application of CFD technique to simulate enhanced oil recovery processes: current status and future opportunities

Cited by 48 publications

References 68 publications

Thermophysical Properties of Nanofluid in Two-Phase Fluid Flow through a Porous Rectangular Medium for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Thermophysical Properties of Nanofluid in Two-Phase Fluid Flow through a Porous Rectangular Medium for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Experiments and mechanistic modeling of viscosity effect on a multistage ESP performance under viscous fluid flow

Triggering the Splitting Dynamics of Low-Viscous Fingers through Surface Wettability Inside Bifurcating Channel

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