Determining Water Volume Fraction for

Oil-Water Production with Speed of Sound

Measurement
Author: Dr. Jinjiang Xiao

ABSTRACT
Good production and reservoir management practices require
real-time data on oil, gas and water production rates from
wells. For a well with conventional completion, a single surface measurement device may be sufficient. With the proliferation of multilateral wells to achieve extreme reservoir contact,
the need for rate data is moving downhole toward measurement of an individual lateral or even compartment-based
measurement. Knowing how much water production there is
and where it comes from is necessary before any remedial action can be taken. Measurements downhole present both challenges and opportunities. The challenge is that the design of
the metering hardware has to withstand the harsh (high-pressure/high temperature) and space constrained environment.
The advantage is that, in terms of fluids, the gas phase may
not be present due to the high pressure, which can potentially
simplify the system design. Currently, cost-effective, reliable
and compact downhole flow measurement technologies with a
full range of capability are not available.
This article presents a viable technique for water volume
fraction determination based on acoustic speed of sound (SoS)
measurements. A simple physics-based method has been derived to allow calculations of water volume fraction from the
measured SoS for oil-water mixtures without relying on any
empirical correlation. The method assumes homogeneous oilwater flow. Test data acquired from an industrial flow loop
was used to verify the method. These tests were conducted
with rates ranging from 2,500 barrels per day (bpd) to 8,000
bpd and water fractions covering 0% to 100%. The method
performed very well against the flow loop data, with an error
rate within 5% in water fraction. The impact of flow stratification on the method was also analyzed. To ensure flow homogenization, the use of a Venturi pipe is suggested as a
preconditioning device to improve measurement accuracy. Integration of a Venturi device with the acoustic-based phase
fraction measurement technology provides a complete metering technique.

INTRODUCTION
Knowing the oil, water and gas flow rates from a well is
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important for production monitoring and optimization, and

for reservoir management. A common practice in the past had
been to use a centralized testing facility to serve a group of
wells and to test each of them on a rotating basis. Since then,
significant technological advancements have been made in the
development of inline multiphase flow meters (MPFMs); several existing overviews of MPFM technology are available1, 2.
With MPFMs, it becomes possible to have dedicated flow
measurement for each well in real-time, all the time.
Today, a significant number of MPFMs are in use in the upstream industry. It is very common in new field development to
install a meter for each well as part of the intelligent field infrastructure. For extended reach and multilateral wells, the industry is moving even further, toward downhole metering that
can provide lateral and even compartmental level measurements3.
Measurement of phase fraction is a key metering function.
The most common method for measuring phase fraction is to
transmit gamma rays through the production mixture to obtain and then analyze their energy attenuation4, 5. As gamma
rays are produced from radioactive materials, gaining regulatory permits for this type of meter as well as the handling and
later disposal of the radioactive materials have been an issue.
The use of X-rays has been studied for phase fraction measurement6. But X-rays also pose health risks. Other metering techniques rely on microwave7 or capacitance/conductance
measurement8. The disadvantage here is that capacitancebased measurement only works for continuous oil flow, up to
possibly 30% water cut; for higher water cut, the metering has
to be switched to conductance-based measurement once the
continuous phase is inverted to water.
An acoustic-based speed of sound (SoS) technique offers a
very attractive alternative. It is nonradioactive and can be
made nonintrusive to allow full bore access. The method
works for the full 0% to 100% water cut range, regardless of
whether oil or water is in the continuous phase. It is particularly suitable downhole, where the pressure is very often above
the oil bubble point, meaning no gas is present. This is important since the presence of gas greatly reduces the SoS, which
means that, for a large range of gas volume fraction, the SoS is
insensitive to gas fraction changes, making volume fraction
calculation difficult.
Kragas et al. (2002)9 presented a downhole technology that

determines water volume fraction for oil-water flow based on

the measurement of SoS with fiber optic sensors. The sound it
uses is production generated noise within the production tubing, i.e., no artificial noise source is employed. Their calculation method assumes homogeneous flow, and the technology is
recommended for flow with mixture velocities greater than 1
m/s. The method, it is suggested, may even be applicable for
stratified flow due to the use of long wavelength SoS.
In another acoustic application, a composition measurement
method has been reported10 for mixtures of crude oil and simulated process water, based on the detection of time of flight of
ultrasonic pressure waves. Several other existing SoS models
for mixture flow were reviewed and tested, with the best
model giving a maximum error of 4% between lab measurement and model prediction. It was not clear, however, how accurately water fraction can be determined with the best SoS
model. To satisfy the models underlying assumption, high
shear was used to homogenize the flow in the laboratory.
Chaudhuri et al. (2012)11 recently presented an acoustic
method to determine the phase volume fraction of mixtures of
crude oil and process water. To ensure that the droplet sizes
were smaller than the wavelength, they homogenized the flow,
although the article does not report how homogenization was
done. The method was then validated by using data from a
university flow loop, where an inline dynamic mixer was
installed 1 m ahead of the acoustic sensors to ensure homogenization12. All tests were conducted with a water weight percentage greater than 60%. It was reported that better results
were obtained for the higher flow rates because of better mixing.
This article presents the development of an ultrasound-based
MPFM. A method is provided for water volume fraction determination with the SoS measurement acquired by the MPFM.
The approach was validated using flow tests conducted in an
industrial flow loop covering 0% to 100% water cut. The
article also investigates the SoS results for stratified flow and
analyzes the effect of flow stratification on water volume fraction calculation.
Before proceeding to the theoretical development, it is
worthwhile to clarify some terminology. Water volume fraction also referred to as water-liquid volume ratio is defined as the water volume flow rate, relative to the total liquid
volume flow rate (oil and water), at the pressure and temperature prevailing in the measurement condition. Water cut is a
term commonly used in the upstream industry. It is the water
volume flow rate, relative to the total liquid volume flow rate
(oil and water), after both are converted to volumes at standard pressure, 14.7 psia, and standard temperature, 60 F.
Water cut is normally expressed as a percentage. Converting
the water volume fraction to water cut requires knowledge of
fluid pressure-volume-temperature data.

THEORY OF SOS AND VOLUME FRACTION

CALCULATION
Single Phase Fluid

The SoS is a thermodynamic property of a fluid. It is the rate

of propagation of a pressure pulse of infinitesimal strength
through a still fluid. Combining the laws of conservation of
mass and momentum, one can derive the equation for SoS as:
(1)
where v is the SoS, p is the density, and c is the adiabatic
compressibility. Because the pressure pulse is of infinitesimal
strength and travels rapidly, there is negligible heat transfer,
and the process is assumed to be isentropic. As shown by van
Dijk (2005)13, the adiabatic or isentropic assumption is generally valid for frequencies less than the hypersonic frequency (>
109 Hz), which is the case for flow measurement. Therefore,
the adiabatic compressibility term in Eqn. 1 is that of the fluid
in the current application. This is true even for flow in the
wellbore inside a reservoir where there is so little temperature
variation, the condition can be considered isothermal. The adiabatic compressibility and the isothermal compressibility are
related by the heat capacity ratio of the fluid14, y as:
(2)
Since y is in the range of 1.05 to 1.30 for oil, the isothermal
compressibility is always higher than the adiabatic compressibility15. Using isothermal compressibility in Eqn. 1 will result
in underestimating the SoS by up to 12%. The adiabatic compressibility therefore is used throughout the rest of this article.

HOMOGENEOUS OIL-WATER MIXTURE

The earliest references to the SoS for homogeneous mixtures
are Wood (1941)16 and Urick (1947)17. The mixture is treated
as a pseudo-single phase, with density and compressibility defined as:
(3)
(4)
where l w is the water volume fraction; subscript w refers to
water and subscript o refers to oil. Applying Eqns. 3 and 4 in
Eqn. 1, we have the SoS for a homogeneous mixture as:
(5)
According to Urick (1947)17, the homogeneous model is
valid when one phase is finely dispersed into the other phase,
with the sizes of the dispersed particles smaller than the waveSAUDI ARAMCO JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY

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length of the sound. Since sound wavelength is related to speed

_v
and frequency as f , the higher the frequency used for investigation, the shorter the wavelength will be and the smaller the dispersed droplets will have to be generated via mixing/
shearing if they are to satisfy the assumption of a homogeneous model. For example, if one uses a sound frequency of 5
MHz and the SoS is 1,300 m/s, then the wavelength will be
0.26 mm, and the dispersed phase will have to be less than
0.26 mm in size for the model to work. This may not be easily
achievable in the field. Fortunately, laboratory data suggests
that the strictures underlying an assumption of homogeneous
mixture can be relaxed.
With algebraic manipulation of Eqn. 5, one can obtain an
equation with the water volume fraction as an unknown:
(6)
where

Fig. 1. Oil-water stratified smooth flow.

(7)
(8)
(9)
A solution for Eqn. 6 within the range between 0 and 1 will
provide the water volume fraction:
(10)
This is a physics-based water volume fraction calculation
method without any empirical correlation. The procedure to
determine water volume fraction thereby can be as follows:
1. Measure, or establish via correlation density and
adiabatic compressibility using the SoS measured for
the single phase in Eqn. 1 the relationships with
pressure and temperature for a range of conditions for
oil and water individually in advance.
2. Measure the downhole operating pressure and
temperature, and measure the SoS through the oil-water
mixture.
3. Determine coefficients A, B and C, and calculate the
water volume fraction from Eqn. 10.
Oil-Water Stratified Flow

The flow of an oil and water mixture in pipes can exhibit

many flow patterns in addition to dispersed, or homogeneous,
flow18. In horizontal pipes at low flow rates, stratification of
the two phases occurs, with oil flowing on top and water flowing along the bottom. An investigation was carried out into the
SoS for this separated flow condition.
Figure 1 shows the cross section of stratified smooth flow.
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For simplification, it is assumed that the sound transmitter and

receiver are arranged opposite from each other and the sound
signal travels perpendicular to the oil-water interface in both
mediums, i.e., no refraction occurs as the sound transmits
across the oil and water interface.
Considering the distance and the time of flight between
transmitter and receiver, one can derive the following equation
for the SoS for the oil-water stratified flow:
(11)
where D is the pipe diameter and hw is the height of the water
layer. Clearly, the SoS equation for stratified flow is different
from the equation for the homogeneous flow model. If the homogeneous model is used to determine the water volume fraction when the flow is actually stratified, one may not obtain
accurate results. An example calculation is provided below to
show the range of errors expected.
First, note that for a given height of water layer in stratified
flow, the water volume fraction can be calculated19 as follows:
(12)
Consider a case where the water density and adiabatic compressibility calculated from 1,515 m/s SoS measured in water are 992 kg/m3 and 4.39 10-10 Pa-1, respectively, and
the oil density and adiabatic compressibility calculated from
1,304 m/s SoS measured in oil are 850 kg/m3 and 6.9187
10-10 Pa-1, respectively. An investigation was carried out to
show how, as the water layer height is varied in stratified flow,
the calculated water volume fraction from the homogeneous
model differs from the actual water volume fraction. The results are given in Table 1.
Production operation and reservoir management require
that metering accuracy in water volume fraction measurements

hw/D

mw from Eqn. 12

SoS from Eqn. 11 (m/s)

Calculated mw from Eqn. 10

Diff

0.00

0.00

1,304

0.00

0.000

0.10

0.05

1,322

0.13

0.082

0.20

0.14

1,341

0.26

0.115

0.30

0.25

1,361

0.37

0.118

0.40

0.37

1,381

0.48

0.103

0.50

0.50

1,402

0.58

0.076

0.60

0.63

1,423

0.67

0.044

0.70

0.75

1,445

0.76

0.011

0.80

0.86

1,468

0.84

-0.015

0.90

0.95

1,491

0.92

-0.025

1.00

1.00

1,515

1.00

0.000

Table
T 1. Expected errors in calculated water volume fraction using a homogeneous model for stratified flow

be within 0.10 in absolute difference (not using percentage error).

The results in Table 1 therefore are not completely unacceptable; there is a small region with water height between 0.2 and
0.4 where the error in the water volume fraction is above 0.10.
A similar analysis can be done for oil-water annulus flow,
another separated flow regime that occurs when production
involves heavy oil with water. Calculation here again shows
that the error is unacceptably large if the homogeneous model
is used to determine the water volume fraction.
Therefore, to be able to use the homogeneous model for
accurate determination of the water volume fraction, a flow
homogenizer, such as a Venturi device, should be added ahead
of the acoustic sensors.

TEST SETUP AND MEASUREMENT DATA

A university/industry collaborative project20 was undertaken
to develop a phase fraction meter based on ultrasound SoS
measurement. The meter is conceptually depicted in Fig. 2.
The ultrasound transmitter and receivers are arranged so
that the direction of the wave propagation is perpendicular to
the flow. The transmitter is designed with rugged materials and
operated to generate sound signals with a frequency of 500
KHz. The acoustic signals are detected by an array of receivers
made of piezoelectric materials, which are protected by a relatively thin metallic layer to avoid potential abrasion due to
solid particles. The time of flight measured with these receivers
are then averaged to calculate the ultrasound wave velocity. A
control system is designed to allow the voltage applied to the
transmitter to be adjusted automatically to ensure accurate
acoustic detection. Any systematic background noise can be
monitored and automatically subtracted from the data.
A prototype phase fraction meter was built and tested at an
established industry full-scale flow loop. The device was installed in the vertical configuration. The main body of the meter was made with a 4 pipe of 316 stainless steel having a

Fig. 2. Phase fraction meter.

wall thickness of .237. Diesel and water are used in the test
flow loop, and flow rates vary from 2,500 bpd to 8,000 bpd.
The test loop instrumentation provides the values for the water
cut and flow rates. The tests were conducted at an average
pressure of 200 psig and an average temperature of 40 C. At
this condition, the water density and adiabatic compressibility
calculated from 1,515 m/s SoS measured in water are
992 kg/m3 and 4.39 10-10 Pa-1, respectively, and the oil
density and adiabatic compressibility calculated from 1,304
m/s SoS measured in oil are 850 kg/m3 and 6.9187 10-10
Pa-1, respectively. There was no purposely designed homogenizer installed ahead of the flow meter.
Different combinations of water and diesel were used to
cover the full range of water volume fraction. The measured
SoS as a function of the water-phase volume fraction is shown
in Fig. 3. The calculated SoS based on the homogeneous
model, Eqn. 5, is also plotted in Fig. 3 for comparison.
As can be seen in Fig. 3, the experimental data on the SoS
matches very well with the homogeneous model prediction.
The purpose of phase fraction metering is to use the measured
SoS to determine the phase fraction. We used the homogeneous model and SoS measurements to calculate the water volume fraction from Eqn. 10. The results are presented in Fig. 4,
with lines indicating where the 5% errors fall relative to the
reference readings.
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Fig. 5. Intelligent multilateral well with full monitoring capability.

Fig. 3. SoS from the measurement and homogeneous model.

which is usually between 2 MHz to 20 MHz. The wavelength

was therefore larger, resulting in higher tolerance for the dispersed phase size needed for the homogeneous model to work.
To further ensure the applicability of the homogeneous
model for a wider range of flow conditions, for varied inclination angles and for different types of oil and brine, a homogenizer should be considered as a preconditioning device for the
flow meter. A Venturi pipe is an ideal tool for such a purpose.
A Venturi device can also be used to provide the total mass
and volume flow rate of the mixture. When those measurements are produced in combination with the phase fraction
SoS measurement, one has a complete metering solution. As
stated previously, this approach is particularly suitable for
downhole applications where the pressure is above the bubble
point and no gas is present. Figure 5 illustrates the metering
concept for an intelligent well designed for extreme reservoir
contact.

CONCLUSIONS
Fig. 4. Water volume fraction from the measurement and homogeneous model.
Each point corresponds to one experiment in the flow loop.

The phase fraction meter, based on the homogeneous model

prediction, gave a very accurate water volume fraction measurement as compared with the flow loop reference readings.
The absolute difference in the water volume fraction was
within 5%. This is better than the industry accuracy requirement in water volume fraction measurement.

DISCUSSION
The homogeneous model works very well for the flow loop
measurement data. The good performance can be attributed to
several factors. The device was installed in a vertical configuration in the flow loop, immediately after a 90 bend from horizontal. This bend promotes mixing of water and oil. The flow
rates vary from 2,500 bpd to 8,000 bpd, so the corresponding
mixture velocity in the 4 pipe is between 0.71 m/s to 2.3 m/s,
which is sufficiently high to create good mixing. In addition,
the frequency of the ultrasound used was 500 kHz. This is low
compared with frequencies typically used for medical imaging,
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Real-time measurement of oil, gas and water production from

a well is critical for optimizing well production and enhancing
field recovery. With the increased use of extreme reservoir contact wells, the need for multiphase flow metering has been
pushed from the surface downhole, requiring measurements at
the individual lateral or even the compartmental level. Today,
efforts are still underway in the industry to develop reliable,
compact multiphase flow metering devices with a full range of
capability for downhole applications.
This article reviews the use of acoustic-based SoS measurements for determining water volume fraction. A simple
physics-based, algebraic calculation method is presented that
provides accurate results for homogeneous oil-water flow
without resorting to any empirical correlation. A water volume
fraction can be calculated from the SoS measurement once the
density and adiabatic compressibility of the constituents of the
flow mixture are determined by lab measurement or modeling.
Flow loop test data showed good performance with this approach for a wide range of flow rates. The error in water volume fraction between the model and the flow loop reference

measurement was within 5% in absolute difference, exceeding

the accuracy required for production and reservoir management uses. The applicability of this model for stratified flow is
also examined. It is suggested that a Venturi device be used as
a preconditioning device ahead of the acoustic sensors for flow
homogenization and to provide total mass and volume flow
rates. The proposed approach is especially suitable for oil-water production without any gas present, conditions that are
prevalent downhole when the pressure is above the bubble
point pressure.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank the management of Saudi
Aramco for their support and permission to publish this article.

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BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Jinjiang Xiao is a Petroleum
Engineering Specialist working with
the Production Technology Team of
Saudi Aramcos Exploration and
Petroleum Engineering Center
Advanced Research Center (EXPEC
ARC). His interests are well
productivity improvement and water management.
Prior to joining Saudi Aramco in 2003, Jinjiang spent
10 years with Amoco and later BP-Amoco, working on
multiphase flow, flow assurance and deepwater production
engineering.
He received both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
Petroleum Engineering from the University of Tulsa, Tulsa,
OK.

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