HORIZONTAL WELL PERFORMANCE FLOW SIMULATION CFD-APPLICATION

TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATIONOF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

Ing.ZEBOUDJ Fayçal

Reservoir Engineer, SONATARCH -In Amenas Algeria

University Mentouri Constantine UMC-Algeria

PhD.BAHI Lakhdar

Professor PhD, university Mentouri Constantine UMC-Algeria

THEME

HORIZONTAL WELL PERFORMANCE FLOW SIMULATION

CFD-APPLICATION TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION

AND FARCTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

KEYWORDS

Horizontal well, CFD, Turbulence, Pressure loss, Perforation, Performance,

Drain, Completion.

SUMMARY

An understanding of flow along horizontal wells can be important for reservoir

management, specially: Tight and shale reservoir. As the completed length in such wells
is considerably larger than that in conventional vertical wells, the flow field inside the
wellbore can have a significant impact on the overall production characteristics of an oil
reservoir. Flow in a well-bore is different from conventional pipe flow due to the
presence of wall inflow (as in production wells) or outflow (as in injection wells), and
this affects the wall friction, acceleration, and flow patterns inside the pipe. To better
understand wellbore flow, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation has been
used. A significant advantage of such simulation, besides the fact that they could
potentially replace actual experiments, is that they offer a large amount of information on
the turbulent velocity and pressure fields. One of the applications of such information is
the development of new techniques in the perforation technology and fracturation of

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 HORIZONTAL WELL PERFORMANCE FLOW SIMULATION CFD-APPLICATION

TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

shale and tight reservoir, based upon FLUENT (a commercial CFD software)
simulations.

1- Introduction:
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can be described as the use of numerical
computing to produce information about the ways in which fluids flow in given
situations. CFD techniques have been widely applied in the aerospace, automobile and
defence sectors and numerous other industries where describing or simulating fluid flow
fields and properties are important. In this report we consider the application of CFD for
the description of flow in horizontal oil wells.

A horizontal well consists of a long perforated pipe (linear) into which fluid enters
through perforations in the wall. The pressure difference between the reservoir and the
wellbore liner determines the local production rate.

The pressure drop in the well liner is caused by a number of factors:

- The acceleration pressure gradient due to wall inflow or outflow.

- The pressure gradient due to inflow direction: Inflow may enhance

the axial flow if the inflow angle is less than 90 degrees, whereas it may hinder the axial
flow if the inflow angle is greater than 90 degrees.
However, under practical flow conditions, the inflow directional effect is negligible.

- The frictional pressure gradient.

- The gravitational pressure gradient (for inclined wellbores).

It has been observed that this pressure drop reduces the production as one move from the
production end (heel) towards the closed end (toe) of the well. Consequently there is
higher production in the heel region of the well as compared with the toe of the well. This
can sometimes lead to extreme results, like more than half the production from the first
quarter length of the well. Such phenomena reduce the productivity of the well, and
hence the flow fields and parameters which affect production in a horizontal well need to
be investigated and understood.

In this context, the most commonly used models are two equation models called k −
Epsilon models [8]. Such models have been extensively tested for industrial pipe flows
and other practical applications. These models use the assumption of isotropic turbulent
viscosity, even though this is not strictly consistent with the anisotropic nature of the
turbulent structure of the flow field. Still, as far as prediction of global parameters like
pressure drops is concerned, the two equation models have proven to be adequately
robust. If the details of the flow field are desired, these models could still be used with

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 HORIZONTAL WELL PERFORMANCE FLOW SIMULATION CFD-APPLICATION

TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

some modifications, but one would then probably need to use the full Reynolds Stress
models, albeit at a large increase in computational time.

2- Industrial context and application:

2-1 History of Horizontal well:
The idea of drilling Horizontal wells is very old, the first one has been drilled early in
1940, but it was very expensive. The development of new technology recently participate
in the use of non conventional drilling and specially Horizontal well, so it enhances
worldwide reserves by accessing difficult targets in the reservoir of Hydrocarbon.
2-2 Kind of Horizontal well:
- Vertical
- Slant
- Directional
- Horizontal
2.3 Why drill Horizontal Wells?
- Enhance productivity and injectivity of wells
- Reduce water and/or Gas coning problems
- Contact a larger reservoir volume
- Increase or accelerate oil recovery
- Delay breakthrough time
- Improve sweep efficiency
2.4 Horizontal well completion and perforation [12]:
The following are the four types of completion it exists in the industry application:

(a) Open Hole (b) Liner perforated

(c) Liner with casing (d) Casing cemented and perforated

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Figure 2.1 Horizontal well completion
 HORIZONTAL WELL PERFORMANCE FLOW SIMULATION CFD-APPLICATION

TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

Case study – Algeria Horizontal well completion:

The case (d), the horizontal drain has to be cemented and after that perforated or fractured
was chosen as the best completion in Algeria. This completion was a prototype for our
simulation study with some Hypothesis simplification to model the situation; it is to be
close to the reality mathematically and physically.
3 Hypothesis for mathematics modelling:
- 3D model, Cartesian coordinates
- Turbulent Flow, isothermal no heat exchange with environment
- Steady state, incompressible flow, single phase flow
3-1 Geometry model & problematic:
Radial influx

Shear friction
Velocity inlet

Gravity Pressure outlet

x

Fig.3-1 Horizontal well model configuration with fluid inflow or outflow through the
wellbore.

This configuration correspond to profile0 in our pressure loss study sensitivity, it is a

uniform radial inflow modelling.

Fig. 3.2- Horizontal well model configuration

for CFD modelling and 3D mesh

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TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

4- Wellbore pressure loss analysis:

If single phase wellbore flow is considered, for an incompressible Newtonian fluid

under isothermal conditions with no heat transfer to and from the fluid to the
environment, and if work done by the fluid during its passage through the pipe is
zero, the integral momentum balance equation takes the form [10]:

(4-1)

The above equation expresses the overall pressure drop in terms of three
components:

· The acceleration pressure gradient caused by kinetic energy changes in the

axial fluid due to wall inflow or outflow, change in the fluid density or
change in the pipe internal diameter. For an incompressible fluid with a
constant pipe inner diameter and no wall inflow/outflow, this term should be
zero.

· The frictional pressure gradient caused by shear stress at the pipe wall. This
depends both on axial flow as well as on inflow or outflow.

· The pressure gradient due to gravity. If the well is horizontal, then this term
is zero.

Effectively, the pressure gradient in a horizontal pipe with inflow is comprised

of the friction and the acceleration components. What is measured from
experiments and CFD simulations is the overall pressure drop in the pipe. Thus, the
friction component of the overall pressure drop must be extracted from the overall
pressure drop for the purpose of developing a correlation and distinct the different
kind of pressure loss [8]:

∆p Totale = ∆p accélération + ∆p frottement (4-2)

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TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

The acceleration term as stated in Eqn 4.1 involves a momentum correction factor
B, which can be expressed for an incompressible fluid as:

(4-3)
This correction term arises because average velocities are used to calculate the
momentum flux in Eqn 4.1 and these must be adjusted to account for the detailed
velocity p r o fi l e . To account for this difference, a momentum correction factor B is
introduced. The accurate calculation of B again depends on the precise calculation
of the integral in Eqn 4.3. The velocity p r o f i l e for turbulent flows is not well
d e f i ne d , although, for fully developed turbulent flows inside a pipe with no influx,
the velocity p r o f il e is quite flat, except near the wall. In such cases the value of B
can be assumed to be close to one. When the flow through perforations is present,
the jets impinging on the axial flow disturb the velocity distribution across the pipe
cross section and the value of B can no longer be assumed to be one, or even
constant, as the axial velocity itself is varying along the flow direction.

Any error in B would lead to a subsequent error in the acceleration pressure

drop (Eqn. 4.2), thereby resulting in an inaccurate frictional pressure drop. All the
correlations that have been derived from experimental measurements could poten-
tially s u f f e r from this shortcoming, given that they assume the value of B to be
one. CFD simulation, however, allows the calculation of the exact frictional
pressure drop by integration of shear stress over the entire pipe wall, thereb y
eliminating the need for making any assumptions regarding the value of B.

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 HORIZONTAL WELL PERFORMANCE FLOW SIMULATION CFD-APPLICATION

TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

5- Pressure loss quantification:

5-1 Numerical simulation results:

Re (10^3) friction factor ΔP-frottement ΔP-acceleration ΔP-total

140 0,0084 10,16 5 15,16
130 0,0085 8,64 4,18 12,83
120 0,0086 7,69 3,68 11,38
100 0,009 5,54 2,56 8,1
90 0,0092 4,4 1,99 6,39
80 0,0094 3,71 1,64 5,35
70 0,0096 3,07 1,33 4,4
60 0,0099 2,21 0,94 3,15
50 0,0109 1,6 0,65 2,25
40 0,0108 1,07 0,41 1,49

Tab 5-1 Pressure loss inside wellbore (drain)

ΔP-frottem e nt
100,00%
ΔP-acceleration
90,00%

80,00%
70,00%

60,00%

50,00%
40,00%

30,00%

20,00%
10,00%

0,00%

140 130 120 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 Re (10^3)

Fig 5-1 pressure drop vs Reynolds number

As it is shown in the above Histogram plot, 30% of pressure loss is according to

acceleration effect (perforation fluid penetration), the part of acceleration effect is very
important, so any correlation for the friction factor neglected this point has to be
reviewed.

The pressure loss due to shear friction factor is high and as it is seen it is 70 % of the total
pressure Drop, it is clear that this percentage remains relatively constant for the different
Reynolds number.

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TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

6- Fluid radial flow penetration simulation through fractures or perforation:

In this section we will consider different profile of fluid penetration through

perforation to the pipe (radial influx) or fractures of tight or shale reservoir, five models
will be mathematically modelled and simulated, in addition to the uniform profile0 see
Fig3-1.

Profil0 Profil1 Profil2 Profil3 profil4 profil5

ΔP-friction 0,720469 0,008408 0,695512 0,016949 0,695513 0,694921
ΔP- Total 0,984867 0,016172 0,756439 0,112718 0,756093 0,758257

Tab 6-1 simulation result for different profile

1
0,9
0,8
0,7
0,6
0,5 Δ P -frottement

0,4 Δ P -total
0,3
0,2
0,1
0
P rofil0 P rofil1 P rofil2 P rofil3 profil4 profil5

Fig 6-1 radial flow penetration sensitivity (pressure Drop)

As it show in the Histogram above, the best perforation configuration is the profile 1
and 2, the pressure loss is very low in the both cases and profile3 is the best one, profile 4
and 5 are similar and do not present much better situation than profile0.

The profile 0 is the worst one in term of pressure loss, therefore we conclude the
following: it is essential to perforate the drain partially and gradually from the middle to
the end of the drain. Perforating the total length of the drain has to be avoided, except
like profile3, the maximum entry is from the middle of the drain. Same conclusion is
applicable on fracturing possibility of tight and shale reservoir.

NB: For the configuration profiles see Apendice1 at the end of the paper.

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TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

7- Result Visualization:

Fig 7-1 Total pressure Fig 7-2 Static pressure

Fig 7-3 Turbulent Kinetic energy

Fig 7-4 Velocity Field

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TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

8- Conclusion and Recommendation:

At the end of this study, better performance in term of ‘well deliverability’ can be reached
following the result of the simulation and cost saving can be advised, since perforation is very
expansive. It was found that:

- Pressure loss due to acceleration ‘perforation’ is considerable and equal to 30 % of the

total pressure Drop. So, the correlation where pressure loss ‘radial inflow’ was
neglected is not acceptable and better correlation can be suggested in the future ;

- New configuration for perforation was proposed ( profile1&3) it helps saving

perforation cost, therefore ;

- The important point to focus on is: we have to develop new correlation for friction
factor f ;

- Other point that, new perforation are recommended based on the configuration profile1
and 3 ;

(See appendice1).

At the end we recommand in the future work to consider the following points:

- Multiphase flow ‘Gas-Oil-Water’

- Heat exchange with the rock ‘reservoir’

- Develop a new correlation which includes the number of perforation at the wall.

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TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

REFERENCES

[1] Ouyang, L., Arbabi, S. and Aziz, K. ‘’A Single-Phase Wellbore-Flow Model for
Horizontal, Vertical and Slanted Wells", SPE Journal, June 1998.

[2] Ouyang, L., et al. ‘’An Experimental Study of Single-Phase and Two-Phase Fluid
Flow in Horizontal Wells", SPE paper 46221, presented at the 1998 SPE Western
Regional Meeting, California, USA, 1998.

[3] Ouyang, L. Single Phase and Multiphase Fluid Flow in Horizontal Wells, PhD

Thesis, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Stanford University, California, USA,

1998.

[4] Aziz, K. and Ouyang, L. ‘’Steady State Gas Flow in Pipes", Journal of Petroleum
Science and Engineering, Vol. 14, pp. 137-158, 1996.

[5] Versteeg, H.K. and Malalasekera, W. An Introduction to Computational Fluid

Dynamics - the Finite Volume Method, Longman Scientific and Technical, Essex,
England, 1995.

[6] Shaw, C. T. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, Prentice Hall International (UK),
Hertfordshire, UK, 1992.

[7] Pnueli, D. and Gut_nger, C. Fluid Mechanics, Cambridge University

Press,Cambridge, UK, 1992.

[8] Schlichting, H. Boundary Layer Theory, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Taiwan,

1979.

[9] Schulkes, R- Modelling Flow Characteristics in a Horizontal Well, FLUENT Users

Conference, London, May 1996.

[10] Hozef arif, R- Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFDLIB) to the

Modelling of Flow in Horizontal Well, Master of Science Thesis, Stanford University,
Jun 1999.

[11] Dikkek, BJ. Pressure Drop in Horizontal Wells and Its Effect on production
performance,’ JPT (Nov.1990) 29.

[12] S. D. Joshi-Horizontal Well Technology, Students Book

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TO MODEL NEW PEROFORATION AND FRACTURATION OF TIGHT AND SHALE RESRVOIR

Apendice1:

Radial inflow modelling:

Through this section we will present the different configurations of radial flow penetration
through perforation (mathematics modelling used in the simulation). The pressure loss was
calculated; to advice and to answer the question of what kind of perforation is adequate for a
better well performance.
Radial influx

Inlet
Outlet
Gravity

Full penetration (triangular symmetric)

profile1

Radial influx Radial influx

Inlet outlet Inlet Outlet

Gravity Gravity

Semi uniform radial influx- profile5 Semi uniform radial influx- profile4

Radial influx
Radial influx

Inlet Outlet

Inlet Outle Gravity

Gravit x

Full perforation triangular penetration Full perforation triangular penetration

Profile2 profile3

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