Gas Production III

Gas and Liquid Flow

Nov. 22
 Wellbore Flow Lectures
1. Bottomhole Static Pressure
2. Bottomhole Flowing Pressure
3. Gas and Liquid Flow YOU ARE HERE
4. Liquid Management in Gas Wells

2
 Gas and Liquid Flow
• Sources of liquids in gas wells
• Liquid lifting velocity
• Numeric examples
• As always, some minor complications

3
 Sources of Liquids in Gas Wells
• Reservoir (initially, or as pressure decreases)
– Retrograde hydrocarbon fluid condensation
– Condensation of water vapor
– Reservoir water
• “coning”
• aquifer influx
• mobile formation water (often associated with high Sw)
• Wellbore (as pressure, temperature decrease)
– Condensation of water vapor
– Condensation of hydrocarbon components (“wet” gas)

4
 Liquid Lifting Velocity
• Liquid droplet model
• Development of equations
• Drag coefficient
• Droplet diameter
• Interfacial tension

5
 Liquid Lifting Velocity - Droplet Model

based on Turner’s M.Sc. thesis

at University of Houston, 1967

SPE 2198, 1969 6

Liquid Lifting Velocity - Droplet Model

Fb

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Liquid Lifting Velocity - Equations
To determine the minimum liquid lifting velocity (or terminal
velocity), vt, of a liquid droplet (particle) in an upward flowing
gas stream, assume the balance of forces acting on the droplet is:

FD  Fg  Fb

The gravity force (acting on the liquid droplet) is:

3
4 d  3
Fg  ml g  lVl g  l    g  l d g
3 2 6
The buoyancy force (equal to the mass of gas displaced by the
liquid droplet) is:
3
4 d  3
Fb  mg g   gVl g   g    g   g d g
3 2 6 In most cases this is small

8
The coefficient of drag on a body in a flowstream is defined as:
FD
CD = drag force
1
r g v t2 A dynamic head
2
where vt is terminal (minimum) gas velocity
A is cross-sectional area of liquid droplet
FD is drag force
p 2
Since a sphere has circular cross section, A = 4 d , and we can
obtain drag force as,
1 1 2 p p
FD = CD r g v t A = CD rg v t d = CD rg v t2 d 2
2 2

2 2 4 8
 
(more on CD later)
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Now combining the equations,
FD  Fg  Fb

   
CD  g vt2 d 2  l d 3 g   g d 3 g  d 3 ( l   g ) g
8 6 6 6

Solving for the terminal velocity:

p 3 4
d ( r l - rg )g d( rl - rg )g
v t2 = 6 =3
p CD rg
CD rg d 2
8
…but how do we determine CD?

10
Sphere Drag Coefficient, CD

r vd
=
m

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 Sphere Drag Coefficient, CD
The Reynolds number for a spherical droplet in a gas stream,
d p vg  g
Re  Now d is droplet diameter.
g

may be used to define three distinct drag “regions” as follows:

24 g
CD  24 /Re 
Stokes Law region (Re <1): d pv g g
- Sand particles in heavy oil
0.625
Transition Region (1<R <1000):
e
C D  30Re

Fully Turbulent Region (1000<Re<200,000): CD  0.44


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 Sphere Drag Coefficient, CD
In the Stokes law region, a solution may be obtained by
substituting the expression for CD into the previous equation
for terminal velocity, giving:

vt 
2
4d  l   g g

4d  l   g g 
dv


t g


d 2
 l   g v t g
3CD  g 3 g 24 g  18g

Finally, dividing by velocity, v:

vt 
2
d 2
 l   g v t g
vt 
d 2
 l   g g
18g 18g

for the Stokes law region only. This equation is applicable to

sand particles suspended in viscous oil flow. But what about
high speed flow? And how can we determine d?
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 The Weber Number
Moving droplets are subject to two forces, which try to change
their shape:

- surface tension force (tending to keep droplet intact): s /d

- inertial force of the flow stream (tending to breakup the droplet):
v 2r g

The droplet is stable when these forces are balanced; a

dimensionless ratio of the two forces is called the Weber number:
v 2 rg d
NWe =
s
By experiment it was found that for droplet stability, NWe = 30

14
 Droplet Diameter
Therefore the maximum droplet diameter is defined as:
30
dm 
 g vt2

Substituting into the expression for minimum (terminal) velocity

(in consistent units):
4 é 30s ù
4
d( r l - rg )g 3 êr v 2 ú( rl - rg )g 40s (r - r )g
ë g tû
v t2 = 3 = = l g

CD rg CD rg CD rg2v t2
4 40s (rl - rg )g
v =
CD rg2
t

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 Droplet Diameter
For a solution in SI, we can let g = 9.807 m/s 2, which yields,
1/4
é
1/4 s ( r l - r g )
ù
v t = (4 0 ´ 9 .8 0 7 ) ê ú
ë C D rg û
2

é s ( r - r ) ù1 / 4
l g
= 4 .4 5 ê 2 ú
ë C D g û

… but what is ?

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 Interfacial (Surface) Tension, 
• the imbalance of molecular forces at the
interface of two different fluids
• liquid molecules are more strongly attracted
from within the liquid than from the gas
• causes liquid to adopt a minimum surface
area (i.e. a spherical droplet)
• expressed in units of force per length (e.g.
dyne/cm)
1 dyne = 10-5 N

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Interfacial (Surface) Tension

18
 IFT of Pure Substances
Note: This is the
IFT between the
liquid and vapor
phase of the same
substance; i.e. it
applies only along
saturation line of the
substance

Approximations
(Turner, 1969)
gas-condensate:
 = 20 dyne/cm

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Approximations (Turner, 1969)
gas-water:  = 60 dyne/cm

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21
The minimum liquid lifting velocity, in practical oilfield or SI units
is:
 (    ) 1/ 4
v t  K l
 C  2 
g

1 dyne/cm = 0.001 N/m
 D g  = 2.20510-3 lbm/s2
where,
K is 1.298 (oilfield), 0.7914 (SI)
 is surface tension, dynes/cm (oilfield and SI)
l is liquid density, lbm/ft3 or kg/m3
g is gas density, lbm/ft3 or kg/m3
vt is minimum liquid lifting velocity, ft/s or m/s

The drag coefficient of the liquid particle has been left in.

22
In the technical literature, it is more common to see the droplet
drag coefficient absorbed into the coefficient of the equation, with
the assumption that CD = 0.44. This gives:

æ s ( r - r ) ö1 / 4 1 dyne/cm = 0.001 N/m

l g
v t = K çç ÷÷ = 2.20510-3 lb/s2
è rg2
ø

where,
K is 1.593 (oilfield) or 1.912 (oilfield with +20% adjustment)
0.9717 (SI)
is surface tension, dynes/cm (oilfield and SI)
3 3
l is liquid density, lbm/ft or kg/m
3 3
g is gas density, lbm/ft or kg/m
vt is minimum liquid lifting velocity, ft/s or m/s
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Example Problem 11.1 (Oilfield Units)
Find the minimum flow rate to lift water from a gas well under
the following wellhead conditions:
g = 0.62
Ttf = 100°F
ptf = 250 psia
d = 2.441 inches
l = 62.4 lb/ft3
 = 68 dyne/cm
z = 0.9

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 Example Problem 11.2 (SI Units)
Find the minimum flow rate to lift water from a gas well under
the following wellhead conditions:
g = 0.75
Ttf = 320°K
ptf = 14,000 kPa
d = 62.68mm
l = 1000 kg/m3
 = 58 dyne/cm

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 Some Minor Complications
• Drag coefficient, CD
– Assumption of 0.44 only applies to limited range for
fully developed turbulent flow
– CD is for hard, smooth spheres, but water droplets may
be: distorted, roughened, or spinning in flow stream
• g is a function of pressure
– can be evaluated easily @ wellhead since those
conditions are usually known
– at bottom of tubing, gas density is different, resulting in
different min flow rate
• Velocity distribution in pipe not the same as
average velocity
– Droplet size may be different depending on velocity it
experiences
• Liquid droplet model: is it the right one?
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Example Solution 11.1 (Oilfield Units)
Find the minimum flow rate to lift water from a gas well under the
following wellhead conditions:
g = 0.62
Ttf = 100°F
ptf = 250 psia
d = 2.441 inches

• Calculate gas density at wellhead conditions (take z as 0.9 to save

time)
pM (2 5 0 p s ia ) (0 .6 2 ´ 2 8 .9 6 lb / lb - m o le ) 3
rg = = = 0 . 8 3 l b / f t
zR T p s ia - ft 3
( 0 .9 ) (1 0 . 7 3 2 ) (1 0 0 + 4 6 0 ) R
lb - m o le - R

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• Liquid density
l = 62.4 lb/ft3
• Interfacial tension
 = 68 dyne/cm
• Calculate terminal velocity, vt
 (    ) 1/ 4 68(62.4  0.83)
1/ 4

v t  1.593

l g

  1.593 
  g 
2
 (0.83 ) 2

 14.07 ft /s

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• Express in standard volumes
q =vA
2
æ
p 2 p 2 .4 4 1 in c h e s ö 2
A = d = ç ÷ = 0 . 0 3 2 5 f t
4 4 è1 2 i n c h e s / f t ø
q = v A = 1 4 .0 7 ft / s ´ 0 .0 3 2 5 ft 2 = 0 .4 5 7 ft 3 / s
p sq s p q
=
Ts zT
1 pTs 1 (2 5 0 )(4 6 0 + 6 0 )
qs = q = (0 .4 5 7 )
z p sT 0 . 9 (1 4 . 7 ) ( 4 6 0 + 1 0 0 )
= 8 .0 2 ft 3 / s ´ 8 6 4 0 0 s / d = 6 9 3 m s c fd

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 Example Solution 11.2 (SI Units)
Find the minimum flow rate to lift water from a gas well under
the following wellhead conditions:
g = 0.75
Ttf = 320°K
ptf = 14,000 kPa
d = 62.68mm

1. Calculate pseudocritical properties (thanks, Mr. Sutton):

Tpc  94  194.2 g  41.1 g2  94  194.2(0.75)  41.1(0.75) 2  216.5 K
p pc  5218.1  903.2 g  24.8 g2  5218.1  903.2(0.75)  24.8(0.75)2
 4526.8kPa

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• Determine z-factor at wellhead conditions (using Dranchuk
Abou-Kassem correlation):
æT P tf ö æ 3 2 0 1 4 0 0 0 ö
tf
z = z ( T r , p r ) = z çç , ÷÷ = z ç , ÷= z (1 .4 8 , 3 .0 9 ) = 0 .7 6 2 4
è T pc p pc ø è2 1 6 .5 4 5 2 6 .8 ø

• Calculate gas density at wellhead:

pM p g g M a i r (1 4 0 0 0 ) ( 0 . 7 5 ) ( 2 8 . 9 6 ) 3
rg = = = =1 5 0 kg /m
zR T zR T ( 0 .7 6 2 4 ) ( 8 .3 1 4 ) ( 3 2 0 )

• Determine water density (assume):

r l =1 0 0 0 kg /m 3

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• Determine interfacial tension (from Chart on slide #21):
s gw =s gw (Twf ,Pwf ) =s gw (320°K,14000kPa)
=s gw (116°F,2030 psi) =58dyne /cm

• Calculate terminal (minimum lifting velocity):

æs ( r - r ) ö1/ 4 æ58(1000 - 150) ö
1/ 4
l g
v t =0.791çç ÷
÷ =0.791ç 2 ÷
è CD rg ø
2
è (0.44)(150) ø
=1.18m /s

NOTE: Sphere Reynolds number should be evaluated to confirm

assumption of drag coefficient, CD

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To calculate sphere Reynolds number, we first need the diameter
of the droplet. Recall that the Weber number gives:
30
d
 g v2

We have already calculated these parameters. Noting that

1 dyne/cm = 0.001kg/s2, we have (in consistent units):

d
30

 30  (58dyne / cm) 
0.001
kg / s 2 
2  
gv 2
 150kg / m   1.18m / s  
3
dyne / cm 

d  8.33 103 m  8.33mm

Now the sphere Reynolds number:

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 d lv g r g
Re =
mg

Wait, we didn’t calculate gas viscosity. Quickly using our Lee et

al correlation, we obtain:
m g = 1 8 5 m P = 1 .8 5 ´ 1 0 - 5 P a - s = 1 .8 5 ´ 1 0 - 5 k g / m - s
-3 3

\ Re =
d lv g r g
=
(8 .3 3 ´ 1 0 m ) (1 . 1 8 m / s ) (1 5 0 k g / m ) @ 8 0,0 0 0
-5
m g 1 .8 5 ´ 1 0 kg /m - s

From our curve, at Re=80,000 the drag coefficient CD=0.44, very

close to our assumed value. Therefore the calculation is valid.
If CD did not match, an updated value would need to be entered
and vt recalculated.
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 • Finally, express in standard volumes
q =vA
2
p æ
p 6 2 .6 8 m m ö
A = d2 = ç ÷ = 0 .0 0 3 0 8 6 m
2

4 4 è1 0 0 0 m m / m ø
2 3
q = v A = 1 .1 8 1 m / s ´ 0 .0 0 3 0 8 6 m = 0 .0 0 3 6 5 m /s
p sq s p q
=
Ts zT
1 pTs 1 (1 4 0 0 0 ) (2 7 3 . 1 5 + 1 5 )
qs = q = ( 0 .0 0 3 6 5 )
z p sT 0 .7 6 2 4 (1 0 1 . 3 2 5 ) ( 3 2 0 )
3
= 0 .5 9 6 S m / s ´ 8 6 4 0 0 s / d = 5 1, 4 6 0 S m 3 / d

Note: a similar calculation can determine the minimum lifting rate

at bottomhole conditions.
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