Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2023
27th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Non-Newtonian flow displacement in well operations
Submission Author:
Monica Naccache , RJ , Brazil
Co-Authors:
Debora Cristina Ferreira Da Silva, Monica Naccache, Victor Nogueira Lima, Hans Joakim Skadsem
Presenter: Paulo Roberto de Souza Mendes
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2023.COB2023-0273
Abstract
Several oil industry operations, such as well plugging and abandonment, cementing operations, and restarting flows of gelled pipes, use the displacement of one fluid by another in annular tubes. There are many variables that can affect the displacement efficiency, namely the rheological behavior of the fluids, the viscosity and density ratios, and the well geometry. The interaction of these parameters can lead to instabilities at the interface between fluids that will result in inefficient flow displacement processes. In these circumstances, an effective procedure is required to prevent issues that could result in dangers and significant financial losses. In this work we present experimental results of the displacement efficiency through an annular tube. The analysis is done for low Reynolds numbers, with a Newtonian (water) fluid being displaced by a non-Newtonian (xanthan gum solution) one, to simulate a plug & abandonment operation. The experimental study is done using a test rig that consist of a steel tubing and a transparent casing with diameters that reflect a real-case scenario. We use two different inclinations and analyze concentric and eccentric situations. To determine the impact of the parameters on the displacement efficiency, a flow visualization is carried out at the experimental rig along with an evaluation of the interface instability.
Keywords
plug and abandonment, Non-Newntonian flow, displacement efficiency
