Li Ao, Guo Haimin, Niu Yue, Lu Xin, Zhang Yiran, Liang Haoxun, Sun Yongtuo, Guo Yuqing, Wang Dudu
College of Geophysics and Petroleum Resources, Yangtze University, Wuhan 430100, China.
Key Laboratory of Exploration Technology for Oil and Gas Resources of Ministry of Education, Yangtze University, Wuhan 430100, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Nov 14;24(22):7285. doi: 10.3390/s24227285.
The flow dynamics of low-yield horizontal wells demonstrate considerable complexity and unpredictability, chiefly attributable to the structural attributes of the wellbore and the interplay of gas-water two-phase flow. In horizontal wellbores, precisely predicting flow patterns using conventional approaches is often problematic. Consequently, accurate monitoring and analysis of water holdup in gas-water two-phase flows are essential. This study performs a gas-water two-phase flow simulation experiment under diverse total flow and water cut conditions, utilizing air and tap water to represent downhole gas and formation water, respectively. The experiment relies on the measurement principles of an array fiber holdup meter (GAT) and the response characteristics of the sensors. In the experiment, GAT was utilized for real-time water holdup measurement, and the acquired sensor data were analyzed using three interpolation algorithms: simple linear interpolation, inverse distance weighted interpolation, and Gaussian radial basis function interpolation. The results were subsequently post-processed and visualized with 2020 version MATLAB software, generating two-dimensional representations of water holdup in the wellbore. The study findings demonstrate that, at total flow of 300 m/d and 500 m/d, the simple linear interpolation approach yields superior accuracy in water holdup calculations, with imaging outcomes closely aligning with the actual gas-water flow patterns and the authentic gas-water distribution. As total flow and water cut increase, the gas-water two-phase flow progressively shifts from stratified smooth flow to stratified wavy flow. In this paper, the Gaussian radial basis function and inverse distance weighted interpolation algorithms exhibit superior accuracy in water holdup calculations, effectively representing the fluctuating features of the gas-water interface and yielding imaging outcomes that align more closely with experimentally observed gas-water flow patterns.
低产水平井的流动动力学表现出相当大的复杂性和不可预测性，主要归因于井筒的结构特性以及气水两相流的相互作用。在水平井筒中，使用传统方法精确预测流型往往存在问题。因此，准确监测和分析气水两相流中的持水率至关重要。本研究分别利用空气和自来水代表井下气体和地层水，在不同的总流量和含水率条件下进行了气水两相流模拟实验。该实验基于阵列光纤持水率计（GAT）的测量原理和传感器的响应特性。实验中，利用GAT进行实时持水率测量，并使用简单线性插值、反距离加权插值和高斯径向基函数插值三种插值算法对采集到的传感器数据进行分析。随后，利用2020版MATLAB软件对结果进行后处理和可视化，生成井筒持水率的二维表示。研究结果表明，在总流量为300 m/d和500 m/d时，简单线性插值方法在持水率计算中具有更高的精度，成像结果与实际气水流型和气水分布紧密吻合。随着总流量和含水率的增加，气水两相流逐渐从分层平滑流转变为分层波浪流。在本文中，高斯径向基函数和反距离加权插值算法在持水率计算中表现出更高的精度，有效地体现了气水界面的波动特征，成像结果与实验观察到的气水流型更紧密地吻合。
