Evaluation of T-junction Effects on Steam Network for Enhanced Oil Recovery Systems
[1]
Ahmed Mahrous Norelden, Department of Engineering Sciences, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez University, Suez, Egypt.
[2]
Ahmed Safwat Nafey, Department of Engineering Sciences, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez University, Suez, Egypt.
Wet steam injection networks are widely used in processes of Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery (TEOR). Two-phase wet steam with high quality is injected into the reservoir to expand the oil in-place, reduce oil viscosity, provide drive energy and thereby improve the displacement efficiency of injected fluid. Accordingly, it is required to design an improved steam network which has the ability to achieve good performance with low energy loss and high efficiency. Steam networks comprises of main streams and a set of branches. The steam quality is one of the main variables of the two-phase networks. Unfortunately, unequal splitting of the liquid and vapor phases may occur at (tee junction) distribution network therefore Individual wells thus receive non-uniform (or uneven) and unknown (or unpredictable) distribution of the steam liquid and vapor. Uneven liquid and vapor phase distribution results in poor displacement efficiency and volumetric sweep of the reservoir. Unknown liquid and vapor phase distributions leads to inefficient project management and increased operating expenses. Therefore, it is important to develop a models, simulations and methods to predict or control the qualities of the split streams in order to optimize of steam distribution system performance. In general, most program simulations do not take into account the Tee-junction effect on steam quality though neglecting it affects negatively the reliable evaluation of wells performance. This problem might lead to inaccurate performance of the process and the detriment of the wells production. The main objective of this research is to develop a computer program that simulates the behavior of a large reliable steam injection network based on Seeger and Chien models. The Seeger and Chien approach is used in this study as two accurate models to evaluate the steam distribution network for Issran oil Field. The work has done so that it comes out in form of simulation program using Mat Lab Graphical User Interface (GUI). A complete picture for the steam distribution network variables such as pressure, temperature and steam quality can be determined by using the developed program. In addition, the suggested program would enable other users to change the input parameters and visualize the results without going into the details of calculations.
Steam Distribution Network, T-Junction, Two-Phase Flow, EOR
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