Two-Phase Flow in Vertical Wells

Notes to Accompany
Week 5 LabVertical Two-Phase Flow

Multi-Phase Flow in Wells

(see also PPS Ch. 7, pp 184 onward)

Multiphase Flow in Wells

The simultaneous flow of 2 or

more phases will occur in
Almost all oil wells
Whenever the pressure drops
below the bubble point, gas will
evolve, and from that point to the
surface, 2-phase flow will occur

In many gas wells

Condensation may occur as a
result of the reduction of
pressure and temperature as
fluids flow up the well

Two-Phase Flow Is More Complicated Than

Single-Phase Flow
The phases tend to separate because of
differences in density
Shear stresses at the pipe wall are
different for each phase - different density
and viscosity
Expansion of the highly compressible gas
phase with decreasing pressure increases
the in situ volumetric flow rate of the gas

Two-Phase FlowMore Complicated

For upward flow, the less dense, more
compressible, less viscous gas phase tends
to flow at a higher velocity than the liquid
phase causing a phenomenon known as
slippage

Consider the 2-phase example to the right where

both and are flowing upwards
is less dense than and will move faster than
This phenomenon is called holdup that is, the
denser phase is held-up in the pipe relative to the
lighter phase
So, the volume of the denser phase in the pipe is
disproportionately greater than the volumetric flow
rate of the denser phase feeding into the pipe

Two-Phase Flow Regimes

The flow regime or flow pattern is a qualitative
description of the phase distribution
For gas-liquid, upward flow, 4 flow regimes are
generally agreed upon in the two-phase literature
Bubble, Slug, Churn, and Annular
These occur as a progression with increasing gas
rate for a given liquid rate

Slug and churn flow are sometimes combined in a flow pattern called
intermittent flow
Some investigators have named annular flow as mist or annular-mist
flow

Flow Regimes in Vertical, Upward Multiphase Flowing

Wells is a Qualitative description of the Phase
Distribution

Gas in the center

and liquid hugging or
climbing the walls

Increasing
Gas-Liquid Ratio

Intermittent Flow

Mist Flow

The flow regime in gasliquid, vertical flow can be

predicted with a flow
regime map a plot
relating flow regime to flow
rates of each phase, fluid
properties, and pipe size
The chart to the right is
from Govier and Azis and
shows these flow patterns
and the approximate
regions in which they occur
as functions of gas and
liquid velocities

A theoretical flow
regime map was
developed by Taitel,
Barnea, and Dukler
in 1980
This map identifies
5 flow regions,
again based on gas
and liquid velocities

Taitel-Dukler Flow Regime

Map (from PPS Fig. 7-11)

Bubble Flow
Dispersed bubbles of gas in a continuous
liquid phase

Slug Flow
At higher gas rates, the bubbles coalesce
into larger bubbles, called Taylor bubbles,
that eventually fill the entire pipe cross
section
Between the large gas bubbles are slugs
of liquid that contain smaller bubbles of
gas entrained in the liquid

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Churn Flow
With a further increase in gas rate, the
larger gas bubbles become unstable and
collapse, resulting in churn flow,
Churn flow is a chaotic flow of gas and
liquid in which the shape of both the Taylor
bubbles and the liquid slugs are distorted
It is a highly turbulent flow pattern
Churn flow is characterized by oscillatory,
up-and-down motions of the liquid
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Annular Flow
At higher rates, gas becomes the
continuous phase, with liquid flowing in an
annulus coating the surface of the pipe
and with liquid droplets entrained in the
gas phase

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Note Differences in Flow Regimes

in Horizontal Pipesgravity effects are
important (we will look at horizontal twophase flow in Week 6 Lab)

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Two-Phase Flow Models

There are many different correlations that
have been developed to calculate gasliquid pressure gradients, most of which
are empirically derived
Each correlation was likely derived for a
specific set of conditions, so no single
correlation will apply to all real-world cases
Become familiar with the assumptions
inherent to each correlation and which
correlation is best to use
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Two-Phase Flow Models

The table at the right

compares the relative
errors of 8 different 2phase flow
correlations for
different flow
conditions
VW = vertical wells
DW = deviated wells
VNH = vertical well
cases w/o Hagedorn
and Brown data
Etc.

In this table, the

smaller the relative
performance factor,
the more accurate is
the correlations

The different flow correlation models are in

the left column

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