The Impact of Varying Wellbore Area on Flow Simulation
- Key words
- geothermal wellbore simulation, varying area, conservation equations, averaging
- Conference
- Stanford Geothermal Workshop
- Year
- 2013
- Session
- Reservoir Engineering
- Language
- English
- Paper number
- Mcguinness
Full text
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Abstract
Geothermal wellbore simulation involves solving coupled equations that express the conservation of mass, momentum and energy, for single or two-phase flow within the well. The usual derivation of the momentum flux term in the momentum equation assumes constant cross-sectional area, and is incorrect across changes in casing size. The correct cross-section averaging is reviewed, and it is shown that the momentum flux divergence is approximately a factor of two in error, if the constant area form is used. The effect of this error on simulated down-hole values and on simulated output curves is briefly examined.
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