Coupled Analysis Using 3D-CFD and Chemical Model for Corrosion and Scaling of Two Phase Flow Wellbore/pipeline

Abstract

Coupled analysis using three dimensional CFD (computed Fluid Dynamics) simulation model by the open source CFD code “OpenFOAM” with parallel computing and a wellbore chemical simulator “WellCHEM” (White et al, 2000) demonstrated the fact that could calculate two phase flow and chemical phenomena including corrosion and scaling of geothermal production wells and surface pipelines. This paper aims to discuss recent attempts of comparison between computed models and field data to predict the corrosion and scaling problems of geothermal production wells and pipelines. An acidic production well or a corroded horizontal pipeline with rising gradient was modeled by coupled analysis using 3D-CFD and “WellCHEM” in this paper. It was confirmed that domain of the steam with the moisture with the concentration of the chemical ingredient in wellbore casing/pipeline was changed by various flow conditions of geothermal fluid. This research was conducted under NEDO’s contract research - “Research and Development of Geothermal Power Generation Technology”.