The OPTION PhD project at DTU Mek is focused on the development of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models for the simulation of the flow in the near wellbore.
The project has four main objectives:
1. Prediction of particle transport and erosion
Particles in wells derived from the reservoir through rock failure or fines
movement, or from the drilling process, can influence the efficiency of well tool performance and lead to erosion detrimental to the well control objectives. Modeling of particles in the well in various phase applications has not yet been achieved. This task will be part of the PhD project, with particular attention of Welltec to the impact of solids plugging and erosion of well control devices.
2. Well unloading
When flow from the well is initiated, most oil and gas wells have an introduced fluid in the wellbore. The removal or unloading of that fluid can have an impact on the short and long term well performance. Current attempts to model the process of well start up and fluid unloading have not been rigorous. Developing of CFD models to fully represent all of the transient fluid dynamics and well geometry of this process are required in order to fully describe the well performance.
3. Coupling to 1D well models and multiphase flow
Reservoir and well inflow models are not well coupled with reservoir depth to surface well models. Coupling with well to surface models is to be developed in order to enable deep reservoir, near wellbore, well and well to surface fully covered in a single cohesive model. Currently CFD modeling of well flows is focused on single phase flow. However, when coupling to 1D well models, multiphase flow features are of key importance.
4. Reduced order model generation based on CFD models
Current computational restrictions may limit the ability to obtain a fully coupled extensive near wellbore, well, reservoir and well- to-surface-model. Reduced order models derived from the detailed coupled models may thus be required as an interim measure to enable the eventual full coupling.
Supervisor: Prof. Jens Honore Walther (jhw@mek.dtu.dk)
Co-supervisor: Kenny Krogh Nielsen (kenny.krogh-nielsen@lr.org)