Gas Lift Manual
Including ample illustrations to help the reader understand the text, this handy reference is essential to the practicing engineer needing to successfully perform this type of artificial lift project.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Gas Lift Manual
2.4: Single-phase Flow
2.4 Single-phase Flow
2.4.1 Introduction
In all phases of oil production, several different kinds of fluid flow problems are encountered. These involve vertical or inclined flow of a single-phase fluid or of a multiphase mixture in well tubing, as well as horizontal or inclined flow in flowlines. A special hydraulic problem is the calculation of the pressure exerted by the static gas column present in a well's annulus. All the problems mentioned require that the engineer be able to calculate the main parameters of the particular flow, especially the pressure drop involved.
In this section, basic theories and practical methods for solving single-phase pipe flow problems are covered that relate to the design and analysis of gas lifted wells. As all topics discussed have a common background in hydraulic theory, a general treatment of the basic hydraulic concepts is given first. This includes detailed definitions of and relevant equations for commonly used parameters of pipe flow.
2.4.2 Basic principles
The General Energy Equation
Most pipe flow problems in petroleum production operations involve the calculation of the pressure along the flow path. Pressure being one form of energy, its variation over pipe length can be found from an energy balance written between two points in the pipe. The General Energy Equation describes the conservation of energy and states that the change in energy content between two points of a flowing fluid is equal to the work done on the fluid minus any energy losses. From this basic principle, the change in...
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