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TUALP Abstract
 

Damir Bertovic (Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering)
A Unified Model for Gas-Lift Valve Performance Incorporating Temperature Effects
(237 pp. - Five Chapters)
Directed by Dr. Dale Doty and Dr. Zelimir Schmidt
(168 words)

This study investigates the influence of different temperature distributions along a gas lift valve on its bellows temperature. A simple-desk top facility was designed and built, and experimental tests were conducted on the Cameo BK- 1 1" IPO gas-lift valve. A simple temperature model was developed to predict the bellows temperature.

The flow performance of the McMurry JR-STDN 1", IPO gas lift valve was tested with all available port sizes, and three distinct flow patterns were observed: throttling, transient and orifice flow. Existing TUALP flow performance models were evaluated with the data acquired from the experimental tests, for orifice and throttling flow.

A new model was developed, in order to unify all three flow performance regions, and to predict the volumetric flow rate through a gas-lift valve under all operational conditions. The new model's ability to predict flow rates was tested using the flow performance data from the McMurry JR-STDN gas-lift valve. The new model proved to be superior to existing models.

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Last updated September 04, 2012