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TUALP Abstract
 

Datong Sun (Doctor of Philosophy in Petroleum Engineering)
Modeling Gas-Liquid Head Performance of Electrical Submersible Pumps
Directed by Dr. Mauricio Prado
(291 words)

The objectives of this study are to develop a simple and accurate theoretical model and to implement the model into a computational tool to predict Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESP) head performance under two-phase flow conditions.

A new two-phase model including a set of one-dimensional mass and momentum balance equations was developed. The derived gas-liquid momentum equations along pump channels has improved Sachdeva (1992, 1994)’s model in petroleum industry and generalized Minemura (1998)’s model in nuclear industry. The resulting pressure Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) for frictionless incompressible single-phase flow is consistent with the pump Euler equation. In the two-phase momentum equations, new models for wall frictional losses for each phase, through using gas- liquid stratified assumption and existing correlations for impeller rotating effect, channel curvature effect, and channel cross section effect, have been proposed. New equations for radius of curvature along ESP channels, used in the curvature effect calculation, have been derived. A new shock loss model incorporating rotational speeds has been developed. A new correlation for drag coefficient and interfacial characteristic length effects has been obtained through fitting the model results with experimental data. An algorithm to solve the model equations has been developed and implemented. The model predicts pressure and void fraction distributions along impellers and diffusers and can also be used to predict the pump head performance curve under different fluid properties, pump intake conditions, and rotational speeds.

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Last updated September 04, 2012