Liquid Displacement Through Tube-Annular Transition Region Inside Oil Wells Available to Purchase

In this work, a numerical simulation of three adjacent fluids flowing through a tube followed by an annular axi-symmetric channel is performed. This analysis is motivated by the study of drilling and completion processes of oil wells, where a cement slurry pushes the drilling mud, used in the drilling process to lubricate the drill and to remove the produced drilling cuts. The completion process is perfect if all the drilling mud is removed, and if there is no contamination between the two fluids. To avoid contamination, a spacer fluid is usually inserted between them. Both drilling mud and cement slurry behave as non-Newtonian fluids, and the spacer fluid can be Newtonian or non-Newtonian. The analysis of flow and interface configuration between these fluids helps to determine contamination, and is an important tool for the process optimization. The numerical solution of the governing conservation equations is obtained with the Fluent software, using the finite volume technique and the volume of fluid method. The effects of rheological parameters and pumped volume of the spacer fluid are investigated. The results obtained show that the displacement is better when a more viscous spacer fluid is used. The results also shown zones of recirculation, where the drilling mud remains stagnant, decreasing the process efficiency.