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Advances in Understanding the Scaling Potential for Thermal Wells: A Mechanistic Study

Authors: Hossein Izadi, Javad Sadri, Fateme Hormozzade, Vahidoddin Fattahpour

Intelligent mineral segmentation in thin section images of rocks still remains a challenging task in modern computational mineralogy. The objective of the paper is segmenting minerals in geological thin section’s images with special attention on altered mineral segmentation. In this paper, an efficient incremental-dynamic clustering algorithm is developed for segmentation of minerals in thin sections containing altered and non-altered minerals. In the clustering algorithm, there is no need for determining the number of clusters (minerals) existed in thin section images, and also it is able to deal with color changing and non-evident boundaries in altered minerals. We have solved two main existing limitations: segmentation of mineral pixels that are frequently labeled as background pixels, and segmentation of thin sections containing altered minerals. Moreover, we created an open database (Alborz Mineralogical Database), as a benchmark database in computational geosciences regarding image studies of mineral. The proposed method is validated based on the results provided by the segmentation maps, and experimental results indicate that the proposed method is very efficient and outperforms previous segmentation methods for altered minerals in thin section images. The proposed method can be applied in mining engineering, rock mechanics engineering, geotechnique engineering, mineralogy, petrography, and applications such as NASA’s Mars Rover Explorations (MRE).

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A set of graphical design criteria for slotted liners in steam assisted gravity drainage production wells

Authors: Chenxi Wang, Yu Pang, Mahdi Mahmoudi, Mohammad Haftani, Mahmoud Salimi, Vahidoddin Fattahpour, Alireza Nouri

Slotted liners have been widely used in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) wells owing to their low cost and superior mechanical integrity. Multiple factors affect the performance of slotted liners, such as particle size distribution (PSD) of formation sands, aperture size, slot density, fluid flow rate, and wellbore operational conditions. Currently, most of the existing design criteria formulate the lower and upper bounds of the aperture based on one or several points on the particle size distribution curve of oil sands. Most of these design criteria neglect the slot density, wellbore operational conditions, and shape of PSD curve.

This study carries out a series of large-scale pre-pack sand retention tests (SRT) in step rates. The aim is to investigate the impacts of aperture size, slot density, and fluid flow rate on the slotted liner performance. Comprehensive design criteria for determining the safe aperture window are presented to maintain the sanding and the wellbore plugging of the zone near the slotted liners within an acceptable level. Sand production governs the upper bound of the aperture size, and flow performance guides the lower bound of the aperture size. The new criteria are presented graphically to illustrate the optimal slot window as a function of the sand PSD, slot density, and fluid flow rate. The results of separate tests are used to demonstrate the performance of the new design criteria. The optimal slot window obtained via the new design criteria guides the slot liner selection in the SAGD process.

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Effect of Slot Width and Density on Slotted Liner Performance in SAGD Operations

Authors: Yujia Guo, Alireza Nouri, and Siavash Nejadi

Sand production from a poorly consolidated reservoir could give rise to some severe problems during production. Holding the load bearing solids in place is the main goal of any sand control technique. The only sand control techniques that have found applications in steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) are some of the mechanical methods, including wire wrapped screens, slotted liners and more recently, punched screens. Slotted liner is one of the most effective mechanical sand control methods in the unconsolidated reservoir exploitation, which has proven to be the preferred sand control method in the SAGD operations. The main advantage of the slotted liners that makes them suitable for SAGD operations is their superior mechanical integrity for the completion of long horizontal wells. This study is an attempt to increase the existing understanding of the fines migration, sand production, and plugging tendency for slotted liners by using a novel large-scale scaled completion test (SCT) facility. A triaxial cell assembly was used to load sand-packs with specified and controlled grain size distribution, shape and mineralogy, on multi-slot sand control coupons. Different stress levels were applied parallel and perpendicular to different combinations of slot width and density in multi-slot coupons, while brine was injected from the top of the sand-pack towards the coupon. At each stress level, the mass of produced sand was measured, and the pressure drops along the sand-pack and coupon were recorded. Fines migration was also investigated by measuring fines/clay concentration along the sand-pack. The current study employed multi-slot coupons to investigate flow interactions among slots and its effect on the flow performance of liner under typically encountered stresses in SAGD wells. According to the experimental observations, increasing slot width generally reduces the possibility of pore plugging caused by fines migration. However, there is a limit for slot aperture beyond which the plugging is not reduced any further, and only a higher level of sanding occurs. Test measurements also indicated that besides the slot width, the slot density also influences the level of plugging and sand production and must be included in the design criteria.

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Coupled Hydraulic Fracture and Proppant Transport Simulation

Authors: Morteza Roostaei, Alireza Nouri, Vahidoddin Fattahpour and Dave Chan

This paper focuses on the study of proppant transport mechanisms in fractures during frac-packing operation. A multi-module, numerical proppant, reservoir and geomechanics simulator has been developed, which improves the current numerical modeling techniques for proppant transport. The modules are linked together and tailored to capture the processes and mechanisms that are significant in frac-pack operations. The proposed approach takes advantage of a robust and sophisticated numerical smeared fracture simulator and incorporates an in-house proppant transport module to calculate propped fracture dimensions and concentration distribution. In the development of software capability, the propped fracture geometry and proppant concentration, which are the output of the proppant module, are imported to the hydraulic fracture simulator through mobility modification. Complex issues of proppant transport in fractures that are addressed in the literature and captured by the current model are: hindered settling velocity (terminal velocity of proppant in the injection fluid), the effect of fracture walls, proppant concentration and inertia on settling (due to extra drag forces applied on particles, compared to single-particle motion in Stokes regime in unbounded medium), possible propped fracture porosity and also mobility change due to the presence of proppant, and fracture closure or extension during proppant injection. A sensitivity analysis is conducted using realistic parameters to provide guidelines that allow more accurate predictions of the proppant concentration and fluid flow. The main objective of this study is to link a numerical hydraulic fracture model to a proppant transport model to study the fracturing response and proppant distribution and to investigate the effect of proppant injection on fracture propagation and fracture dimensions.

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Experimental Correlations for the Performance and Aperture Selection of Wire-Wrapped Screens in Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage Production Wells

Authors: Jesus David Montero Pallares (University of Alberta) | Chenxi Wang (University of Alberta) | Mohammad Haftani (University of Alberta) | Alireza Nouri (University of Alberta)

Wire-wrapped screens (WWSs) are one of the most-commonly used devices by steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) operators because of the capacity to control plugging and improve flow performance. WWSs offer high open-to-flow area (OFA) (6 to 18%) that allow a high release of fines, hence, less pore plugging and accumulation at the near-screen zone. Over the years, several criteria have been proposed for the selection of aperture sizes on the basis of different industrial contexts and laboratory experiments. Generally, existing aperture-sizing recommendations include only a single point of the particle-size distribution (PSD). Operators and academics rely on sand-control testing to evaluate the performance of sand-control devices (SCDs). Scaled laboratory testing provides a straightforward tool to understand the role of flow rate, flowing phases, fluid properties, stresses, and screen specifications on sand retention and flow impairment.

This study employs large-scale prepacked sand-retention tests (SRTs) to experimentally assess the performance of WWSs under variable single-phase and multiphase conditions. The experimental results and parametric trends are used to formulate a set of empirical equations that describe the response of the WWS. Several PSD classes with various fines content and particle size are tested to evaluate a broad range of PSDs. Operational procedures include the coinjection of gas, brine, and oil to emulate aggressive conditions during steam-breakthrough events.

The experimental investigation leads to the formulation of predictive correlations. Additional PSDs were prepared to verify the adequacy of the proposed equations. The results show that sanding modes are both flow-rate and flowing-phase dependent. Moreover, the severity or intensity of producing sand is greatly influenced by the ratio of grain size to aperture size and the ability to form stable bridges. During gas and multiphase flow, a dramatic amount of sanding was observed for wider apertures caused by high multiphase flow velocities. However, liquid stages displayed less-intense transient behaviors. Remarkably, WWSs rendered an excellent flow performance even for low-quality sands and narrow apertures. Although further and more complete testing is required, empirical correlations showed good agreement with experimental results.

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Experimental and analytical investigation of meso-scale slug bubble dynamics in a square capillary channel

Authors:

The flow of dispersed gas bubbles in a viscous liquid can create a bubbly, slug bubble, or elongated bubble flow regime. A slug bubble flow, characterized by bubble sizes equal to the hydraulic diameter of the channel, is a transition regime with a complex local flow field that has received little attention in the past. In this study, dynamics of this flow regime in a square capillary with a cross-sectional area of 3 × 3 mm² was studied analytically and experimentally. The main geometric parameters of the flow field, such as film and corner thicknesses and volume fraction, were calculated for different flow conditions based on a semi-empirical approach. Using velocity fields from particle image velocimetry (PIV), combined with the analytical equations derived, local mean variations of the film and corner flow thicknesses and velocity were analyzed in detail. Analysis of the results reveals a linear relation between the bubble speed and the liquid slug velocity that was obtained using sum-of-correlation PIV. Local backflow, where the liquid locally flows in the reverse direction, was demonstrated to occur in the slug bubble flow, and the theoretical analysis showed that it can be characterized based on the bubble cross-sectional area and ratio of the liquid slug and bubble speed. The backflow phenomenon is only contributed to the channel corners, where the speed of liquid can increase to the bubble speed. However, there is no evidence of reverse flow in the liquid film for the flow conditions analyzed in this study.

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Measurement of the flow behavior index of Newtonian and shear-thinning fluids via analysis of the flow velocity characteristics in a mini-channel

Authors: , ,  &  

An in-situ measurement technique to determine the rheology of a fluid based on the experimentally measured velocity profile of a flow in a mini-channel is introduced. The velocity profiles of a Newtonian and different shear-thinning fluids along a rectangular channel were measured using shadowgraph particle image velocimetry (PIV). Deionized water and different concentrations of a polyacrylamide solution were used as Newtonian and shear-thinning fluids, respectively and were studied at different Reynolds numbers. The flow indices of the fluids were determined by comparing the experimental velocity profile measurements with developed theory that takes into account the non-Newtonian nature of the fluids rheology. The results indicated that the non-Newtonian behavior of the shear-thinning fluid intensified at lower Reynolds numbers and it behaved more as a Newtonian fluid as the Reynolds number increased. A comparison between the power law index determined from experimental monitoring of the velocity profile at different Reynolds numbers and measurements from a rheometer reflected good agreement. The results from the study validate the new approach of the rheology measurement of Newtonian and non-Newtonian flows through straight, rectangular cross-section channels. The proposed approach can be further utilized using other methods such as X-ray PIV to characterize the rheology of non-transparent fluids and in general, for all non-Newtonian fluids.

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Interaction of loosely packed bubbly flow passing through a pore space

Authors:  &  

The interactions of the bubbles in a loosely packed bubbly flow in a high viscous fluid approaching a pore space are studied using a shadowgraph imaging technique. The motion of the bubbles has been evaluated by considering shape analysis of their deformation and the variation in the velocity and pressure distribution of the phase. A comparison of two cases of a linear array and a matrix of bubbles emphasizes the importance of the arrangement on the deformation and motion of the dispersed phase in the pore space. The deformation of the bubbles in both cases results in a deceleration and acceleration process of the dispersed phase in the pore region. This process was a function of size, number of the bubbles competing in the pore throat and the arrangement of the competing bubbles. The variation in the motion of the dispersed phase will ultimately lead to different flow motion and phenomena at the entrance of the pore throat. The results also highlight that although bubbles had different motion approaching the pore throat, they follow similar deformation transition as they enter and exit the pore throat. This work contributes to existing knowledge of multi-phase flow in pore space by providing further understanding the effect of the interaction of phases based on the arrangement and their motion in a porous geometry.

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The Role of Emulsions in Steam-Assisted-Gravity-Drainage (SAGD) Oil-Production Process: A Review

Authors: Shadi Ansari (University of Alberta) | Reza Sabbagh (University of Alberta) | Yishak Yusuf (University of Alberta) | David S. Nobes (University of Alberta)

Studies that investigate and attempt to model the process of steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) for heavy-oil extraction often adopt the single-phase-flow assumption or relative permeability of the moving phases as a continuous phase in their analyses. Looking at the emulsification process and the likelihood of its prevalence in SAGD, however, indicates that it forms an important part of the entire physics of the process. To explore the validity of this assumption, a review of prior publications that are related to the SAGD process and the modeling approaches used, as well as works that studied the emulsification process at reservoir conditions, is presented. Reservoir conditions are assessed to identify whether the effect of the emulsion is strong enough to encourage using a multiphase instead of a single-phase assumption for the modeling of the process. The effect of operating conditions on the stability of emulsions in the formation is discussed. The review also covers the nature and extent of effects from emulsions on the flow mechanics through pore spaces and other flow passages that result from the well completion and downhole tubing, such as sand/flow-control devices. The primary outcome of this review strengthens the idea that a multiphase-flow scenario needs to be considered when studying all flow-related phenomena in enhanced-oil-recovery processes and, hence, in SAGD. The presence of emulsions significantly affects the bulk properties of the porous media, such as relative permeability, and properties that are related to the flow, such as viscosity, density, and ultimately pressure drop. It is asserted that the flow of emulsions strongly contributed to the transport of fines that might cause plugging of either the pore space or the screen on the sand-control device. The qualitative description of these influences and their extents found from the review of this large area of research is expected to guide activities during the conception stages of research questions and other investigations.

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Fiber Optics Application for Downhole Monitoring and Wellbore Surveillance; SAGD Monitoring, Flow Regime Determination and Flow Loop Design

Authors: Soroush, Mohammad & Mohammadtabar, Mohammad & Roostaei, Morteza & Hosseini, Seyed Abolhassan & Fattahpour, Vahidoddin & Mahmoudi, Mahdi & Keough, Daniel & Tywoniuk, Matthew & Cheng, Li & Moez, Kambiz. (2020).

Effective Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) operation relies on subcool management to reduce the risk of steam breakthrough. Monitoring of several parameters is performed to assure uniform development of steam chamber and heating of reservoir. This paper discusses the application of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), a monitoring platform to achieve reliable reservoir and wellbore surveillance in SAGD projects.

In this study, a comprehensive review of DAS deployment in oil and gas industry was performed including vertical seismic profiling, hydraulic fracturing, well/pipe integrity and flow profiling applications. Then, SAGD flow monitoring was investigated in detail. To utilize DAS in SAGD projects, knowing completion designs are necessary. Therefore, various SAGD completion designs and corresponding flow regimes were discussed as well. Finally, four flow loop designs were proposed to accurately simulate the complex wellbore hydraulics of the SAGD producer using DAS recordings.

This work started with an overview of DAS systems in downhole monitoring including real time high resolution vertical seismic profiling, hydraulic fracturing characterization and optimization, well and pipe integrity, leak detection and assessing completion effectiveness. Then, flow profiling including flow rate, flow fractions and flow regimes determinations using DAS were discussed with focus on SAGD monitoring. Completion designs directly impact on SAGD monitoring and DAS recordings, more specifically on flow regimes inside the tubing and annulus. Therefore, various completion designs with their tubing and screen sizes were presented and corresponding flow regimes were determined in both tubing and annulus. It was observed that flow regimes vary with type of completion design, liquid flow rate, steam breakthrough locations and tubing/screen sizes. Eventually, four flow loop designs were proposed based on the discussions for future DAS application.

This paper discusses existing completion designs and possible flow regimes in SAGD projects. Consequently, novel designed flow loops are introduced for DAS deployment to better understand the complex wellbore hydraulic of the well and measure the key parameters in optimizing the production operation. This study is a design stage for future quantitative measuring of flow profiling using DAS systems.

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