Simulation on adjustment ability of adjustable water nozzle in separate-layer water injection

Abstract

Accurate control of water injection rate is a key to separate-layer water injection technology, especially in low-permeability reservoirs. Firstly, a dynamics model of the two-layer water injection system was established. Then, the relationship between the discharge coefficient and the opening of the water nozzle was obtained, and the consistency between the simulation and the experiment was verified. Finally, the simulation results revealed that the increase of the water injection rate and the decrease of the pressure difference between the reservoirs are beneficial to the automatic adjustment of the nozzle. The proposed method can improve reservoir development significantly.

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Discharge coefficients for different openings of fan nozzles obtained by simulation.

2. Relationship among water injection pressure, water injection rate, and nozzle opening are calculated.

3. Accurate control method of separate-layer water injection rate is proposed.

Keywords:

• adjustable nozzle
• discharge coefficient
• separate-layer water injection
• water distributor
• waterflooding

Conflict of interest

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the China Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development project (No. HYXY-ZB-2021-FW026).