https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0223-6821
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Abstract
Asphaltene deposition in oil wells greatly causes production and associated monetary losses. In this work, the virtual mass force and pressure gradient force are considered in the momentum equation of asphaltene aggregates, since the rate of asphaltene particle density (1100 kg/m3) to crude oil density (886 kg/m3) is close to 1. Accordingly, the flow of oil-asphaltene particles was simulated within the Eulerian–Lagrangian framework in a production tubing. Subsequently, the shear stress turbulence model and discrete random walk model are applied to predict the deposition rate of asphaltene aggregates on production tubing. The simulation results show that the deposition rate considering these two forces agrees well with the experimental data. Moreover, the effect of the saffman lift force, virtual mass force, pressure gradient force, oil viscosity, particle density, wall roughness as well as crude oil density are investigated on the deposition rate of asphaltene aggregates on production tubing. The findings of this work can favor a better understand of the law of asphaltene deposition in oil wells.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influence the work reported in this paper.
Nomenclatures
| SLF | = | Saffman lift force, N |
| VMF | = | virtual mass force, N |
| PGF | = | pressure gradient force, N |
| Cd | = | drag coefficient, m2/s |
| Dω | = | cross-diffusion term |
| mp | = | aggregates mass, kg |
| F | = | partial additional forces, N |
| pp | = | partial pressure, MPa |
| G | = | the total external force vector, N |
| Gk | = | generation of turbulence kinetic energy, kg/(m·s3) |
| Gb | = | turbulence generation due to buoyancy |
| Gωb | = | buoyancy term |
| Fvmf | = | virtual mass force, N |
| Fpdf | = | pressure gradient force, N |
| Fsaf | = | Saffman lift force, N |
| YK | = | dissipation of turbulence, kg/(m·s3) |
| Yω | = | dissipation of ω, kg/(m3·s2) |
| Rep | = | particle Reynolds number |
| FG | = | net gravitational force, N |
| dp | = | particle diameter, μm |
| g | = | gravitational acceleration, m/s2 |
| u | = | flow velocity, m/s |
| V | = | volume of geometry, m3 |
| Np | = | number of particles |
| S | = | strain rate magnitude |
| TL | = | fluid Lagrangian integral time, s |
| Vab | = |
|
Greek symbols
| λ | = | wall roughness, m |
| = | effective diffusivity coefficient, kg/(m·s) | |
| φ | = | particle volume fraction |
| ρ | = | density, kg/m3 |
| ω | = | turbulence frequency, 1/s |
| τp | = | particle relaxation time |
| μ | = | oil viscosity, Pa.s |
| v | = | kinematic viscosity, m2/s |
| σ | = | turbulent Prandtl numbers |
| τe | = | time scale, s |
| ζ | = | normally distributed random number |
| = | fluctuating velocity, m/s |
Subscripts-superscripts
| p | = | asphaltene particle |
| D | = | drag force |
| b | = | buoyancy |
| ab | = | net value |
| w | = | with the force |
| wo | = | without the force |