Application of a Multisegment Well Model to Simulate Flow in Advanced Wells

Abstract

Abstract The need to simulate advanced wells (horizontal and multilateral wells and smart's wells containing flow control devices) requires a correspondingly sophisticated type of well model to be implemented in reservoir simulators. The model must be able to determine the local flowing conditions (the flow rate of each fluid and the pressure) throughout the well, and to allow for pressure losses along the wellbore and across any flow control devices. This paper describes an advanced well model in which the wellbore is divided into an arbitrary number of segments. The well model has been implemented in a black-oil reservoir simulator, and the paper describes two case studies which assess the performance of the model and use it to examine the effects of flow control devices on two types of well. P. 171