Study of the Dynamic Behavior of an Autonomous Inflow-Control Device Using a Digital Twin

Abstract

Solutions that aim to reduce water production in heavy oil wells have led to the design of devices known as rate-controlled production (RCP) autonomous inflow-control device (AICD) valves, which are placed in well completions and autonomously open with the oil inflow and close with water by choking the flow. These devices, which are based on Bernoulli’s principle, use a levitating disk that chokes the flow of the phase with the lowest flow resistance. This study proposes a numerical model based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology to understand these devices’ operations and propose better designs without experimentation. The numerical model was based on dynamic fluid–body interaction (DFBI) and volume of fluid (VOF) models. The model was found to respond as expected depending on the physical properties of the fluids involved in heavy oil production. Finally, some limitations were found in the numerical study that can be improved in future studies.