Abstract
Chokes are one of the most important components of downhole flow-control equipment. The particle erosion mathematical model, which considers particle-particle interaction, was established and used to simulate solid particle movement as well as particle erosion characteristics of the solid-liquid two-phase flow in a choke. The corresponding erosion reduction approach by setting ribs on the inner wall of the choke was advanced. This mathematical model includes three parts: the flow field simulation of the continuous carrier fluid by an Eulerian approach, the particle interaction simulation using the discrete particle hard sphere model by a Lagrangian approach and calculation of erosion rate using semiempirical correlations. The results show that particles accumulated in a narrow region from inlet to outlet of the choke and the dominating factor affecting particle motion is the fluid drag force. As a result, the optimization of rib geometrical parameters indicates that good anti-erosion performance can be achieved by four ribs, each of them with a height (H) of 3 mm and a width (B) of 5 mm equaling the interval between ribs (L).
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Li, G., Wang, Y., He, R. et al. Numerical simulation of predicting and reducing solid particle erosion of solid-liquid two-phase flow in a choke. Pet. Sci. 6, 91–97 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12182-009-0017-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12182-009-0017-9