Abstract
This study analyses the impact of particle polydispersity using the Eulerian-Eulerian (EE) and Lagrangian-Eulerian (LE) modelling approaches in the context of wellbore cleaning operations in the drilling industry. Spherical particles of sizes 0.5 mm, 0.75 mm and 1 mm are considered, whereas a Power Law rheological model is used for the fluid phase description. The EE approach implemented herein applies the Kinetic Theory of Granular Flow (KTGF) in ANSYS Fluent® and accounts for the particle size differences by representing them as different phases within the computational domain. With the LE approach, we employ the Dense Discrete Phase Model (DDPM) and capture this difference with the aid of a size distribution model (the Rosin-Rammler model). The findings of our computational experiments show considerable differences in key variables (the pressure drop, and particle deposition tendencies) between monodispersed and polydispersed transport scenarios.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 109795 |
Journal | Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering |
Volume | 208 |
Issue number | Part E |
Early online date | 6 Nov 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2022 |
Bibliographical note
© 2021, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Keywords
- Cuttings transport
- Discrete phase model
- Polydispersity
- Rosin-Rammler