Numerical simulation of the sucker-rod pumping system

Ingeniería e Investigación

Paula Almeida¹  Oldrich Joel Romero² 

[1] M Sc student at Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense (UENF);Professor at Federal University of Espirito Santo (UFES);

关键词: Rod string;    sucker rod pump;    dynamometer cards;    petroleum artificial lift;    finite difference method.;   

DOI  :  10.15446/ing.investig.v34n3.40835

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The sucker rod pump is an artificial lift method frequently applied in onshore petroleum wells. This system can be described using a numerical simulation based on the behavior of a rod string. In the past, the elastic behavior of the rod string made it difficult to model the system. However, since the 1960s and with the advent of digital computers, it has been modeled numerically. The rod string be-haves like a slender bar, and thus, the propagation of elastic waves along the bar can be represented by a one-dimensional equation. Gibbs (1963) presented a mathematical model based on the wave equation, which is described on the basis of the analysis of forces on the rod string and is incorporated into a boundary value problem involving partial differential equations. The use of the finite differ-ence method allows for a numerical solution by the discretization of the wave equation developed in the mathematical formulation with appropriate boundary and initial conditions. This work presents a methodology for implementing an academic computer code that allows simulation of the upstroke and downstroke motion of the rod string described by the wave equation under ideal operating conditions, assuming a harmonic motion of the rod at one end and downhole pump at the other end. The goal of this study is to generate the downhole dynamometer card, an important and consolidated tool that controls the pump system by diagnosing oper-ational conditions of the downhole pump.

【 授权许可】

Unknown