Experimental, numerical, and statistical investigation of two phase flow in a cylindrical perforation tunnel

Perforation is the final stage in well completion that helps to connect reservoir formations to wellbores during hydrocarbon production. The drilling perforation technique maximizes the reservoir productivity index by minimizing damage. This can be best accomplished by attaining a better understanding of fluid flows that occur in the near-wellbore region during oil and gas operations. The present work aims to enhance oil recovery by modelling a two-phase flow through the near-wellbore region, thereby expanding industry knowledge about well performance. An experimental procedure was conducted to investigate the behavior of two-phase flow through a cylindrical perforation tunnel. Statistical analysis was coupled with numerical simulation to expand the investigation of fluid flow in the near-wellbore region that cannot be obtained experimentally. The statistical analysis investigated the effect of several parameters, including the liquid and gas flow rate, liquid viscosity, permeability, and porosity, on the injection build-up pressure and the time needed to reach a steady-state flow condition. Design-Expert® Design of Experiments (DoE) software was used to determine the numerical simulation runs using the ANOVA analysis with a Box-Behnken Design (BBD) model and ANSYS-FLUENT was used to analyses the numerical simulation of the porous media tunnel by applying the volume of fluid method (VOF). The experimental data were validated to the numerical results, and the comparison of results was in good agreement. The numerical and statistical analysis demonstrated each investigated parameter's effect. The permeability, flow rate, and viscosity of the liquid significantly affect the injection pressure build-up profile, and porosity and gas flow rate substantially affect the time required to attain steady-state conditions. In addition, two correlations obtained from the statistical analysis can be used to predict the injection build-up pressure and the required time to reach steady state for different scenarios. This work will contribute to the clarification and understanding of the behavior of multiphase flow in the near-wellbore region.