Submit an Article
Become a reviewer
A. N. Shulyupin
A. N. Shulyupin
Ph.D., Dr.Sci.
deputy director
Mining Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences
deputy director, Ph.D., Dr.Sci.
Mining Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences
Khabarovsk
Russia

Articles

Article
  • Date submitted
    2015-10-21
  • Date accepted
    2015-12-16

Flow instability in producing well at flash-steam fields

Article preview

Theoretical foundations are presented for forecasting operation instability of producing wells at flash-steam fields. The considered topic gains actuality because of the new conditions for developing geothermal power industry which call for solicitous use of the wells fund. Instability mechanism is considered: increased discharge results in the growth of the force generating the flow, which in turn results in still higher discharge. The force grows due to weakening of gravitational component which counteracts the flow in the result of depletion in the density of flash-steam mixture. It is demonstrated that due to the specifics of development of such instability in a geothermal well the reaction of well foot pressure to change in the discharge cannot influence the stability in any effective way, while the reaction of wellhead pressure may work as a stabilizing factor. Principal weaknesses are pointed out of former ideas on flow instability in flash-steam wells. The condition of stable flow should be the positive value of the derivative on discharge of the internal well foot pressure defined as the sum of wellhead and internal pressure drop.

How to cite: Shulyupin A.N. Flow instability in producing well at flash-steam fields // Journal of Mining Institute. 2016. Vol. 220. p. 551-555. DOI: 10.18454/PMI.2016.4.551