Performance of Electric Submersible Pumps in Gassy Wells

Abstract

Summary A comprehensive investigation was undertaken to study two-phase flow in a radial electric submersible pump (ESP) using diesel/CO2 mixture data from an earlier study. Currently, no dynamic model is available for multistage pumps. A dynamic five-equation model was developed and verified. The model incorporates pump geometry, stage inlet pressure, inlet void fraction, fluid properties, and number of stages. The two-phase flow physics for the pump is found to be vastly different from that in pipe flow. Insights into a pump's surging tendency were obtained.