Abstract:
Compared with the numerical simulation of conventional wells, the numerical simulation of unconventional wells focuses on the characterization of multiphase flow in vertical and horizontal wellbores, the explanation of the velocity difference between different phases and the pressure loss due to friction, hydrostatic force, acceleration and slip of each phase, and the simulation of the downhole flow control equipment and other complex phenomena. The research progress and existing defects of the numerical simulation techniques for unconventional wells were summarized from 7 aspects including the flow equations for complex-structure wells, the multiphase pipe flow and well-reservoir coupling simulation, the multi-segment well model, the downhole flow control device simulation, the near-wellbore area coarsening, the downhole complex phenomena simulation and the embedded discrete fracture model. The wellbore-reservoir numerical coupling simulation based on the multi-segment well model, the extended well model and the reservoir model coupling simulation, the fluid-structure coupling numerical simulation, the downhole monitoring control equipment simulation, and the multi-segment fracture complex-structure well simulation, make the development trend in the future.