Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Model for Predicting Wellhead Oil Burning Efficiency at Bench and Intermediate Scales: Interim Report

Abstract

While wellhead burning has been an oil field hazard for generations, the oil exploration community has begun to view it as a potential spill response tool. Presently, there are significant gaps in the validated science to reliably and accurately predict the burn efficiency of a wellhead. A coupled, multi-physics spray combustion model has been developed and validated with multi-scale experiments for wellhead burning. Spray measurement and sub-scale burn efficiency measurement methods have been developed and applied to determine the behaviors that drive low wellhead burn efficiency. Analysis of potential wellhead spray conditions revealed that the worst-case discharge scenario may not create the worst-case spill scenario because lower flow rates produce thicker wellbore films, which lead to lower burn efficiencies.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 30, 2020
Accession Number
AD1105475

Entities

People

  • A. Skiba
  • Brian T. Fisher
  • Christopher J. Pfützner
  • David A. Kessler
  • Rohit J. Jacob
  • Steven G. Tuttle

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundary Layer
  • Combustion
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Engineers
  • Environment
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid Flow
  • Froude Number
  • Heat Transfer
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Processing
  • Materials Science
  • Materials Testing
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Turbulent Mixing

Readers

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Engineering.
  • Environmental Engineering.