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In the previously published studies, the calculations of critical liquid-carrying gas velocity in a horizontal well were based on conventional calculation models of a droplet in a vertical well and do not consider the influence of the inclination angle of the well on the liquid-carrying ability of gas. Horizontal wells are currently widely used in the gas fields, while the traditional critical liquid-carrying velocity models cannot be applied to evaluate gas flow characteristics in the inclined sections of horizontal wells. In this paper, based on experimental results, we established that the critical liquid-carrying conditions in an inclined well occur when the inclination angle is 55°. Considering the flow characteristics of the liquid phase in a gas well, we obtained the flow mode of the liquid film in the pipeline. The established liquid-film model provides a calculation method of the critical liquid-carrying velocity for different inclination angles. The accuracy of the new method has been verified by the field data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to disclose the law of critical gas velocity in the swirling flow field induced by the vortex tools. For this purpose, a critical gas velocity calculation model for vortex drainage gas wells was established based on the axial force balance between the liquid film and the gas core in swirling flow, and modified with the experimental data in previous studies. Then, the effects of helix angle and hub diameter of vortex tool on the reduction amplitude of critical gas velocity were analyzed by comparing the modified model with Turner model. Through experimental verification, it is learned that our new model can predict the critical gas velocity under different production conditions with different vortex tools. The reduction amplitude of critical gas velocity increased with the helix angle and decreased with the growth in hub diameter. The reduction amplitude ranged from 55.03% to 59.35% as the helix angle varied from 15 ° to 75 ° and the hub diameter varied from 34mm to 50 mm. The helix angle has a greater impact than the hub diameter on the reduction amplitude. The research findings shed new light on the design and application of the vortex tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]