FEM Analysis of Fluid-Structure Interaction in Thermal Heavy Oil Recovery Operations

Yao Yin and Yiliang Liu
Additional contact information
Yao Yin: Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, No.1239, SiPing Road, Shanghai 200092, China
Yiliang Liu: Department of Architectural Engineering, North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering, No.133, AiMinDong Str., GuangYang District, LangFang 065000, China

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: In the process of heavy oil thermal recovery, the creep of strata can often be accelerated due to injection pressure, the temperature of steam, the structural characteristics of rock itself and other factors. However, the effect of creep in strata may cause various types of damage in underground mining, such as fracture or deformation of oil casings, and so on. The mechanism of fluid–structure interaction provides a powerful theoretical guidance for stratum creep, which happens during the process of heavy oil thermal recovery. According to existing research, a practical engineering finite element model of Jin.25 Block in Liaohe Oilfield was built based on the finite element analysis software ADINA, and the numerical simulation of the thermal recovery stratum creep of Jin.25 Block was done using the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) calculation module. The results were compared and analyzed, combining each influencing factor of the stratum creep in practical engineering. It is proposed that steam injection pressure should not exceed 14 MPa while enhancing oil recovery by increasing the injection pressure; the main reason is that temperature impact on casings is closely related to the change in stratum creep stress. However, particular attention should be paid to the thermal sensitivity of casing itself and creep deformation when the hydraulic conductivity magnitude is above 1 × 10 −9 m/s, so as to effectively prevent or minimize the economic loss caused by stratum creep.

Keywords: stratum creep; steam; fluid–structure interaction; ADINA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/4/4035/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/4/4035/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:4:p:4035-4048:d:47838

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().