Numerical Modeling and Simulation of Transient Flow and Heat Transfer of Gas in a Producing Gas Well

Transient flow modeling in gas well has always been a problem to the natural gas industry operators this is due to parameter changing with both space and time. Some previous investigations of gas flow in producing well have been limited to general use, because assumptions were introduced to simplify either gas properties or the basic differential equation. Dominantly in use today in the gas production industries are Correlations and Steady state solutions, but most of them does not give satisfactory results because their applications neglected the transient and compressibility aspect leading to limited set of calculated results. The present study is an attempted to present sufficient numerical results to permit meaningful conclusion to be drawn by developing a one-dimensional transient compressible model according to conservation of mass, momentum and energy that can investigate the transient behavior of flow characteristics in a producing gas well. The model retains all the terms in the partial differential equation and is solved numerically using the implicit Steger-Warming flux vector splitting method (FSM). Gas flow characteristics with respect to well depth are plotted at different time of production, geothermal gradients and thermal conductivities were also plotted, reflecting gas flow law and the characteristics of temperature distribution in the formation. The analysis provide a dynamic information on production for gas well. The results presented when utilized properly will provide a dependable for forecasting gas well prediction work and pressure performance analysis.