Abstract
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a widely used technique to solve transport phenomena problems by the discretization of the conservation equations on the geometry of interest. Recently, several SPE papers use CFD to solve near wellbore problems. Features like perforated completions and fluid flow performance on multiple layers reservoirs are topics addressed. Other works focus on the reactive dissolution of carbonates. However, they are restricted to small scales due to the phenomenon complexity and high computational cost.
Most commercial CFD simulators allow users to implement their own models through user defined functions. This fact makes possible to simulate high complexity phenomena with lower computational cost. For instance, one could use an empirical model instead of solving the complete transport equations. CFD also allows a detailed view of flow aspects at wellbore scale, an important issue when flow paths or pressure drop are important to fluid placement.
This work addresses the implementation of an empirical wormhole propagation model on a CFD software. We have two goals: the simulation of different pumping strategies for matrix acidizing treatments aiming acid placement optimization and show how CFD could be a powerful tool to solve near wellbore problems.
