Abstract
The rising portion of plunger cycle makes use of some type of designed sealing mechanisms on the plunger. These sealing techniques reduce the amount of gas that bypasses (leakage) the surfacing plungers. When falling, many plungers have mechanisms designed to allow increased leakage or slippage enabling the plungers to fall faster.
Modeling techniques, for leakage about a rising plunger, shown in this paper are shown as analogous to orifice type flow restriction. For fast falling plungers the model is developed is similar to objects experiencing drag in a field of gas velocity. Data collected for this type of modeling is presented from suspension tests and confirmed with dynamic test data. Model ratification is done with some dynamic test data. Special two-piece and conventional plungers are hereby modeled from suspension and dynamic testing.
The results should help the operators to select specific plunger hardware for specific conditions and should assist in modeling plunger cycles.
