Liquid Accumulation in Horizontal Gas Wells

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.