The study of heat exchange processes during induction heating of the casing string in relation to the determination of behind-the-casing flows

Abstract

One of the promising methods of geophysical survey of existing wells is active thermometry. The technology for conducting research using this method includes induction heating of a section of a metal casing string, registration and analysis of temperature changes in the range of induction exposure. As a result of heat exchange with the heated section of the column, a thermal disturbance is created in the fluid flow moving inside the column or in the behind-the-casing flow channel. The analysis of non-stationary temperature in the process of induction action allows solving actual practical problems, for example, determining the presence of fluid overflows in the space behind the casing string. In this work, on the basis of numerical simulation, the features of the formation of a temperature field in the process of inductive heating of the casing string are studied in relation to the determination of behind-the-casing fluid flows. Numerical simulation was performed using the Ansys Fluent software package. Fluid movement in the well is described by the Navier–Stokes equation in the Boussinesq–Oberbeck approximation, and its temperature is calculated taking into account forced and free convection. To calculate the temperature in the inductor, casing string, rocks and cement sheath, a non-stationary heat equation is used. The application of induction heating in diagnosing behind-the-casing flows in the sump, localized below the working perforated formations, in the annular space between the casing string and the cement ring is considered. The distribution curves of the cross-sectional average temperature in the casing string body in the induction heating interval at different flow rates in the casing cross-flow channel are plotted. It is shown that with an increase in the volume flow in the overflow channel, the maximum heating of the column decreases due to more intense heat transfer to the flow in the overflow channel. It has been established that the temperature curves show a “pull” of temperature (temperature disturbances in the body of the casing string propagate in the direction of flow in the overflow channel), the value of which increases with the flow rate in the overflow channel. It is shown that the temperature “pull” (the distance over which the thermal disturbance propagates) during upward flow exceeds the “pull” during downward flow, which is due to the influence of natural thermal convection in the fluid inside the casing string. On the example of the modeling conditions adopted in the work, it was found that up and down flows of more than 0.5 m3/day can be reliably determined from temperature measurements during the induction effect.