Responding to the latest developments in rock physics research, this popular reference book has been thoroughly updated while retaining its comprehensive coverage of the fundamental theory, concepts, and laboratory results. It brings together the vast literature from the field to address the relationships between geophysical observations and the underlying physical properties of Earth materials - including water, hydrocarbons, gases, minerals, rocks, ice, magma and methane hydrates. This third edition includes expanded coverage of topics such as effective medium models, viscoelasticity, attenuation, anisotropy, electrical-elastic cross relations, and highlights applications in unconventional reservoirs. Appendices have been enhanced with new materials and properties, while worked examples (supplemented by online datasets and MATLAB® codes) enable readers to implement the workflows and models in practice. This significantly revised edition will continue to be the go-to reference for students and researchers interested in rock physics, near-surface geophysics, seismology, and professionals in the oil and gas industries.

The Rock Physics Handbook

Wax formation in oil pipelines: A critical review

A comprehensive review of solid particle erosion modeling for oil and gas wells and pipelines applications

This paper gives an overview of the issues posed by the science and technology of transporting heavy oils in a sheath of lubricating water. It touches on measures of energy efficiency, industrial experience, fouling, stability, models of levitation, and future directions.

Core-annular flows

Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-147393doi:10.1115/1.2955990View record in Web of Science Record created on 2010-03-19, modified on 2017-05-10

Two-Phase Flow Patterns and Flow-Pattern Maps: Fundamentals and Applications

A comprehensive model is formulated to predict the flow behavior for upward two-phase flow. This model is composed of a model for flow-pattern prediction and a set of independent mechanistic models for predicting such flow characteristics as holdup and pressure drop in bubble, slug, and annular flow. The comprehensive model is evaluated by using a well data bank made up of 1,712 well cases covering a wide variety of field data. Model performance is also compared with six commonly used empirical correlations and the Hasan-Kabir mechanistic model. Overall model performance is in good agreement with the data. In comparison with other methods, the comprehensive model performed the best.

A Comprehensive Mechanistic Model for Upward Two-Phase Flow in Wellbores

A Study of Oil-Water Flow Patterns in Horizontal Pipes

A unified hydrodynamic model is developed for predictions of flow pattern transitions, pressure gradient, liquid holdup and slug characteristics in gas-liquid pipe flow at all inclination angles from -90° to 90° from horizontal. The model is based on the dynamics of slug flow, which shares transition boundaries with all the other flow patterns. By use of the entire film zone as the control volume, the momentum exchange between the slug body and the film zone is introduced into the momentum equations for slug flow. The equations of slug flow are used not only to calculate the slug characteristics, but also to predict transitions from slug flow to other flow patterns. Significant effort has been made to eliminate discontinuities among the closure relationships through careful selection and generalization. The flow pattern classification is also simplified according to the hydrodynamic characteristics of two-phase flow.

Unified model for gas-liquid pipe flow via slug dynamics: Part 1: Model development

A unified mechanistic model for slug liquid holdup and transition between slug and dispersed bubble flows

Chemical inhibition is one of the methods to mitigate deposition of wax in pipelines; however, the efficiency of the inhibitors needs to be validated in the laboratory prior to field applications. Cold finger, as the most commonly used experimental setup in the field, has quite a different shear regime and temperature field compared to the flow loop and field production pipeline. This paper investigates the flow field (cold finger and flow loop) effect on the wax deposition and the performance of wax inhibitors under the same initial temperature difference and comparable shear stress conditions. The normalized deposit mass, wax content, carbon number distribution, and wax mass flux were investigated in these two different flow fields, and the performance of wax inhibitors was also investigated. Moreover, the results from this study are expected to serve as a basis for selecting proper inhibitors for field applications based on laboratory testing.

Cem Sarica

Papers

A Comprehensive Mechanistic Model for Upward Two-Phase Flow in Wellbores

A Study of Oil-Water Flow Patterns in Horizontal Pipes

Unified model for gas-liquid pipe flow via slug dynamics: Part 1: Model development

A unified mechanistic model for slug liquid holdup and transition between slug and dispersed bubble flows

Effect of the Flow Field on the Wax Deposition and Performance of Wax Inhibitors: Cold Finger and Flow Loop Testing