Three-Dimensional Modelling of Heat Transfer in Wellbore During Steam Injection Process

Steam injection is one of the more common techniques between thermal methods for heavy oil recovery. An injection pipe is used to transport the steam generated at the surface to the petroleum reservoir. The challenge in this process is minimize the heat transfer to the surroundings of the injector well. This work presents the three-dimensional simulation of the multiphase turbulent liquid-vapor flow along the wellbore domain composed by injection pipe, annular space, casing and formation. The response of the tubing insulation and formation temperature to steam injection at 80% of quality, injected at two different flow rates, is investigated with Ansys CFX software. It is clear the better performance of VIT (vacuum insulated tubing) technology. In addition, as greater the flow rate is, the higher the steam quality results. Finally, is proposed the existence of a critical tubing conductivity below which an opposite behavior of the quality is observed: low steam flow rate allows a high steam quality.