The electrical submersible pump (ESP) is one of the most commonly used artificial lift methods in the oil and gas industry. Its performance under different flow conditions and its life span with sand production are commonly predicted by the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The mesh generation methodology and optimum grid number are usually validated by pump water catalog curves. Then, the validated mesh geometry is adopted in high viscosity, multiphase flow, and sand erosion simulations to study the effects including but not limited to: discrete phase bubble diameter, turbulence model, body forces, and erosion models. However, the mesh validation by pump water curves is not enough in complex flow conditions, especially in the erosion simulations. Different from the pump hydraulic performance simulation, the accuracy of the erosion simulation can be reduced by decreasing the near-wall grid inflation layer thickness. Solids can be traped in the near-wall zones. Besides the wall y^+^ requirements according to different turbulence models and wall functions in fluid flow simulations, the inflation layer thickness in erosion simulation also depends on solid particle diameter. In addition, the mesh-type (hexahedral and tetrahedral) and size of the inner domain can also significantly affect the particle trajectory. A comprehensive mesh independency study is conducted for water, oil, and gas-liquid conditions of a mixed type ESP in this paper. Then the near-wall inflation layer thickness, mesh type, and inner domain grid size effect to ESP erosion simulation are well analyzed. The mesh generation methodology can be applied to other turbomachinery simulations to improve accuracy.


A Numerical Study on Mesh Type, Size, and Near Wall Grid Thickness Effect to Performance and Erosion Simulations in an Electrical Submersible Pump (Esp)

Division / Sponsors: 
Heat Transfer Division (HTD), Fluids Engineering Division (FED)

Heat Transfer Summer Conference
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/HT/HT2020/volume/83709

18th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ICNMM/ICNMM2020/volume/83693

Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/FEDSM/FEDSM2020/volume/83716

HT-ICNMM2020 - Virtual Conference, SHTC - Virtual Conference, FEDSM2020 - Virtual Conference

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