CHOKE PERFORMANCE
The Well head and Christmas tree
Flow line chokes
• The fluid pressure within the reservoir provides the driving force to push fluid into
the wellbore and, in natural flow wells, up the production tubing to the surface.
• To maximize the production capacity of individual wells, it is possible to ensure
that minimal restriction exists in the flowline.
• However, in such cases, the production capacity of the system will be continually
adjusting itself in line with any flow perturbation or instabilities in the well.
• Thus, most production wells utilize a choke or restriction in the flowline
downstream of the wellhead to back pressure the well
Importance of a Flow line Choke
• To maintain stable flow/pressure conditions downstream of the choke
• To control the drawdown on the well and hence restrict the occurrence of
gas cusping or water coning into the wellbore or the failure of the
formation around the wellbore
• To dampen down fluctuations in the well deliverability by applying back
pressure to the system
• To isolate the well from pressure fluctuations created in the processing,
gathering and transportation system
Positive or
Fixed or Positive chokes
• Fixed or Positive chokes are particularly
useful where the fixed orifice is
essential for monitoring well
performance, e.g., during well tests.
The pressure drop across the choke
depends upon the fluid characteristics,
the flowrate and choke dimensions.
Fixed chokes are occasionally installed in wireline nipples at depth in the
tubing string in certain wells to:
• Reduce the tubing head pressure and operating pressures on the Xmas
tree and wellhead
• Counteract the effects of hydrates and wax deposition associated with
fluid expansion and cooling.
Adjustable choke
• An adjustable choke allows the back pressure on
the well to be varied. This may be useful in the
following instances:
• when initiating production on a well, in which the
tubing contents have to be displaced out of the
well by inflow from the reservoir. In this case, the
FBHP will decline and hence the production rate
increases continuously during this period, thus
necessitating the application of gradually
increasing back pressure.
• To control a well on cyclical production, or where
frequent changes in production rate are
necessary.
• On wells which are frequently subject to
shutdown.
Flow mechanism in a typical choke
Pressure Losses Across The Choke
Irreversible pressure loss across the choke occurs, due to:
• Frictional loss through the choke
• Turbulence effects associated with the eddy currents at the entrance and exit
of the choke
• Fluid expansion or exit from the choke
• Localized turbulence/eddying within the choke itself, particularly at the vena
contracta.
Critical flow in choke
• Consider the case of a controlled increase in the flowrate through a fixed choke,
accomplished by opening a control valve downstream of the choke.
• Initially, with the valve closed, the pressure is equal both upstream and
downstream of the choke.
• As the valve is gradually opened, the downstream pressure P2 declines and the
flowrate increases.
• If the valve continues to be opened, the flowrate will start to level off and
ultimately reach a plateau
• Further decrease in P2 will not produce any increase in production rate.
Critical flow in chokes
• The ratio of upstream to downstream pressure is termed R:
• The value of R at the point where the plateau production rate is achieved is
termed the critical pressure ratio Rc.
Critical flow in gases and gas/liquid mixtures
• Critical flow behaviour is only exhibited by highly compressible fluid such as
gases and gas/liquid mixtures.
• For gas, which is a highly compressible fluid, the critical downstream pressure
Pc is achieved when velocity through the vena contracta equals the sonic
velocity, i.e., this means that a disturbance in pressure or flow downstream of
the choke must travel at greater than the speed of sound to influence
upstream flow conditions.
Conditions for critical flow
• In gas systems, critical flow conditions will exist when
• For a two-phase compressible mixture, say, oil and gas, the sonic
velocity in such fluids will generally be lower than that for a gas
system. In general, for critical flow conditions:
Choke flow correlations
Flow through the choke will be largely influenced by whether single or
multiphase Flow occurs.
Single Phase Flow
• The rate of flow through an orifice q, if the velocity of approach is
neglected, is expressed as:
Choke flow correlations
Multiphase Flow through a Choke
• A number of researchers have published studies on multiphase flow
through chokes. Some of the studies relate to correlation of field
measurements.
• Gilbert correlation
• In 1954, Gilbert proposed the following empirical relationship based on
field data:
Where
R = gas liquid ratio in Mcf/bbl
q = Flowrate, bbl/D
PTH = flowing tubing head pressure in psig.
S = Choke or bean size, 64th of an inch.
Gilbert's bean
performance
correlation
