Analysis and Simulation of a High-Performance Wire and Fibre Rope as Continuous Sucker Rod String

Fatemeh Fazeli Tehrani

Research output: ThesisMaster's Thesis

133 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Sucker rod pumping is the most common type of artificial lift systems deployed in oil and gas wells to improve production. The sucker rod string, which is the component that transfers the reciprocating movement of the surface polished rod to the downhole pump plunger, is the source of many operational complications. From damaged rods and unscrewed couplings to time-consuming rod attachment/detachment procedures, the influence of these failures on the operational costs is substantial. Hence, continuous strings like wire ropes and synthetic ropes can be a convenient replacement for the conventional rod string. In this work, the performance of a wire rope, designed by Voestalpine Company as well as a Dyneema® fiber rope designed by DSM are analyzed and simulated with a computer software package. The results prove that the efficiency of both designs highly depend on the geometry of the well, type of the pump and the surface structure. They also show that pumping with wire or fiber ropes can be just as productive, or surpasses the efficiency of a conventional sucker rod string as long as certain measures, such as material tensile strength and pumping SPM, are taken into advisement.
Translated title of the contributionAnalyse und Simulation von Hochleistungskabeln und Faserseilen als Sucker Rod-Gestänge
Original languageEnglish
QualificationDipl.-Ing.
Supervisors/Advisors
  • Hofstätter, Herbert, Supervisor (internal)
  • Langbauer, Clemens, Co-Supervisor (internal)
Award date16 Dec 2016
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Bibliographical note

embargoed until null

Keywords

  • sucker rod pumping
  • artificial lift systems
  • polished rod
  • pump plunger
  • wire rope
  • synthetic rope
  • tensile strength
  • SPM
  • continuous rod string

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