Abstract Liquid loading is a major problem that limits production of gas wells. When liquid loading occurs, the gas well will suffer a rapid decrease in gas flow rate and eventually cease. An accurate prediction of liquid-loading onset is vital for operators to optimize production or take other measures in time. Through a careful review of previous studies, it's more reasonable to relate liquid-loading onset to liquid-film reversal rather than liquid-droplet reversal. However, few mechanistic approaches based on liquid-film reversal are available to predict the critical gas velocity. Furthermore, these models have complicated calculation and conservative results. This paper develops a more comprehensive and simpler analytical model for prediction of liquid-loading onset on the basis of liquid-film-reversal criterion. To reach this goal, experimental investigation has been conducted to analyze the effect of inclined angle and liquid velocity on the critical gas velocity. The Belfroid et al. (2008) angle-correction term has been adopted in the new model to predict critical gas velocity in inclined pipes. After validation against laboratory and field data from the published literature, this model has better performance compared with other models. Considering its simple form and high accuracy, the new model can provide a convenient approach for gas production engineers to predict critical gas flow rate.

中文翻译：

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气井注液开始预测的实验与建模研究

摘要 载液是制约气井生产的主要问题。当发生液体加载时，气井将遭受气体流速的迅速下降并最终停止。准确预测液体负载开始对于操作员优化生产或及时采取其他措施至关重要。通过对先前研究的仔细审查，将液体负载开始与液膜反转而不是液滴反转联系起来更合理。然而，很少有基于液膜反转的机械方法可用于预测临界气体速度。此外，这些模型计算复杂，结果保守。本文基于液膜反转准则开发了一种更全面、更简单的分析模型，用于预测液体加载开始。为了达到这个目标，进行了实验研究，以分析倾斜角和液体速度对临界气体速度的影响。Belfroid 等人。(2008) 在新模型中采用了角度修正项来预测倾斜管道中的临界气体速度。根据已发表文献中的实验室和现场数据进行验证后，该模型与其他模型相比具有更好的性能。考虑到其形式简单和精度高，新模型可以为气体生产工程师提供一种预测临界气体流量的便捷方法。根据已发表文献中的实验室和现场数据进行验证后，该模型与其他模型相比具有更好的性能。考虑到其形式简单和精度高，新模型可以为气体生产工程师提供一种预测临界气体流量的便捷方法。根据已发表文献中的实验室和现场数据进行验证后，该模型与其他模型相比具有更好的性能。考虑到其形式简单和精度高，新模型可以为气体生产工程师提供一种预测临界气体流量的便捷方法。