Abstract Liquid loading is a serious issue in the production of gas wells. In order to recognize liquid loading, the flow regime and the transition criteria of the gas-liquid two-phase in the wellbore were obtained by theoretical analysis. The prediction correlation for the size of the entrained droplet was given for every flow pattern. Based on the force balance condition of the largest droplet in the gas core, the dimensionless critical gas mass flow rate was defined to recognize liquid loading along the whole wellbore. The influence of different factors on liquid loading was analyzed by an example. The results show that there are three kinds of flow regime in the wellbore, which are co-current annular flow with disturbance wave torn off, co-current annular flow with bag breakup and churn-annular flow with wave under-cut. The maximum size of the droplet in the gas core depends on the droplet breakup process under co-current annular flow and droplet entrainment process under churn-annular flow. The dimensionless critical gas mass flow rate decreases with the increase of gas flow rate and the decrease of tube diameter, which reduces the possibility of liquid loading. Liquid loading can be avoided by the decrease of surface tension. The viscosities of the gas and liquid phases have slight influence on the dimensionless critical gas mass flow rate.

中文翻译：

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气井全井筒液体负荷识别模型

摘要 载液是气井生产中的一个严重问题。通过理论分析得到井筒内气液两相的流态和转变判据，以识别液体负荷。对于每种流动模式，都给出了夹带液滴尺寸的预测相关性。基于气芯中最大液滴的受力平衡条件，定义了无量纲临界气体质量流量，以识别沿整个井筒的液体载荷。通过实例分析了不同因素对载液量的影响。结果表明，井筒内存在3种流态，即扰动波撕裂的并流环流、破袋的并流环流和波浪底切的搅动环流。气核中液滴的最大尺寸取决于并流环流下的液滴破碎过程和搅动环流下的液滴夹带过程。无量纲临界气体质量流量随着气体流量的增加和管径的减小而减小，从而降低了载液的可能性。通过降低表面张力可以避免液体负载。气相和液相的粘度对无量纲临界气体质量流量有轻微影响。通过降低表面张力可以避免液体负载。气相和液相的粘度对无量纲临界气体质量流量有轻微影响。通过降低表面张力可以避免液体负载。气相和液相的粘度对无量纲临界气体质量流量有轻微影响。