Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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Research paper

Simple model of electric submersible pump in gassy well

Desheng Zhou , Rajesh Sachdeva
17177 Preston Road, Ste 200, Dallas, TX 75248, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Electric submersible pump (ESP) is a widely used articial lift method for oil production. Free gas at the
Received 6 April 2007 pump intake can degrade the ESP performance. Degradation can be in the form of reduced head, surging and
Accepted 20 November 2009 gas locking.
This paper presents a new easy-to-use model intended for the eld engineer. The model's parameters are
Keywords: obtained by using linear multiple regression analysis on measured data. The model is not pump-specic as it
electric submersible pump
uses dimensionless head and rate. In addition, a critical model and a simple equation are presented to predict
head deterioration
multiphase pumping
the start of surging, which can cause pump instability and even gas lock. The study also gives the eld
critical condition engineer an idea of how the liquid-only afnity laws are impacted in multiphase ow conditions.
afnity laws Compared with available models, the presented pump head degradation model and the critical model are
both the best.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
As the uids from a reservoir are produced, with time, the pressure
in the reservoir decreases and causes the production to also decrease
and eventually stop. In such cases, energy is articially added to the
uids in the wellbore to sustain or increase oil production. Electric
submersible pumps (ESPs) are a popular form of articial lift. ESPs
consist of multiple stages of centrifugal pumps stacked on top of each
other in a narrow housing that allows the system to be lowered into
restrictive wellbores.
As a centrifugal pump, ESP is good at pumping almost incom-
pressible uids such as oil and water, but its performance suffers in
the presence of compressible gas. Once free gas is ingested into an ESP,
the pump can experience head deterioration, surging, and even gas
lock. Surging can cause vibrations and reduce the life of downhole
equipment. A gas lock can stop oil production.
In many cases, it is impossible to avoid the presence of free gas at
the pump inlet. Free gas may come from reservoir gas cap, be the
solution gas liberated from oil due to pressure reduction from
reservoir pressure to owing bottomhole pressure. Engineers can
increase the pump intake pressure (to reduce the free gas), but the
intersection of the reservoir inow curve and tubing outow curve
shows that this leads to reduced production. Another way to reduce
free gas at pump intake is to divert it into the annulus but such natural
separation is very inefcient. Sometimes, shrouds that initially
direct the gasliquid production downwards are used to allow gas
more time to naturally separate. The best way to reduce free gas is to
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 972 705 0541; fax: +1 972 783 0058.
E-mail address: desheng.zhou@ihs.com (D. Zhou).
use gas separators below the pump intake. In many cases, despite
various efforts of the engineers, free gas does enter the pump. Thus
there is the need to better understand the negative impact of free gas
on ESP performance.
The impact of free gas on ESP performance is still not well
understood in the oil industry and the available models are
approximate. This is expected since the modeling of gas interference
involves the modeling of gasliquid ow in a curved impeller rotating
at very high speeds. It took over a couple of decades for researchers to
reasonably accurately model multiphase ow in far simpler symmet-
rical pipe (tubular) geometries that involved no rotations. More
research is required to accurately model gas interference in ESPs.
There were some studies done in the nuclear industry to model the
hypothetical loss of coolant accident (LOCA). However, all these
studies summarized by Sachdeva (1988) involved single stage
centrifugal pumps that were vastly larger than the small-diameter
multistage ESPs in the oil industry. The rst serious effort to study the
qualitative effect of free gas on pump performance in the oil industry
was made by Lea and Bearden (1982). They gathered laboratory data
on three different ESPs using waterair and dieselCO2 mixtures. The
experiments showed that the free gas was more harmful at lower
intake volumes at lower pump intake pressures. Also, the dieselCO2
mixture seemed to perform better than the airwater mixture.
Sachdeva (1988) used the Lea-Bearden data and the qualitative
ndings of the studies in the nuclear industry to develop a dynamic
model to simulate multiphase performance in ESPs. It is the rst
comprehensive analysis of pumping gasliquid mixture in petroleum
industry.
Though thorough, the Sachdeva (1988) dynamic model is
complicated and not easy to use in the eld. So, as a gross
simplication of the earlier dynamic model, Sachdeva et al. (1992)

0920-4105/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2009.11.012
 D. Zhou, R. Sachdeva / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213 205

presented a far simpler empirical correlation to estimate the pressure In addition to the Sachdeva simplied model (Eq. (1)), many
increase of an ESP stage in multiphase condition: authors have developed simplied models to simulate the multiphase
pumping behavior.
Turpin et al. (1986) presented the rst empirical model to predict
E1 E2 E3
pm = 1 = C1 KC1 pi n C2 ql : 1 pump performance in gassy wells. The model was based on the data of
Lea and Bearden, and has two different forms for different pump
types. For pumps I-42B and K-70, the model is
Here,
a1 qg = ql
Hm = He ; 2
pm pressure increase across an ESP stage, kPa/stage
pin pressure at pump intake, kPa where,
free gas void ratio (free gas by volume) at stage intake,


fraction 346430 qg 410
a1 =
ql liquid ow rate, m3/day. C1 pin 2 ql C1 pin

C1 and C2 are unit conversion factors and added in Eq. (1) to where, Hm is the head of gasliquid mixture, H is the head from
change the original correlation from US eld units to SI units. manufacture catalog curve, qg and ql are the ow rates of gas and
C1 = 0.145 and C2 = 0.183453. liquid at pump inlet, pin is pump intake pressure, C1 is a unit
The coefcients of the correlation for pumps I-42B, C-72 and K-70 conversion factor and equals 0.145.
from the Sachdeva empirical model of Eq. (1) are listed in Table 1. The model was suggested to be used in a stable situation where pump
Note that, for better accuracy, Eq. (1) should be used for every 8 stages surging didn't start. The critical model of judging pump surging is
for I-42B type and every 6 stages for C-72 and K-70 types. This is

qg = ql
because the behavior of the stages in non-linear in nature and the = 2000 : 3
3C1 pin
equation captures the performance for every 6 (C-72, K-70) or 8 (C-72)
stages as measured originally by Lea and Bearden (1982).
According to the authors, when b 1, pump worked in a stable
The present study does not look into the details of the movement
condition and Eq. (2) could be used to calculate the head performance.
of gas and liquid within the impeller. Nevertheless, it is pertinent to
If N 1, pump suffered surging.
summarize the key reasons for the head degradation. The degradation
Used two mixed ow pumps, GN4000 and GN7000, and a radial ow
in two-phase ow occurs when the gas tends to ow at a much lower
pump, GN2100, Cirilo (1998) tested pump degradation behaviors using
velocity than the liquid. This has been corroborated by photographic
a mixture of air and water. Based on the test data, Cirilo presented a
studies in the nuclear industry. These studies also observed that in
critical model of maximum gas void ratio to judge pump surging.
bubble ow, the gas tends to dampen the acceleration of the liquid
phase in the impeller. This reduces the energy lost in the form of 0:4342
accelerated liquid phase velocities within the impeller. With increas- g = 0:0187C1 pin ; 4
ing gas at the inlet, the bubble ow turns into a separated slug/churn
ow where the liquid phase is accelerated even more, causing higher where g is the no-slip free gas void ratio.
head degradation. With increasing liquid velocities, the gas phase As shown in Eq. (4), the maximum gas void ratio is only a function
tends to move slower and even stall, causing surging, and eventually, of pump intake pressure. According to the correlation, to obtain a
pump lock when the gas collects towards the impeller inlet. The stable pumping behavior, the free gas void ratio at pump intake
Sachdeva (1988) model explains this behavior via the dynamic should be smaller than the maximum value.
multiphase model that also indicates that the pump performance is Based on Cirilo's test data, Romero (1999) established a multi-
dominated by the inter-physic uid dynamics in the impeller and not phase head model for the type of mixed ow pumps.
the diffuser.


2 
Hm q q q
The simplied Sachdeva correlation (Eq. (1)) shed no predictive = 1 ldl a ldl + ldl + 1 ; 5
Hmax qd max qd max qd max
light on the onset of surging or on the applicability of afnity laws in
multiphase conditions.
where qldl is the dimensionless liquid ow rate, which was dened
as the in-situ liquid rate, ql, divided by the maximum liquid rate from
2. Empirical model review manufacturer's catalog curve. And,

As discussed in the Introduction, multiphase pumping behavior a = 2:902g + 0:2751

can be simulated by the dynamic model and the simplied empirical qd max = 12:0235g :
model. The dynamic model studies the mechanism of multiphase
pumping and therefore should be more accurate theoretically. To judge pump surging, the author presented a critical model of
However, the dynamic model requires solving the equations of mass minimum dimensionless liquid rate, and a critical model of maximum
and momentum of the gasliquid mixture in an ESP, and needs the gas void ratio as
detail design data of pump impeller and diffuser. Many researchers

and engineers are apt to utilize the empirical model for its simplied ql 2
= 6:6465g + 3:5775g + 0:0054; or
form and ease of use. qmax c 6
g = 0:004C1 pin 0:6801 :
Table 1
Correlation coefcients of Sachdeva et al. (1992).
By using pumping data of airwater mixture, Duran and Prado
Pump type Model K El E2 E3 (2004) presented models for mild and severe head degradations,
Radial I-42B 1.1545620 0.943308 1.175596 1.300093 which correspond to bubbly and elongated bubble ow regions. The
Radial 0-72 0.1531026 0.8751 92 1.764939 0.918702 bubbly ow region occurred before pump surging and the elongated
Mixed K-70 0.0936583 0.622180 1.350338 0.317039
bubble ow came after dramatic surging.
206 D. Zhou, R. Sachdeva / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213

For bubbly ow, the pressure performance correlation is Similarly, mixture ow rate, qm, or liquid ow rate, ql, can be made
  dimensionless, qmdl and qldl, by dividing the pump's maximum
n q o qg
pm = 1l H l
+ g H : 7 ow rate, qmax, obtained from the pump catalog curve.
1
qm
The closure correlation for Eq. (7) is qmdl = : 13
qmax


c
qgn = a m + b qln ; In this study, attempts were made to improve Eq. (1) by using
l
various other combinations to match available data. Based on this
where coefcients a = 0.843, b = 0.850 and c = 1.622 in the exercise, it was found that the new set of variables pin, (1 ), and
correlation. m and l are the densities of the gasliquid mixture (1 qmdl) resulted in an improved t. The new simplied empirical
and liquid respectively. qgn and qln are in-situ normalized gas and correlation proposed is:
liquid ow rates. The normalized gas and liquid ow rates were

E3
dened as Hm E1 E2 q
= KC1 pin 1 1 m 14
Hmax qmax
qg
qgn = 1
qmax or, in terms of liquid ow rate, ql (substituting qm = ql/(1 ) we
:
ql get):
qln = 1
qmax
Hm E1 E2 ql E3
= KC1 pin 1 1 : 15
According to the authors, one may calculate the mixture density Hmax 1qmax
from the closure correlation from known in-situ liquid and gas ow
rate, and then, solve for actual gas void ratio, , from the cor-
A log of both sides of Eq. (12), yields a linear function with log(Hm/
relation of m = l(1 ) + g. The mixture pressure increase,
Hmax) as the dependent and log(C1pin), log(1), log(1qm/qmax) as
pm, will be calculated out by substituting the actual void ratio into
independent variables.
Eq. (7).
The data used for the model consisted of 236, 173 and 326 sets for
Duran and Prado also presented a critical model for the boundary
pumps I-42B, C-72 and K-70 respectively. These were taken from the
between stable and unstable pumping by using of normalized gas ow
appendix of the Sachdeva (1988) study in which, for each data set, pin,
rate,
, qm, pump stages (s), and temperature (T) were reported. The

 current model uses pin, (1 ), and (1 qmdl) for each set and the
g c
qgn = a + b qln ; 8 calculation process is shown in Appendix A.
l
A linear multiple regression analysis was then done on the log
where g is in-situ gas density and coefcients a = 5.580, b = 0.098 values of variables of the current model (from Appendix A) to obtain
and c = 1.421. estimates for K, E1, E2, and E3. The results of the regression are shown
For elongated bubble ow, Duran and Prado (2004) presented in Table 2. The error analysis, shown in Table B-1, indicates the
correlation to calculate head degradation is quite acceptable.
pm = a + b lnqgn = C1 ; 9 In the experiment, eight stages were used for I-42B, and six stages
were installed for C-72 and K-70. Eqs. (14) and (15) were developed
by using the average pressure increase of one stage. As the stage-to-
where constants a = 0.47075, b = 0.21626. stage pressure increase is non-linear in nature, therefore, Eqs. (14)
The critical model of surging prediction for elongated bubble ow and (15) should be used for every eight stages for I-42B pump and for
was given as every 6 stages for C-72 ad K-70 pumps.
For a mixed type pump K-70, for instance, parameters of Eq. (14)
b
qgl = aqgn ; 10 or Eq. (15) are K = 1.236426, E1 = 2.570713, E2 = 12.66051, and
E3 = 0.755046 from Table 2. For given pump intake pressure, gas void
where constant a = 1.6213 and b = 0.435. ratio, and uid ow rate at pump intake, pump head per stage could
be calculated from Eq. (14) or Eq. (15) with the parameters. The
3. New multiphase pumping model calculated head is the average head of the six continuous stages from
the calculation stage. The total head of the six stages from the intake is
3.1. Head degradation model the product of the calculated pump head by number six. The equations
may be used for the group of next six stages starting from the seventh
Pressure increase across one pump stage, pm, kPa, can be stage, where the variables (pin, , and qm) are values at the seventh
alternatively expressed as hydraulic head, Hm, m, by dividing the stage inlet.
pressure increase by uid density. For accuracy, an average density, For radial pumps, the analysis indicated that best efcient point
m, kg/m3, for gasliquid mixture in the stage is used. The head per (BEP) (pump size) inuences the accuracy of the correlation. For BEP
pump stage is:

Hm = C3 pm = m ; 11
Table 2
where C3 is unit conversion factor and is equal to 101.945. Coefcients of multiphase pumping model.
Pumping head is made dimensionless, Hmdl, by dividing the
Pump type Model K E1 E2 E3
maximum head of the pump, Hmax, obtained from the manufacturer's
catalog head curve at zero ow rate. Radial I-42B 1.971988 1.987836 9.659564 0.905908
Radial 0-72 1.401067 3.100355 14.93852 1.308369
Mixed K-70 1.236426 2.570713 12.66051 0.755046
Hmdl = Hm = Hmax 12
 D. Zhou, R. Sachdeva / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213
less than 352 m3/d, it is recommended that coefcients for C-42B
pump in Table 2 be used. For larger radial pumps, coefcients for C-72
pump in Table 2 are more appropriate. Data from more pumps is
needed to extend the validity of this simplied approach.
For illustration, Fig. 1 uses Eq. (15) to show the behavior of a mixed
ow pump with a constant intake pressure of 791 kPa. Pump
performance is shown for inlet free gas volume percentages of 10%,
20% and 30%. The topmost curve represents the performance with no
gas at inlet, i.e., with 100% liquid. It is the dimensionless form of the
manufacturer's standard catalog head curve of K-70 pump. Since this
is an approximate correlation with emphasis on ease of use, the very
slight gas lift effect occasionally seen by Lea and Bearden's diesel
CO2 data is ignored. Fig. 1 shows higher free gas amount at the pump
inlet causes higher head degradation.
Fig. 2, constructed from Eq. (15), shows the impact of varying
pump intake pressure (791, 1480, and 2170 kPa) at a constant free gas
ratio of 30%. A higher the pump intake pressure lowers the head
degradation. It is important to note that the strong inuence of intake
pressure on head degradation was not pointed out in any of the
studies of head degradation in the nuclear industry. This may be
because the pumps used for LOCA models were all single-stage
pumps.
3.2. Comparison with homogeneous model
Manufacturer's pump catalog head curve represents the result of
pumping 100% liquid (water). As discussed in Sachdeva (1988), the
head curve is exactly the same as the catalog liquid-only curve if the
two-phase ow in the impeller is homogenous with both gas and
liquid phases having the same velocity. The outlet pressure will be
different for pumps with 100% water vs. those with two-phase
homogenous ow, but the head will remain unchanged since head
equals pressure/density. Basically, in absence of gasliquid slip, the
homogenous two-phase model curve (with total in situ gas plus liquid
rate on x-axis vs. head on y-axis) and the catalog curve will be
identical.
For comparison, Figs. 1 and 2 are redrawn as Figs. 3 and 4 with the
addition of curves from the homogenous model. As shown in Fig. 3, at
higher free gas percentages, the difference between homogeneous
method and the present model increases.
Fig. 4 compares the present and the homogenous model at various
pressures. At constant free gas percentage (30%), homogeneous
model curve does not change with pump intake pressure. However,
Fig. 1. Head degradation with free gas void ratio at 791 kPa for mixed pump K-70.
207
the present model does change as evidenced by the 3 lines for 791,
1480 and 2170 kPa. This is consistent with the observed data and with
the simplied Sachdeva model in Eq. (1).
The homogenous model is shown mainly for the purpose of
comparison as it is a representation of the catalog curve in multiphase
conditions. In general, the homogenous model should be avoided
excepting for very high inlet pressures and very low inlet gas
fractions. For most situations, the present model performs better.
3.3. Variable speed drive
The proposed model (Eqs. (14) or (15)) is based on the Lea-
Bearden data at frequency of 60 HZ and a rotational speed of
3500 rpm. Pump performance varies with pump rotational speed
according to afnity laws given below

n
q1 N1
=
q2 N2

m
H1 N1
= :
H2 N2
Here, q1 and H1 are respectively the liquid (or total uid) rate and
head at speed N1 and q2 and H2 are liquid (or total uid) rates and
head at speed N2. For 100% liquid, exponents n and m in the equations
are 1 and 2 respectively.
The data gathered by Lea-Bearden (and listed in Sachdeva 1988)
included some observations at 5160 rpm. The pressure increases can
be changed to heads at 5160 rpm from Eq. (15) (refer to Appendix A
for the detailed steps). Using Eqs. (14) and (15), the rates and heads at
5160 rpm can be converted back to rates and heads at normal speed
(3520 rpm from Lea and Bearden, 1982) by dividing 5160/3520 and
square of 5160/3520 respectively. The calculated rates and heads at
3520 rpm can be further changed to dimensionless forms from
Eqs. (14) and (15). Fig. 5 shows the calculated dimensionless rates
and heads at 3520 rpm. These points are marked as Measured.
Using the same calculated rates at 3520 rpm, measured pump
intake pressures, and gas void ratios, corresponding heads can be
calculated from Eq. (14) or (15). The calculated dimensionless rates
and heads are also drawn on Fig. 5 and marked as Model.
As shown in Fig. 5, the rates and heads from measured data and
those from Eq. (14) do not match well enough. Recall, these rates and
heads from measured data are based on the afnity laws with n = 1
and m = 2 indicating that the one-phase exponents of the afnity
208 D. Zhou, R. Sachdeva / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213

Fig. 2. Head degradation with pump intake pressure at 30% free gas void ratio for mixed pump K-70.

equations are not valid in multiphase ow. After various trials, surging and the critical free gas values depended only on pump intake
including changes in n and m, it was determined that n = 0.8 and pressure.
m = 2 were an acceptable approximation (Fig. 6). However the measured data shows that surging started at
different ow rates, gas void ratios, and pump intake pressures. A

0:8 new equation is proposed to predict the onset of surging. Using
q1 N1
= dimensionless ow rate, the form of the new critical model is:
q2 N2

2 16
H1 N1

= : qm E4 E5
H2 N2 = Kc C1 pin ; 17
qmax c

or, in terms of liquid ow rate, it is

3.4. Critical correlation

ql E4 E5
= Kc C1 pin 1; 18
To avoid unstable pumping operation, it is important to know the qmax c
point of the onset of surging. The transition point from stable to
unstable ow i.e. the point when surging starts is referred to as where C1 = 0.145 of units conversion.
the critical point in this study. As summarized by Pessoa and Prado As before, Eq. (17) was converted into a linear form by taking a log
(2003), many authors used free gas void ratio to judge unstable of both sides. At each critical point in the dieselCO2 data, log(qm/
operation. qmax), log(C1pin), and log() were calculated from the data. A linear
According to the authors, pumping would be stable if the free gas multiple regression was performed on the calculated data and the
void ratio in pump was less than some critical value. Otherwise, once resulting regression parameters are listed in Table 3. The error
the free gas void ratio exceeded the critical value, pumping was analysis in Table B-2 shows the correlation is acceptable.

Fig. 3. Comparison with homogeneous model at 791 kPa for mixed pump K-70.
 D. Zhou, R. Sachdeva / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213 209

Fig. 4. Comparison with homogeneous model at 30% free gas void ratio for mixed pump.

Fig. 5. Comparison between results from model and measured data using afnity laws (n = 1 and m = 2) for radial pump I-42B.

Fig. 7 shows the relationship of critical rate, free gas fraction, and amount, the lower the critical ow rate. As pump intake pressure
pump intake pressure as calculated from Eq. (17) for K-70. As can be increases, critical ow rate decreases. Higher pump intake pressure
seen, for a constant pump intake pressure, the lower the free gas and lower free gas rate give lower critical rate and thus have a larger

Fig. 6. Comparison between results from model and measured data using modied afnity laws (n = 0.8 and m = 2) for radial pump I-42B.
210 D. Zhou, R. Sachdeva / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213
Table 3
Coefcients of critical model.
Pump type Model Kc E4 E5
Radial I-42B 1.418884 0.07244 0.318544
Radial 0-72 2.173723 0.05253 0.833587
Mixed K-70 7.497750 0.34870 0.867092
stable operation range. That is why many in the eld do not see any
pump head degradation or surging at high pump intake pressures.
4. Comparison with previous models
In the paper, we present three new models head degradation
model (Eq. (14) or Eq. (15)), speed effect model (Eq. (16)), and critical
model (Eq. (17) or Eq. (18)). For speed effect modeling of pumping
gasliquid mixture, up to today, no such model has been presented in
published papers. The presented pump head performance model and
critical model are used to compare with previous models against a test
data set measured by Lea and Bearden (1982).
As shown in Table 4, the test data set was from a mixed type pump
K-70. The test pump has six stages. The measured rotational speed
was 3500 rpm for all tests. The mixture rate is the sum of gas and
liquid rates at the pump intake. The pressure increase is the pressure
change after the total six stages. The pump started surging when the
mixture rate was reduced to be less than 389.2 m3/d. That is pump
surging appeared when dimensionless liquid rate is less than 0.387
from Eq. (13).
4.1. Comparison of head degradation models
The available head performance models of pumping gasliquid
mixture are Sachdeva head model (Eq. (1)), Turpin head model
(Eq. (2)), Romero head model (Eq. (5)), and Duran and Prado head
models (Eq. (7) for bubbly ow and Eq. (9) for elongated ow).
As shown in Fig. 8, for actual data, the dimensionless heads were
calculated from the measured pressure increases in Table 4 by
Eqs. (12) and (11). The average mixture density for each test was
calculated by Eq. (A-2) in Appendix A. Dimensionless liquid rate was
calculated from the mixture rate and gas void ratio in Table 4.
For the present model, Eq. (15) was used. Except the pressure
increase data, all other data in Table 4 were used in the calculation.
Equations used for the calculations are given in Appendix A.
Fig. 7. Critical model for mixed pump K-70.
The data of Turpin model were calculated from Eq. (2). Sachdeva
model data were calculated from Eq. (1).
For Romero model, Eq. (5) was used to calculate the dimensionless
head. However, except the last point (mixture rate 389.2 m3/d), all
other points gave negative head. This is because the dimensionless
liquid rates are greater than the maximum rate qdmax, which is 0.398
for the gas void ratio 0.2975. Therefore, Romero model couldn't be
used for the test data in Table 4.
Both bubbly ow model, Eq. (7), and elongated ow model,
Eq. (9), of Duran and Prado do not yield answers for the data in Table 4
either. For bubbly ow, the calculated ql/(1 ) values exceed the
maximum ow rate, and therefore one couldn't get a head from pump
curve by using H{ql/(1 )}.
For elongated ow, the calculated pressure increases are all
negative from Eq. (9). To get a positive pressure increase, the
maximum normalized gas ow rate is 0.1134 from Eq. (9). The tests
in Table 4 have a larger gas void ratio.
As shown in Fig. 8, the present new model is the best one to the
actual test data. Turpin et al. (1986) model is the next and Sachdeva et
al. (1992) model is the third. Both Romero (1999) and Duran and
Prado (2004) models couldn't give answers for the test situation
(29.75% free gas void ratio). Romero model and Duran and Prado
model were based on test results from pumping airwater mixture.
4.2. Comparison of critical models
The available critical models of judging stable and unstable
(surging) are Turpin critical model (Eq. (3)), Cirilo critical model
(Eq. (4)), Romero critical model (Eq. (6)), and Duran and Prado
critical models (Eq. (8)) for bubbly ow and Eq. (10) for elongated
ow.
Form the present critical model, Eq. (18), the dimensionless critical
liquid rate is 0.362 at the condition of pump intake pressure of
1480 kPa and gas void ratio of 0.2975.
As shown in Table 4, the last stable point in the tests is 389.2 m3/d.
It corresponds to dimensionless liquid rate of 0.378. For the model
value 0.362 is less than and close to the last stable value 0.378, the
critical model (Eq. (18)) gives pretty good simulation to the tests.
For Turpin critical model, the calculated value from Eq. (3) for
the test data is 1.412. As the value is greater than one, the pumping
should be in unstable (surging) according to Turpin et al. (1986).
However, the pumping was stable for all the test data in Table 4.
For Cirilo critical model, the calculated gas void ratio from Eq. (4) is
19.25%. According to the model, for this pump intake pressure
 D. Zhou, R. Sachdeva / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213 211

Table 4 rate is 0.853 which corresponds to the test of 389.2 m3/d. The
Test data of K-70 mixed pump at 3500 rpm. normalized liquid rate of 389.2 m3/d is 0.539. Therefore, both the
Gas void Pimp intake Mixture rate Temperature Pressure bubbly and elongated critical models couldn't predict the tests in
ratio pressure kPa m3/d C increase kPa Table 4.
29.75 1514.8 511.3 31.7 179.3 In summary, the present critical model gives a pretty good surging
29.75 1480.3 503.1 31.7 193.1 prediction for the tests. All other critical models lose the surging
29.75 1480.3 495 31.7 206.8 prediction for the tests.
29.75 1480.3 442.1 31.1 220.6
29.75 1480.3 436.1 31.1 234.4
29.75 1466.5 389.2 31.1 248.2
5. Application

(1480 kPa), stable pumping should be controlled in maximum gas
fraction of 19.25%. However, the tests in Table 4 were stable until the
rate was less than 389.2 m3/d.
For Romero critical model, according to Eq. (6), the maximum gas
void ratio is 14.69%, or the minimum dimensionless liquid rate is
0.4815. The test data in Table 4 recorded that the cases were stable for
the 29.75% gas void ratio, and the rate 442.1 m3/d yields a
dimensionless liquid rate of 0.4299 which is less than the minimum
value of 0.4815.
For Duran and Prado critical model, for bubbly ow Eq. (8), the
maximum normalized critical gas ow rate is 18.75% which
corresponds to the test of 511.3 m3/d in Table 4. However, the tests
in Table 4 were stable with normalized gas rate of 29.95% for the test.
For elongated ow Eq. (10), the minimum normalized critical liquid
If a pumping rate (in dimensionless form) is greater than the
critical rate calculated from Eq. (17) or Eq. (18), the operation will be
stable. For stable operations, Eq. (14) or Eq. (15) can be used to
calculate the deteriorated head. If the pumping rate is less than the
calculated critical rate, the pumping operation may be unstable and
the design should be modied or pumping operation should be
changed. Eqs. (14) and (15) cannot be used to predict the new head
under unstable conditions.
Fig. 9 shows a calculated critical condition line on pump
performance curves at constant intake pressure of 791 kPa. For K-70
(coefcients in Table 3), the calculated critical rates from Eq. (17) for
10%, 20% and 30% inlet gas fractions are 0.278, 0.398, and 0.461.
Substituting these in Eq. (15), gives dimensionless critical heads of
0.805, 0.465 and 0.209 respectively.

Fig. 8. Comparison with previous models.

Fig. 9. Effect of gas void ratio on stable and unstable operations.

212 D. Zhou, R. Sachdeva / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213

Fig. 10. Effect of pump intake pressure on stable and unstable operations.

Similarly, Fig. 10 shows the effect of pump intake pressure on critical (2) A critical correlation is presented to estimate the onset of
condition. The head performance curves are taken from Fig. 2, which surging. Critical rate is a function of not only pump intake
were constructed at the conditions of xed 30% free gas and intake pressure but also of free gas at the inlet.
pressures of 791 kPa, 1480 kPa and 2170 kPa, for K-70 pump. The (3) For variable speed drive, instead of linear according to afnity
calculated critical dimensionless liquid rates using Eq. (17) are 0.461, laws, rate varies with rotation speed at the power of 0.8 when
0.362 and 0.263. From Eq. (15), the corresponding dimensionless critical pumping gasliquid mixture.
heads are calculated to be 0.209, 0.464 and 0.771 respectively. (4) This model is not designed to be an exhaustive dynamic
In both Figs. 9 and 10, the STABLE and UNSTABLE operating regions multiphase model (as in Sachdeva, 1988). It is a generalized
are shown. Surging is likely to start at the critical line and, as one model that can easily be used in the eld.
moves left, the probability of gas lock will increase. As shown in Figs. 9
and 10, the critical condition line tilts to the left, which gives narrower
unstable area and wider stable area as dimensionless head goes Nomenclature
higher. Increasing pump intake pressure and reducing free gas in C unit conversion factor, C1 =0.145, C2 =0.183453, C3=101.945
pump may move an unstable operation to stable area. E coefcient
The present models are based the test data. Cautions should be taken H head (m)
when applying the present models to situations beyond the test data. K coefcient
For radial ow type pump I-42B, the test gas void ratios were from 5.67% N rotation speed (rpm)
to 39.94% and the pump intake pressures varied from 515 kPa to m exponent of afnity laws
2032 kPa. For radial pump C-72, the gas void ratios were 9.92% to 29.75% n exponent of afnity laws
and pump intake pressures were from 481 kPa to 1618 kPa. For mixed p pressure (kPa)
ow pump K-70, the gas void ratios were from 9.92% to 49.58% and q ow rate (m3/day)
pump intake pressures were from 515 kPa to 2273 kPa.
We close with a couple of points of interest for the practicing Greek Letters
engineer. Note that conditions that cause the gas and liquid to mix gas void ratio, fraction
thoroughly are good to avoid head degradation in the pump. no-slip gas void ratio, fraction
However, exactly the same condition reduces the performance of a density, kg/m3
separator since the tiny bubbles are harder to separate than
segregated slug-type ow. As seen in Lea-Bearden study, airwater
mixtures at low pump intake pressures are not good for pump Subscripts
performance. However, the same mixture is much easier to separate G gas
using a separator. Engineers need to be aware that many factors that L liquid
are good for two-phase ow in pumps are bad for the gas separators m mixture
used below the pump and vice versa. It has been also postulated that max maximum
the more inefcient pump may perform better in multiphase ow. dl dimensionless
This is because it is likely to provide a less streamlined and more
turbulent path in the impeller. This mixes the gas and liquid phases
more thoroughly. More mixing implies more bubble ow in impeller, Acknowledgements
and as discussed before, this implies less head degradation.
The authors thank IHS Inc for permission to publish this paper.
6. Conclusions
Appendix A. Calculation of correlation variables from measured
(1) A new pump head correlation is presented for pumping gas data
liquid mixture. It performs better than the previous simplied
Sachdeva model (1992). The head correlation should be used in Using diesel fuelCO2 mixture and waterair mixture, Lea and
the stable operating region of the pump. Bearden (1982) studied pump performance for the gas/liquid
 D. Zhou, R. Sachdeva / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 70 (2010) 204213 213

mixtures by changing pump intake pressure, gas void ratio, and
mixture ow rate. For each observation, they recorded pressure
increase, pm, pump intake pressure, pin, gas void ratio, , and
mixture ow rate, qm. Also reported were pump temperature, T, and
the number of pump stages, s. Here diesel fuelCO2 data set
(Sachdeva, 1988) are used.
Following procedures show how to change each observation data
set to a new set of Hm/Hmax, pin, 1 , 1 qm/qmax to set up new
model.
Mixture head Hm per stage is calculated from
For test pumps I-42B, C-72 and K-70, maximum pump heads are
16.15 m, 17.22 m and 16.46 m, and their maximum ow rates in m3/
day are 374.73, 709.17, and 722.26 respectively.
Appendix B. Statistical results
Table B-1
Statistic results of multiphase pumping model.

Description I-42B C-72 K-70

Hm = C3 pm = sm ; A  1
Regression statistics
Multiple R 0.79102 085882 0.92804
where C3 is unit conversion factor and is equal to 101.945.
R-squared 0.62571 0.73758 0.86125
Average density m is Adjusted R-squared 0.62087 0.73292 0.85996
F-Test 129.282 158.334 666.230
m = min + mout = 2: A  2 Observations 236 173 326
Degrees of freedom 232 169 322
Pump inlet density m-in and outlet density m-out are calculated
Residual statistics
by l(1 g) + gg at pump inlet and outlet conditions respectively.
Standard Error 0.50965 0.34993 0.24318
Liquid density, l, is 801 kg/m3 for diesel fuel. g is no slip gasliquid Sum squared errors 60.2595 20.6941 19.0421
ratio, and

g = qg = qg + ql ; A  3
Table B-2
where liquid ow rate, ql, is calculated as (1 )qm. Statistic results of critical model.

Gas density at pressure, p (kPa), and temperature, T (R), in kg/m3 Description I-42B C-72 K-70
is
Regression statistics
Multiple R 0.83368 0.89981 0.79504
2:7g p R-squared 0.69503 0.80965 0.63209
g = C ; A  4
ZT Adjusted R-squared 0.66293 0.76207 0.59121
F-Test 21.6504 17.0141 15.4643
where, constant C = 2.3227. Gas specic gravity g can be calculated Observations 22 11 21
as g = Mw/28.97. Molecular weight of CO2 is 44.01, and its specic Degrees of freedom 19 8 18
gravity is calculated as 1.519.
Residual statistics
All measured temperatures are around 32.2 C. The Z factor of CO2 Standard error 0.12235 0.18972 0.23336
at temperature 32.2 C can be estimated as Sum squared errors 0.28440 0.28796 0.98020

Z = 10:0000435p:
Eqs. (A-3) and (A-4) are evaluated at pump inlet and outlet. Use
measured gas void ratio as g at inlet place. The only unknown now is
the gas rate at pump outlet, and it is:
pin Zout
qgXout = q :
pout Zin gin
Pump outlet pressure, pout, can be calculated from measured data
pin + pm. Z factors, Zin and Zout, are calculated from Eq. (A-5).
Divide the calculated average density from Eq. (A-2) by diesel
volume factor Bdiesel to take into account CO2 saturation effect in
diesel fuel (Lea and Bearden, 1982).
Bdiesel = 1 + 0:0029p = 100:
Once mixture head, Hm, is calculated from above equations,
dimensionless head can be calculated by dividing pump maximum
head, Hmax.
A  5
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