425%

Determination of Acoustic
Velocities for Natural Gas
L. K. Thomas, SPE-AJME, Phillips Petroleum Co.
R. W. Hankinson, Phillips Petroleum Co.
K. A. PhWpS, Phillips Petroleum Co.

Introduction
Some uses of acoustic velocities for natural gas are Calculation of Acoustic Velocify
to determine liquid levels in gas wells and to locate Starting from the equation for the speed of sound in
hydrate freezes, lost ‘pigs’, or other obstructions in a compressible fluide
gas pipelines. These dktances can be calculated from
ap YJ
well defined acoustic records (Fig. la) by associating
the number of pipe sections with their corresponding
lengths. If, however, an uninterpretable acoustic
v, =
[( )1
~ g’”””””””
(2)

it is possible to derive the following equation for a

record (Fig. lb) is obtained, or if the lengths of the real gas (see Appendix).
pipe sections of a given flow string are unknown,
distance between the shot deflection and the reflecting
surface can be obtained by integrating the relation-
ship between velocity dktance and time
= dx Eq. 3 can also be expressed in terms of the isentropic
v . . . . . . . . (1) expansion coefficient n, since
-z””
The utility of this technique depends upon one’s n= K
....... (4)
ability to calculate acoustic velocities and to measure
system variables such as gas gravity or composition,
1–E%
()
z@T

temperature, temperature gradient and pressure. Making this substitution yields

In the past,’ acoustic velocities have been calcu-
vf=l/gcznRT . . . . . . . . (5)
lated from an approximate relationship involving
atmospheric heat capacity ratios rather than ratios To compute the velocity of sound in a real gas from
that are a function of pressure. As has been pointed either Eq. 3 or Eq. 5, it is necessary to know the PVT
out,* this approximate relationship provides a good behavior of the gas and the variation of the heat
working equation for calculating acoustic velocities capacity ratio with temperature and pressure. To
at low pressure ranges but should not be used at accomplish this, an equation of state for natural gas
higher pressures. was developed.
The purpose of this work is to present a method
for rigorously calculating acoustic velocities for natu- Benedict-Webb-Rmbin Equation
ral gas over a broad range of temperatures, pressures CMState for Natural Gas
and gas gravities. An equation of state based on the well known eight-

Acoustic velocities for natural gas are calculated as a junction of temperature, pressure,
and gas gravity. The method is based on a generalized equation of state for natural gas that
may also be used to calculate a number of thermodynamic properties such as specific
internal energy and isentropic expansion.

JULY, 1970 889

 .,
constant Benetlct-”Webb-Rutiln7 @WRJ eqitiatiofi “was
deve!one~
‘.?W-fnr -.-. — g~~: -A Comprehensive treatment
.V. .~atnra!
StOT DEFLECTION
of this work was published earliefi and only a brief
summary is presented here.
Expressed in pseudoreduced form, the BWR equa-
tion of state is given by
T
PP. = ~v + (B.r TV, – A or – C.,/Tfl.*)/VP,’
pr

+ (b. Tp, – a,)/Vp,3 + a, ~r/Vpr’

TUBING@LLAR WINTERPRETABLE + [c, (1 – Y,/VD,’) e-~r/v~r’]/Vp,3 Tp,’

TUBltUi CULAR
. . . . . . . . . . . (6)
REFLECTION
The pseudoreduced volume is defined as
v
‘P’= RT,C’ ””-”””””” ‘7)
Pp.
and is related to Tp,, PO,and gas compressibility fac-
tor, z, by the following equation

LIQUIDREFECTION _
Zfl;
V,r= —..........(8)
+
The basic gas compressib~lty data2 as presented
A B
in tabular reduced form by Poettmann and CarpenteP
Fig. l—Acoustic records. were used to evaluate the reduced BWR coefficients.
Two seta of coefficients were developed to obtain the
desired accuracy over the entire Pn, range from 0.4
to 15. The &rat set of reduced BWR coefficients,
I A Table 1, is applicable for pp. from 0.4 to 5 and the
?00 second set applies to the range of PO,from S to i 5.
650 The low reduced temperature limit of the correlation
is Tp, = 1.1.
600
550 Correlation of Pseudocr&kal Temperalme and
Paeudocrikal Presaum with Gas Gravity
500
Data relating gas composition to gravity were obtained
450
on 84 casinghead gas wells from the Phillips Natural
400 Gas and Gasoline Dept. and were used to extend the
350[/’1 TPC =170.491+307.344Ye NGPSA’J 4 correlations for the critical properties of
3oo~ natural gas vs gas gravity. The Phillips data were all
.5 .6 .7 .S .9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 recent (less than 7 years old) and represent wells
GAS GRAVITY from dfierent fields in several states. They were lim-
Fig. 2—Pseudocritical temperature as a ited to those points analyzed by gas chromatography
function of gas gravity. rather than by wet analysis.
The data from the well logs were processed as
follows
1. The paeudocritical temperatures and pseudo-
680 critical pressures at each point were calculated using
670 —

660 –

650 — TABLE 1-COEFFICIENTS FOR TNE REDUCED

BENEDICT-WEBS-RUBIN EQUATION OF
640 -
STATE FOR NATURAL GAS
630 —
Coefficient h from 0.4 to 5.0 p,, from 5.0 to 15.0
620 — a. 0.001290236 0.0014507882
6!0 — ppc= 709.604- 58.7Wyg A 0.38193005 0.37922269
I I I I I I I b:’ 0.022199287 0.024181399
600 I I I 1 1
.5 .6 .7 .8 .9 1.0 I.f !.2 t3 f.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 B0. 0.12215481 0.11812287
c. –0.015674794 0.037905663
GAS GRAVITY c 0, 0.027271364 0.19845016
Fig. 3—Pseudocritical prassure as a a. 0.023834219 0.048911693
- --------
function of gas gravity. Y, u.m%mllt$o 0.M3i4254i7

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

 .,
a weighted molar average of the pure component AO = Ao, R’ TPc2/PVc , . . . . . (18)
Criticals.
b = b,R2 TPC2/PPC2 , . . . . . (19)
Tpc=xyi Tci, . . . . . . . . (9) BO = BO, R Tpc/pPc , . . . . . (20)
Ppc=x YiPci. . . . . . . . .’ (10) c = CT R3 TPC5/Pp.2 , . . . . . (21)
2. Points relating pseudocritical temperature and Co = CO,R2 Tp,4/PPc , . . . . . (22)
pseudocritical pressure to gravity from the Engbzeer-
ing Data Book” 4 and from Phillips were fit with the
a=arR3 TVc3/PVc3 , . . . . . (23]
best equations in the least-squares sense. The resulting Y = y, R2 TVCz/PPc2 . . . . . . (24)
straight-lime correlations are shown graphically in
Figs. 2 and 3 and are given by the following equations: Dtierentiating Eq. 16 yields
eve-Ylvz
Tpc = 170.491 + 307.344 Ya , . . . (11) cv’cv”++co–~+
[ Y
PP. = 709.604 – 58.718 y~ . . . . (12) Ce -

1
Y/v=
+ (25)
The allowable limits of impurities for the above equa- --m-’””””””
tions are 3 percent hydrogen sulfide, 5 percent nitro-
where
gen, or a total impurity content of 7 percent. Outside
these limits, the errors in pseudocritical pressure ex- CV”=CP”– R . . . . . . . . (26)
ceed the 6 percent expected maximum.
The low-pressure heat capacity for natural gas can be
Evaluation of the Ratio of Heat evaluated as a function of temperature and gas gravity
Capacftks for Natural Gas from the following equation’
To evaluate the ratio of heat capacity, K, for natural CPO=A+BT +CG+DG2+E(TG) +FT2
gas as a function of temperature, pressure and gravity,
it is necessary to relate the specific heat of gas at con- . . . . . . . . . . . (27)
stant pressure To obtain the foregoing coefficients, 60 hypothetical
mixtures were generated by permuting hydrocarbon
c,=
()—,
;:
P
. . . . . . . (13) compositions over a gravity range of 0.55 to 2.0.
Molal-average low-pressure heat capacities were then
and specific heat at constant volume calculated for these mixtures at several temperatures,
.,. .. 3-.. -.--:wbe. I.+km tram-
resultmg m severtu mmdred uu ~UI~c=Ie~m~~ .. ...
Cv=+
() v....... . (14) peratum, gravity and molar-average low-pressure heat
capacities. Two sets of coefficients were obtained
to the PVT behavior of the gas. The approach used (Table 2), the first set for the temperature range from
in this work was to evaluate the difference in heat O to 200°F and the second set for a broader tem-
capacities from Eq. 15, perature range, O to 600°F. The average absolute
errors for the correlations were 1.01 and 1.37 percent,
respectively.

and the specific heat capacity at constant volume from Discussion of Results
Eq. 14. The specific heat at constant pressure was Acoustic velocities for natural gas have been calcu-
then calculated by adding the results from Eqs. 14 lated using the technique described in the previous
and 15. section and are presented in Figs. 4 through 7. These
The derivatives on the right-hand side of Eq. 15 plots represent values of acoustic velocities for naturai
can be evaluated from Eq. 6, and CV can be obtained gas vs pseudoreduced temperature and pseudoreduced
by differentiating the BWR equation for internal pnxsure for values of gas gravity of 0.6,0.8, 1.0 and
ener n’ 1.2, respectively.
Figs. 8 through 11 show the relationship ‘mtweeii
u=u”–(Ao +3co/T’)+ –;+
() TABLE 2-COEFFICIENTS FOR THE CORRELATION OF
+~(&)tg (+) Ie nan e UEAT PADA4VTV ~OR
Loii-FREssiiRE I*DAI=L n-9 W“. --, . . ----
NATURAL GAS AS FUNCTION OF
(1 – e-~i~ V’ e-.y/vz TEMPERATURE AND GRAVITY

[ Y
–—2 I , . (16)
Temperature Range
Oto 200 “F 0t0600”F Units
with respect to temperature at constant volume. A 4.6435 3.7771 T “F
The BWR coefficients in Eq. 16 are related to the B –0.0079997 –0.0011050 C$ Btu/lbmole “R
reduced BWR coefficients listed in Table 1 by the c 5.8425 7.5281
following identities: D 1.1533 0.65621
E 0.020603 0.014609
a = ar Ra TPc3/pPc2 , . . . . . (17) F 9.849 (lo-’) 0.0

JULY, 1970 %2i

 PSEUDO REDUCEO PRESSURE, Ppr

23W
/
2200 L ,\Q~
/4 /
21W
---- i~
,,-
1600
1500
:s=’” 1400
1300
1200
two
moo
900
800

1 700

17W 1- 4 ,.~
,scnl~ 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0
5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0
‘sEwO ‘EDUCED ‘REwuM~ ‘pr
‘EuOO ‘RESSURE.
‘EOucEO ‘pr

Fig. 4-Acoustic velocity for 0.6-gravity natural gas. Fig. 6-Acoustic velocity for 1.O-gravity natural gas.

Lo 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0

20000
1900 – PSEUDO REDUCED PRESSURE, Ppr
lm –

E2Z2Z

1
::~ l’.~
5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 6.0 9.0
PSEUDO REDUCED PRESSURE, Ppr,
‘sEuDO ‘EWED ‘SMEI ‘pr
Fig. 5--Acoustic velocity for 0.8-gravity natural gas. Fig. 7—Acoustic velocity for I. Z-gravity naturai gas.

892 JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

 .* \ I... - .L -- 9 + Lwl-fimr.m
- ..,.-..
the approximate expression for the ratio of heat tie correlation am ( IJ KSS UIi J Pi31wUL Ily Ulv=.u

capacities, sulfide, 5 percent nitrogen or a total impurity content

of 7 percent; and (2) reduced temperature greater
ml+’’,..
.. . . . . - (28) than 1.1 and reduced pressures between 0.4 and 15
with the applicable set of coefficients. Also limiting is
and the rigorously calculated ratio of heat capacities. the fact that the pseudocritical equations were devel-
Figs. 8 and 9 for a gas gravity of 0.6 indicate little oped from casinghead gas data, and should not be
dii7erence in K values for pressures less than 1,000 appiieci to condensate-bearing gas~o ‘W*U5 a ~~a%itj’
psia, but show wide dkcrepancies for higher values greater than 0.8.
of pressure. Figs. 10 and 11 for 0.8-gravity gas also The BWR equation of state can be used to calcu-
show little difference between the approximate and late heat capacity ratios and in turn acoustically cal-
rigorous values of K at iOw pressures — i ,000 psia -.. I.4- A:.+.-,.a -Ah
uulaLGulMallbGs m“ -x,-mm-
WLU. C1.ua.”aajy
m.rtnr of ~.7 ~ per~~n-t.
v..”.
in Fig. 11 and up to 3,500 psia in Fig. 10. Discrep-
ancies in K values above these pressures, however, are Nomenclature
again appreciable. a, AO, b, BO,
For illustration, calculated values of isentropic ex- c, CO, a, y = Benedict-Webb-Rubin coefficients
pansion coefficients are presented in Figs. 12 and 13. ar, ArO, br, B~O,
c,, C,O, a,, y, = reduced Benedict- Webb-Rubin
Conclusions coefficients
It is necessary to calculate K as a function of both A, B, C, D, E, F = low-pressure heat capacity coeffi-
temperature and pressure if reliable acoustic velocity cients, Eq. 27
calculations are desired. This is especially true if sys- CP = specific heat at constant pressure,
tem pressures are in excess of 1,000 psia. For pres- Btu/lbmole “R
sures less than 1,000 psia, K values can be calculated COO= low-pressure specific heat at con-
with some degree of confidence using the approximate stand pressure, Btu/lbmole ‘R
relationship given by Eq. 28, K(T, p) s KO/z. CV = specific heat at constant volume,
A ma.. ..l;ma,4 lb
J= g=~el --u
Ai.t.W.hh-Rnhin
~.ne=,.. . ...” . . .._ ~q~~~~~ of Btu/lbmole “R
state for natural gas has been presented to be used CVO= low-pressure specific heat at con-
for predicting PVT relationships to within the experi- stant volume, Btu/lbmole “R
mental accuracy of the available data. The limits for gC = 32.17 lb~ ft/(lb~ secz)
20
0 CALCULATED FROM BWR 2.0
0 CALCULATE FROM BWR
EQUATION OF STATE
EQUATION OF STATE
t.8 - ●CALCULATE FROM APPROXIMATE.
RELATIONSHIP! EQN.28 1.8 ● CALCULATE FROM APPROXIMATE
x (~%a
S 1.6 -
~
u
: t.4 -

: 4

: f.z -
&
G=.6
T= 60” F 0
F Lo T-SD” F
i= 1.0
2 ~
I
.6

.6 ~
t
, .,,
1!
.6
1

I
.6 ,~
o 1000 2uwJ 3m 4om 5DC0 m 70DD 6DOD 9DO0 10,OOO o llm 2000300040’00 5olw 6000 7000 8000 9000 Io,ooo
PRESSURE, PSIA PRESSURE, PSIA
!@, 8-Ratio of heat capacity for 0.6-gravity ~g: ~~~atio of heat capacity for 0.8-gravity
natural gas at 60”F. natural gas at 60-”F.
2.2 2.0
0 CALCULATE FROM BWR 0 CALCULATED FROM BWR
[GM I&i of 3%4? E
2.0 ● CALCULATE FROM APPROXIMATE ● CALCULATED FRDN APPROXIMATE
x
z’ !.s t
~
u
z~ 1.6 -

+ (
: 1.4 -

& G=.6
e 1.2 -
~ T=IOO. F

=1 \ ,
.8

1
.8

t
.61 # , , , t , I f ~
o 1000 2ooo 30W 40C4 woo 6COD 7ofJo 800+1 9000 fo.003 o fO+30 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 !0, 00D

PRESSURE, PSIA PRESSURE, PSIA

Fig. 9-Ratio of heat capacity for 0.6-gravity Fsg. I] —Ratio of heat capacity for 0.8-gratity
natural gas at 100” F. natural gas at 100” F.

JULY, 1970 893

 H = specific enthalpy, Btu/lbmole tion procedures presented here. We also express our
K = ratio of specific heats, CP/C* appreciation to Phillips Petroleum Co. for permission
K“ = low-pressure ratio of specific to publish this paper.
heats, CPO/CoO
n = isentropic expansion coefficient References
p = pressure, psia 1. Andsager, R. L., and Knapp, R. M.: “Acoustic Determi-
nation of Liquid Levels in Gas Wells”, J. Pet. Tech. (May,
PP. = pseudocritical pressure of a gase- 1967) 601-605.
ous mixture, psia 2. ~Pwn, G. G., Katz, D. C., Oberfell, G. G. and Alden,
f%
= ncfmfhldllfwd
y..--.-. --=wu
nrPeQ1lrl?
~.w..-.w
--- _.: *~Nat,&~~
c.n~oline
------- and the Volatile
---- Hvdnxartms”~
--- ______——, —-—--..
R = gas constant NGAA, Tulsa, Okla. (1948).
= 1,545 ft-lbr/(lbmole OR)/mole- 3. Edmister, W. C.: Applied Hydrocarbon Thermodynamics,
Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Tex. (1961) 1, 58.
cular weight, in Eqs. 3, 5, 4. Engineering Data Book, Natural Gas Processors Suppliers
A-12, and A-14 Assn., Tulsa, Okla. (1957 and 1966).
= 10.73 psi cu ft/(lbmole ‘R) in 5. Hankinson, R. W., Thomas, L. K. and Phillips, K. A.:
Eqs. 7, and 17 through 24 “Predict Natural Gas Properties”, Hydrocarbon Proces-
sing, Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Tex. (April, 1969)
= .1./05?7lltil
“ # -.-, /flhmnle
\.” ......” 0?.) ~ ~q. ~~ ~~~-
S = specific entropy, Btu/lbmole ‘R 6. Poettmann, F. H. and Carpenter, P. G.: ‘The MultiPhase
T = temperature, ‘F, ‘R Flow of Gas, Oil and Water Through VerticaJ Flow
Strings”, Drill. and Prod. Prac., API (1952) 257.
T. = critical temperature, ‘R
7. Sage: B; H.: Thermodynamics of Multicomponent Sys-
Tfl, = pseudocritical temperature of a tems, Reinhold Publishing Co., New York (1965 ) 218.
gaseous mixture, “R 8. llsom~, L. K.: “A Review of the Acoustic Determination
TPr = pseudoreduced temperature ;&i;;;d Levels in Gas Wells”, 1. Pet. Tech. (Aug., 1968)
-0
U = specfic internal energy, Btu/lb-
9. Smith? J. M. and Van Ness, H. C.: Introduction 10
mole Chemtcal Engineering Thermodynamics, McGraw-Hill
U“ = low-pressure specific internal en- Book Co., Inc., New York (1959) 251.
ergy, Btu/lbmole 10. Katz, D. L., Cornell, D., Kobayashi, R:, Poettrnann,F. H.,
v = vel~i~, ft/sec ~_~ J. A., Ellenbaas, J. R. and Wemaug, C F.: Hand-
UUUK
_L Xr-...
Uru6 Wu.s
UJ 1 v U&
--l P-- C-._:-. -..:-_
~r~gwwxmng,
as-fl--.-.
Lvlbul
U:ll
a w - nlil
D....ls
Duuh

vf = acoustic velocity in a real gas, ft/ Co., Inc., New York (1959) 111.
Sec
V = specific volume, cu ft/lbmole APPENDIX
VPT= pseudoreduced volume
x = distance, ft Derivation of Acoustic Velocity in a Real Gas
Yi = mole fraction of component i The equation for the speed of sound in a real com-
z = gas compressibility factor pressible fluid’ is given by Eq. A-1:
Y9 = gas gravity referred to air = 1.0 r{~} 1~ .. ..
p = density, lb./cu ft
“=1(%)61 “ “ “ “ “ “ ‘A-”
Subscripts Expressing Eq. A-1 in terms of specific volume we
p = pressure have
S = entropy
T = temperature (A-2)
V = volume “=[-V2(+%1% -0-0
Writing S as a function of T and p yields
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Northern Natural Gas Co. for sup-
plying the field data necessasy for testing the calcula- ‘s=(+),
‘T+(%).‘p - ‘A-3)

6.0

)
= 5.0 -
~.

: 40 -
T- 60” F
~

H
3.0 -
“
z 0 CALCULATED FROM BWR
0
EQUATION OF STATE
~ 2.0
6=6
; <
:.0

oo~ 1000 2004 Sooo 40CQ $3W 6W0 7000 8000 9000 !0,000
o
0 1000 2000 30N 40W 5000

PRESSURE. PSIA
,
6000 7000 6000 9000 10,000

~ESSURE, PSIA
Fig. 13-lsentropic exponent, n, for 0.8-gravity
Fig. 12—lsentropic exponent, n, for gravity natural gas. natural gas.

894 JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

 60

50 - For a real gas,

pV=ZRT ;........ (A-9)
40 -
therefore,
ap
30 -
()av
– 1’ = ‘+ ’H%)T(*). o‘A-lO)
20 - Solving for
()
~ ~ yields

D
10 -
ap ?

0 1,0 2.0
(–)
avT=– lpi%”””
z () 3P T
“
(A-n)

PERCENT ERROR
Combining Eqs. A-2, A-8, A-9 and A-11 gives the
Fig. 14-Frequency of error between computed and desired result.
experimental well depths for 57 data points.

.—..——
Dividing the above equation by dV and assuming
Vj = ~ ‘(T’P!::: . . . . (A-12)
1–+=
constant entropy for the newly formed derivatives () ap ,
gives
~qo A.1~ ~~ -“.~1~ he
-- expre~~ed
. @ teM3s of the isen-
tropic expansion coefficients
v —ap
n =——
()
pav s’”””””
(A-13)

The terms on the right-hand side of Eq. A-4 can also by combining Eqs. A-2, A-9 and A-13. We then have
be written as follows:
v/=~nz RT . . . . . . . (A-14)

(-a.=+” “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ ‘A-’) A-12

T~.l,I&fin
UWAWA”. .nf. the
-. urmrita~o~~!
~.-. ..- -
and A-14 is required to make the units con-
sistent with the nomenclature. J_PT
~nst~t, gc~ k E~s.

(~)
avs––
. (%)...,(+).
as Cv ‘“
(A,)

-
()
WV
Original manuscript received in Society of Petroleum Engineera
office Aug. 6, 1969. Revised manuscript received April 6, 1970.
Paper (SPE 2579) was pmsentad at SPE 44th Annual Fall Meeting,
held in Denver, Colo., Sept. 28-Ott. 1, 1969. @ Copyright 1970
American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engi-
neers, Inc.
This papar will be printed in Transections volume 249, which
Combining Eqs. A-4 through A-7 yields will cover 1970.

JULY, 1970 895