Open Access

ARTICLE

Jet Characteristics and Optimization of a Cavitation Nozzle for Hydraulic Fracturing Applications

Yu Gao¹, Zhenqiang Xu^2,3,*, Kaixiang Shen^2,3,*

1 Shenzhen South China Sea Oil Economic Development Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, 518000, China
2 Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, China Geological Survey, Guangzhou, 511458, China
3 National Engineering Research Center of Gas Hydrate Exploration and Development, Guangzhou, 511458, China

* Corresponding Authors: Zhenqiang Xu. Email: ; Kaixiang Shen. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in Oil and Gas Well Fluid Mechanics)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2024, 20(1), 179-192. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2023.030499

Received 10 April 2023; Accepted 04 August 2023; Issue published 08 November 2023

Abstract

Hydraulic jetting is a form of fracturing that involves using a high-pressure jet of water to create fractures in the reservoir rock with a nozzle serving as the central component of the hydraulic sandblasting perforation tool. In this study, the flow behavior of the nozzle is simulated numerically in the framework of a SST k-ω turbulence model. The results show that the nozzle structure can significantly influence the jet performance and related cavitation effect. Through orthogonal experiments, the nozzle geometric parameters are optimized, and the following configuration is found accordingly: contraction angle 20°, contraction segment length 6 mm, cylindrical segment diameter 6 mm, cylindrical segment length 12 mm, spread segment length 10 mm, and spread angle 55°.

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Keywords

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