Although sucker rod pumps are installed
in nearly 90% of all oil wells in the United States and have been widely
used for decades, there are many issues regarding their performance that
are not well understood. This is due to the difficulty of simulating
wellbore conditions in the laboratory and of obtaining data on pump performance
downhole. Many persistent problems in sucker rod pumping, including
partial pump fillage, gas interference, gas locking, fluid pound, sticking
valves, rod compressional loading, equipment failure, and reduced production,
are difficult to diagnose from the surface.
Work Statement
The purpose of this project is two-fold:
first, instrument a pump in a lab, and then, develop an instrumented downhole
pump. The recorded data from the pumps can then be compared to both
measured uphole dynamometer cards and calculated downhole dynamometer cards
to increase our understanding of pump performance.
