Analytical study of pressure losses and fluid viscosity effects on pump performance during monophase flow inside an ESP stage

• A study of the flow in an ESP stage was developed to forecast the pump performance.
• Different equations for actual pump heads and pressure losses were compared.
• Expressions consistently reproduced the actual head for all flow cases analyzed.
• Viscous effects are more difficult to reproduce than the fluid pump rotation.
• Impeller friction and disc friction losses have a great impact on the actual head.

With the advancement of offshore oil production in deep waters and increasing distances, the Electrical Submersible Pumping (ESP) system has emerged as an important artificial lift method. However, various pressure losses act in centrifugal pumps, thus reducing the energy transfer efficiency to the pumped fluid. Modeling the effects of different kinds of pressure losses at pump head is a far cry from a straightforward task. In the present work, those losses were obtained to help predicting the ESP system performance. A theoretical model computationally implemented using Formula Translation System (FORTRAN) language was developed to calculate head and pressure losses using equations by different authors, and their combinations, for one specific type of pump and four monophase flowing conditions. In order to validate the methodology, pump performance curves were generated and compared with experimental data. The theoretical modeling results also showed that it is possible to estimate the pumps׳ behavior from equations that depend on geometric factors and flow operating conditions.