A new cylindrical capacitance sensor for measurement of water cut in a low-production horizontal well

In a horizontal well with low flow rate, oil-water two-phase flow is stratified due to gravity. For measuring water cut accurately in a low-production horizontal well, a novel cylindrical capacitance sensor is proposed in this paper. The structure of the sensor is cylindrical and hollow with multi-layer structure which is consisted of inside insulation layer, electrode layer, outside insulation layer and metal casing from inside to outside. And the measurement principle is analyzed in this paper. The mathematical model is established, which shows that theoretically, there is a good relationship between the sensor response and water holdup. The response curve is monotone and the sensor has a good resolution and a high sensitivity in the whole range of water holdup. The electric field of cylindrical capacitance sensor was simulated respectively by using ANSYS software when the sensor is filled with pure water, pure oil and oil-water mixture. The results of the simulation are consistent with the mathematical model. Static experiments with the sensor filled with oil-water mixture were conducted finally. The results have verified the theoretical analysis and show that the proposed sensor is a viable solution to measuring water cut in a low-production horizontal well. Cylindrical capacitance sensor provides a good reference for the water cut in low-production horizontal well and has a good application prospect.