Optimum design for new gas lift valve seat

Abstract The Testing Gas Lift Valve (GLV) Beveled Seat showed excellent performance improvement as compared to the Sharp-Edged Seat design as reported by Elldakli et al. (2014) . To optimize the initial Beveled Seat design requires manufacturing and testing numerous cases which is a very costly and time-consuming process. Use of CFD technique provides an excellent alternative solution. In this case the testing of the beveled seat experiments were matched with a CFD software. The validated model is used to optimize the design. The goal of the Gas Lift Valve seat design optimization is to find the best possible design out of a set of alternatives. The numerical model is used for further GLV improvement by investigating the effect of various parameters on the performance of the valve. The effect of GLV seat geometry such as Port Bottom Height (PBH), Port Top Height (PTH), Port Top Diameter (PTD) and Ball Size were studied. Fourteen cases representing three different basic scenarios were simulated. The optimum design for each port was compared within the initial modified design (Beveled seat) and sharp-edged seat. The results show significant improvement with the optimized design over the original design.