Plunger Lift Transient Modeling and Intelligent Diagnosis

Oct 9, 2026 · 3 min read

Research / Area 3

Plunger lift is the main intermittent deliquification method for gas wells, but plunger motion cannot be observed downhole and schedules are often set by experience.

Plunger-lift installation and one lift cycle
Typical plunger-lift installation (left) and tubing/casing pressure and rate over one lift cycle (right)

Transient models. OLGA well–plunger–controller–reservoir models are history-matched with field pressures, and an in-house full-cycle plunger dynamics model coupled with the unified multiphase flow model matches OLGA on the main operating parameters with about 90% accuracy. Using it as a digital well, open/shut-in schedules are optimized with SPSA and Bayesian optimization.

Intelligent diagnosis. CNN, ViT, VAE-based data augmentation and zero-shot CLIP-style models identify abnormal plunger-well conditions from tubing/casing pressure curves.

Representative papers

  1. J Zhu, Y Liu, H Wang, M Chen, N Li, G Cao, H Zhu. Optimizing Plunger Lift Systems for Gas Well Deliquification: A Bayesian Approach with Comparative Algorithmic Analysis. SPE Journal, 1-15, 2026.
  2. J Zhu, Y Liu, H Wang, M Chen, N Li, G Cao, R Zhong, H Zhu. Enhancing Plunger Lift Anomaly Detection: A Vision Transformer-Based Approach Leveraging Pretrained Models and Graphic Data Augmentation. Processes 14 (13), 2045, 2026.
  3. J Zhu, Y Liu, M Chen, H Wang, Y Li, H Zhu. Enhanced Zero-Shot Classification of Plunger Lift Operating Conditions Using a Modified Clip Architecture with Selective Data Sampling. Results in Engineering, 110368, 2026.
  4. QX Liu, JJ Zhu, HB Wang, S Chen, HY Wang, N Li, RZ Zhong, YJ Liu et al. Deep Feature Learning for Anomaly Detection in Gas Well Deliquification using Plunger Lift: A Novel CNN-based Approach. Petroleum Science, 2025.
  5. M Chen, J Zhu, G Cao, N Li, H Wang, H Zhu, M Jia, X Yang, D Guo. Plunger Lift Working Cycle Optimization using a Dynamic Full-Cycle Model Coupled with Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA) Algorithm. Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, D021S036R003, 2024.
  6. Y Xie, S Ma, H Wang, N Li, J Zhu, J Wang. Unsupervised clustering for the anomaly diagnosis of plunger lift operations. Geoenergy Science and Engineering 231, 212305, 2023.
  7. Q Zhao, J Zhu, G Cao, H Zhu, HQ Zhang. Transient modeling of plunger lift for gas well deliquification. SPE Journal 26 (05), 2928-2947, 2021.
  8. J Zhu, H Jia, H Wang, G Cao, H Zhu. Modeling and applications of plunger lift for gas well deliquification via a transient multiphase simulator. Petroleum Science Bulletin 6 (4), 626-637, 2021.
  9. J Zhu, G Cao, W Tian, Q Zhao, H Zhu, J Song, J Peng, Z Lin, HQ Zhang. Improved data mining for production diagnosis of gas wells with plunger lift through dynamic simulations. SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, D021S030R001, 2019.
  10. J Zhu, H Zhu, Q Zhao, W Fu, Y Shi, HQ Zhang. A transient plunger lift model for liquid unloading from gas wells. International Petroleum Technology Conference, D021S047R002, 2019.