production · lift
ESP Total Dynamic Head (TDH)
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Inputs
ft
psi
—
ft
psi
Description
Computes ESP Total Dynamic Head (TDH) — the total head, in feet of produced fluid, the pump must generate — as the sum of net vertical lift (from the fluid level implied by pump intake pressure up to the pump), tubing friction loss, and the equivalent head of the required wellhead discharge pressure. TDH, together with the design flow rate, sets the required pump stage count and drives the ESP Horsepower calculation.
Variables
| Symbol | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|
| TDH | ft | Total Dynamic Head (TDH) |
| Dpump | ft | True vertical depth (or measured depth in a near-vertical well) at which the ESP is set. |
| PIP | psi | Pump intake pressure at the design rate — run the ESP Pump Intake Pressure (PIP) calculator first and carry its result in here. |
| SG | — | Specific gravity of the produced fluid in the tubing (water = 1.0). |
| Ffric | ft | Head lost to friction in the tubing string at the design flow rate, from a tubing-friction table/chart for the tubing ID and rate — not computed internally by this calculator. |
| Pwh | psi | Required surface tubing (wellhead) pressure the pump must discharge against. |
Assumptions
- Single-phase (effectively de-gassed) liquid flow in the tubing above the pump — no free-gas volume fraction correction is applied to the friction or lift terms
- Tubing friction loss (Ffric) is supplied by the user from a friction-loss table/chart for the actual tubing ID and design rate — this calculator does not compute friction internally
- The fluid gradient (0.433 × SG) is constant over the full lift interval — no allowance for gradient change with depth (e.g., from gas breakout as pressure drops toward the wellhead)
Limitations
- This traditional net-lift + friction + wellhead-head formula is valid for single-phase liquid flow only. Takács (2020, J. Petroleum Science and Engineering) shows this formula is invalid for wells with free gas present in the tubing above the pump — for gassy wells, TDH requires a full multiphase-flow pressure-traverse model, which is out of scope for this calculator. Treat this result as unreliable for high-GOR wells producing free gas up the tubing.
- Tubing friction loss is a required user input, not computed here — an inaccurate friction-table lookup propagates directly into TDH
- Does not include any allowance for scale, paraffin, or other tubing-ID restriction that would increase friction loss beyond a clean-tubing friction table
Use Cases
- → ESP pump/stage selection: TDH at the design rate is the primary input (together with flow rate) to selecting an ESP pump model and stage count from a manufacturer's performance curve.
- → Horsepower sizing input: Feed TDH directly into the ESP Horsepower calculator to size the required motor.
Related Calculations
Region Notes
Permian Basin
Wolfcamp/Bone Spring horizontal wells with 5,000-8,000 ft true vertical pump settings and wellhead pressures of 100-300 psi typically see TDH in the 4,500-7,500 ft range at design rate — high-GOR wells common to the play are exactly where this calc's single-phase-flow limitation matters most.
References
Primary source
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