scholarly journals Cuttings transport: On the effect of drill pipe rotation and lateral motion on the cuttings bed

2020 ◽  
Vol 191 ◽  
pp. 107136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Busch ◽  
Stein Tore Johansen
Keyword(s):  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Lateral Motion ◽  
Cuttings Transport ◽  
Cuttings Bed ◽  
Pipe Rotation

scholarly journals Simulation of steady-state cuttings transport through a horizontal annulus channel

2019 ◽  
Vol 196 ◽  
pp. 00011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaroslav Ignatenko ◽  
Andrey Gavrilov ◽  
Oleg Bocharov ◽  
Roland May
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Pressure Gradient ◽  
Yield Stress ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Cuttings Transport ◽  
Rigid Spheres ◽  
Pipe Rotation

The current study is devoted to simulating cuttings transport by drilling fluid through a horizontal section of borehole with an annular cross section. Drill pipe rotates in fixed eccentric position. Steady-state flow is considered. Cuttings are rigid spheres with equal diameters. The carrying fluid is drilling mud with Herschel-Bulkley rheology. Suspension rheology depends on local shear rate and particles concentration. Continuous mixture model with algebraic equation for particles slipping velocity is used. Two hydrodynamic regimes are considered: axial flow without drill pipe rotation and with drill pipe rotation. In the case of axial flow was shown that increasing of power index n and consistency factor k increases pressure gradient and decreases cuttings concentration. Increasing of yield stress leads to increasing of pressure gradient and cuttings concentration. Cuttings concentration achieves constant value for high yield stress and not depends on it. Rotation of the drill pipe significantly changes the flow structure: pressure loss occurs and particles concentration decreases in the cross section. Two basic regimes of rotational flow are observed: domination of primary vortex around drill pipe and domination secondary vorticity structures. Transition between regimes leads to significant changes of flow integral parameters.

Simple Correlations and Analysis of Cuttings Transport With Newtonian and Non-Newtonian Fluids in Horizontal and Deviated Wells

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Sorgun
Keyword(s):  
Pure Water ◽  
Newtonian Fluids ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cuttings Transport ◽  
Pressure Losses ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
Bed Thickness ◽  
Solid Liquid ◽  
Cuttings Bed ◽  
Pipe Rotation

In this study, simple empirical frictional pressure losses and cuttings bed thickness correlations including pipe rotation are developed for solid-liquid flow in horizontal and deviated wellbores. Pipe rotation effects on cuttings transport in horizontal and highly inclined wells are investigated experimentally. Correlations are validated experimental data with pure water as well as four different non-Newtonian fluids for hole inclinations from horizontal to 60 degrees, flow velocities from 0.64 m/s to 3.56 m/s, rate of penetrations from 0.00127 to 0.0038 m/s, and pipe rotations from 0 to 250 rpm. Pressure drop within the test section, and stationary and/or moving bed thickness are recorded besides the other test conditions. The new correlations generated in this study are believed to be very practical and handy when they are used in the field.

Experimental Study of Cuttings Transport with Non-Newtonian Fluid in an Inclined Well Using Visualization and Electrical Resistance Tomography Techniques

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mojammel Huque ◽  
Syed Imtiaz ◽  
Sohrab Zendehboudi ◽  
Stephen Butt ◽  
Mohammad Azizur Rahman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Electrical Resistance ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Movement Patterns ◽  
Solid Particles ◽  
High Speed Camera ◽  
Cuttings Transport ◽  
Fluid Rheology ◽  
Cuttings Bed ◽  
Pipe Rotation

Summary Hole cleaning is a concern in directional and horizontal well drilling operations where drill cuttings tend to settle in the lower annulus section. Laboratory-scale experiments were performed with different non-Newtonian fluids in a 6.16-m-long, 114.3- × 63.5-mm transparent annulus test section to investigate cuttings transport behavior. This experimental study focused on understanding the cuttings transport mechanism in the annulus section with high-speed imaging technology. The movement of cuttings in the inclined annular section was captured with a high-speed camera at 2,000 frames/sec. Also, cuttings bed movement patterns at different fluid velocities and inner pipe rotations were captured with a digital single-lens reflex video camera. The electrical resistance tomography (ERT) system was used to quantify the cuttings volume fraction in the annulus. Different solid bed heights and cuttings movements were observed based on fluid rheology, fluid velocity, and inner pipe rotation. The mechanistic three-layer cuttings transport model was visualized with the experimental procedure. This study showed that solid bed height is significantly reduced with an increase in the inner pipe rotation. This study also identified that cuttings bed thickness largely depends on fluid rheology and wellbore inclination. The image from the high-speed camera identified a downward trend of some rolling particles in the annulus caused by gravitational force at a low mud velocity. Visual observation from a high-speed camera identified a helical motion of solid particles when the drillpipe is in contact with solid particles and rotating at a higher rev/min. Different cuttings movement patterns such as: rolling, sliding, suspension, helical movement, and downward movement were identified from the visualization of a high-speedcamera.

scholarly journals Investigation: Cutting Transport Mechanism in Inclined Well Section under Pulsed Drilling Fluid Action

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2141
Author(s):  
Xiaohua Zhu ◽  
Keyu Shen ◽  
Bo Li
Keyword(s):  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Friction Torque ◽  
Drilling Fluids ◽  
Cuttings Transport ◽  
Turbulent Dissipation ◽  
Duty Cycles ◽  
Transport Velocity ◽  
Cuttings Bed ◽  
Conventional Drilling

Due to gravity, drilling cuttings are easily accumulated in an inclined well section, ultimately forming a cuttings bed, which places the drill pipe under strong friction torque. In severe cases, this can cause dragging, stuck drills, and broken drill tools. Because conventional drilling fluids are difficult to prevent the formation of cuttings in inclined well sections, a method of carrying cuttings with the pulsed drilling fluid to improve wellbore cleanness is proposed. Experiments and numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the effects of cuttings bed transport velocity, cuttings size, cuttings height, drill pipe rotation speed, cuttings bed mass, and roughness height. The optimal pulse parameters are determined per their respective impact on cuttings transport concerning varied periods, amplitudes, and duty cycles of the pulsed drilling fluid. Compared to cuttings transport under the conventional drilling fluid flow rate, the pulsed drilling fluid produces the turbulent dissipation rate, increases cuttings transport velocity, and thus improves the wellbore clearance rate.

Experimental Study of Drill Cuttings Transport in Horizontal Well With Newtonian Fluid

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mojammel Huque ◽  
Syed Imtiaz ◽  
Stephen Butt ◽  
Sohrab Zendehboudi ◽  
Mohammad Azizur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Investigation ◽  
Newtonian Fluid ◽  
Transport Phenomena ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Drilling Mud ◽  
Cuttings Transport ◽  
Drill Cuttings ◽  
Eccentric Annulus ◽  
Concentric Annulus ◽  
Cuttings Bed

Abstract Transport of cuttings is crucial in a horizontal drilling operation. Effective removal of cuttings is necessary for efficient drilling. An experimental investigation has been carried out to analyze the flow behaviour of solid cuttings in different drilling environments with visualization techniques. This study investigates the cuttings transport mechanism in a horizontal annulus section. A 6.16 m long and 4.5″ × 2.5″ annulus section was used to model the real-time drilling behaviour with different flow rates, drill pipe rotations and eccentric positions. Water as a Newtonian fluid was used as drilling mud and 2–3 mm solid glass beds were used to simulate the drill cuttings. The in-situ volume fraction of cuttings in the annulus was estimated by Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) analyzer. Visualization technique used to estimate the moving bed velocity in the horizontal annulus section. A highspeed camera was used to capture the transport phenomena of the moving solid particle at 2000 frames per second. The highspeed camera can effectively track each particle in the system. Analysis of high-speed camera revealed different cuttings transport phenomena like rolling of cuttings, stationary cuttings bed and cuttings suspended into the drilling mud. Experimental investigation revealed that drill pipe rotation helps in cuttings bed movement and resist the formation of large cuttings dune in the annulus formation. Also, this study revealed that eccentric annulus shows less annular solid volume compared to a concentric annulus; however, an eccentric annulus is harder to clean compared to a concentric annulus section.

MULTIPHASE MODELLING OF DRILL PIPE ROTATION EFFECTS ON CUTTINGS TRANSPORT IN HORIZONTAL WELLS

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayrton Cavallini Zotelle ◽  
Joao Henrique Sartori ◽  
Renato Siqueira ◽  
Michel de Oliveira dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Cuttings Transport ◽  
Pipe Rotation

scholarly journals Wet Drilled Cuttings Bed Rheology

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1644
Author(s):  
Camilo Pedrosa ◽  
Arild Saasen ◽  
Bjørnar Lund ◽  
Jan David Ytrehus
Keyword(s):  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drilling Fluids ◽  
Parallel Plates ◽  
Single Particles ◽  
Cuttings Transport ◽  
Transport Studies ◽  
Water Based ◽  
Fluid Properties ◽  
External Forces ◽  
Cuttings Bed

The cuttings transport efficiency of various drilling fluids has been studied in several approaches. This is an important aspect, since hole cleaning is often a bottleneck in well construction. The studies so far have targeted the drilling fluid cuttings’ transport capability through experiments, simulations or field data. Observed differences in the efficiency due to changes in the drilling fluid properties and compositions have been reported but not always fully understood. In this study, the cuttings bed, wetted with a single drilling fluid, was evaluated. The experiments were performed with parallel plates in an Anton Paar Physica 301 rheometer. The results showed systematic differences in the internal friction behaviors between tests of beds with oil-based and beds with water-based fluids. The observations indicated that cutting beds wetted with a polymeric water-based fluid released clusters of particles when external forces overcame the bonding forces and the beds started to break up. Similarly, it was observed that an oil-based fluid wetted bed allowed particles to break free as single particles. These findings may explain the observed differences in previous cutting transport studies.

Scaling Formulae for the Wellbore Hydraulics Similitude with Drill Pipe Rotation and Eccentricity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thad Nosar ◽  
Pooya Khodaparast ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Amin Mehrabian
Keyword(s):  
Power Law ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Annular Flow ◽  
Rotation Speed ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Flow Loop ◽  
Annular Flows ◽  
Fluid Rheology ◽  
Pipe Rotation

Abstract Equivalent circulation density of the fluid circulation system in drilling rigs is determined by the frictional pressure losses in the wellbore annulus. Flow loop experiments are commonly used to simulate the annular wellbore hydraulics in the laboratory. However, proper scaling of the experiment design parameters including the drill pipe rotation and eccentricity has been a weak link in the literature. Our study uses the similarity laws and dimensional analysis to obtain a complete set of scaling formulae that would relate the pressure loss gradients of annular flows at the laboratory and wellbore scales while considering the effects of inner pipe rotation and eccentricity. Dimensional analysis is conducted for commonly encountered types of drilling fluid rheology, namely, Newtonian, power-law, and yield power-law. Appropriate dimensionless groups of the involved variables are developed to characterize fluid flow in an eccentric annulus with a rotating inner pipe. Characteristic shear strain rate at the pipe walls is obtained from the characteristic velocity and length scale of the considered annular flow. The relation between lab-scale and wellbore scale variables are obtained by imposing the geometric, kinematic, and dynamic similarities between the laboratory flow loop and wellbore annular flows. The outcomes of the considered scaling scheme is expressed in terms of closed-form formulae that would determine the flow rate and inner pipe rotation speed of the laboratory experiments in terms of the wellbore flow rate and drill pipe rotation speed, as well as other parameters of the problem, in such a way that the resulting Fanning friction factors of the laboratory and wellbore-scale annular flows become identical. Findings suggest that the appropriate value for lab flow rate and pipe rotation speed are linearly related to those of the field condition for all fluid types. The length ratio, density ratio, consistency index ratio, and power index determine the proportionality constant. Attaining complete similarity between the similitude and wellbore-scale annular flow may require the fluid rheology of the lab experiments to be different from the drilling fluid. The expressions of lab flow rate and rotational speed for the yield power-law fluid are identical to those of the power-law fluid case, provided that the yield stress of the lab fluid is constrained to a proper value.

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