Fatigue Evaluation of Drill Pipes for Scientific Drilling Program by Applying Non-Stop Driller Concept

Author(s):  
Tomoya Inoue ◽  
Masahiko Fujikubo ◽  
Kenji Nakano ◽  
Noriaki Sakurai

Abstract The scientific drilling vessel Chikyu is performing Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE), a challenging deep drilling activity, for scientific purpose. We faced difficulty to drill deep during past NanTroSEIZE operations due to unstable sediments and insufficient cutting removal. Non-Stop Driller concept is, therefore, applied for the operation of NanTroSEIZE scheduled to start Oct. 2018 to enable continuous circulation of drilling fluid circulation. The Non-Stop Driller concept requires an additional, specially-designed sub called an “NSD sub” with a ball valve for drilling fluid inlet. Generally, the fatigue strength of a drill pipe is a critical factor governing the performance of challenging deep drilling. This study, therefore, focused on the fatigue failure of the NSD sub due to the bending stress caused by interference with risers including flex joints, ship structure, or drilling equipment resulting from ship motions. The bending stress leads to cyclic stress caused by rotation of the drill pipe. This is especially the case at the Nankai Trough where ocean currents are very strong reaching or sometimes exceeding 4 knots, a high bending stress is assumed to be exerted on the NSD sub. Full-scale fatigue tests of the NSD sub were first conducted to acquire the actual fatigue curve. Further, the bending stress distribution of a drill pipe, which refers to the locus of the bending stress during the drilling operation, was analyzed by considering interference of the drill string with the structure, drilling equipment, and risers that are deformed by the ocean current. Time-series ship motions is prepared using the response amplitude operators of the Chikyu for the sea states at Nankai Trough area, and then time-series stress response is obtained by considering the operational conditions such as rate of penetration and rotational velocity of drill pipe. The numbers of occurrence of each stress amplitude can be counted from the time-series stress response. Consequently, the cumulative damage ratio is calculated for evaluating the fatigue of the NSD sub. The results confirmed that the cumulative fatigue is within a safe range. This study focused on the evaluation of the fatigue strength of the specially designed NSD sub for the challenging scientific drilling operation at Nankai Trough, a harsh environment because of the presence of strong ocean currents. This paper presents the overview of NanTroSEIZE including the Non-Stop Driller concept, and the results of fatigue evaluations.

Author(s):  
Tomoya Inoue ◽  
Masanori Kyo ◽  
Koji Sakura ◽  
Toshihiko Fukui

The scientific drilling vessel Chikyu was designed to have the deep drilling capability to reach the deep earthquake zone. To realize such deep drilling, a drill pipe with higher than ever strength and reliability is of necessity. A strength evaluation of such high strength drill pipe is also necessary. Around Japan, the earthquake zones are widely located under the seabed in deep water. For example, the Nankai Trough located beneath the ocean off the southwest coast of Japan is one of the most active earthquake zones where large-scale earthquakes have occurred repeatedly throughout history. Thus, the Chikyu has started the first scientific drilling at the Nankai Trough as the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE). NanTroSEIZE targets the megasplay fault zone at 3500 m below the seafloor and finally 6000m deep drilling into the seismogenic zone and across the plate interface into the subducting crust at water depths of around 2500m. In addition, a huge earthquake zone is expected to be located about 1000m below the seafloor at water depths of around 7000m. For this drilling task, the riserless drilling technique should be applied. To realize such deep drilling with both riser and riserless techniques, a S150 drill pipe was developed during the construction phase and has been used in the past scientific drillings of the Chikyu. For deeper drillings in the future and drilling operations in harsh environments, we are developing superior high strength drill pipes, S155 and S160, possessing high reliability including corrosion resistance to achieve high toughness and reduction of stress concentration. An evaluation of the maximum possible stress was conducted. In the maximum strength evaluation, we considered dynamic stress and bending stress due to the current and the vessel inclination. This paper describes the development of superior high strength drill pipes and the strength evaluation of such drill pipes for deep earthquake zone drilling.


Author(s):  
Yuichi Shinmoto ◽  
Kazuyasu Wada

The Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) Stage 1A, which is a part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), is a series of expeditions in scientific drilling and coring operations aboard the first riser-equipped deep sea drilling vessel, Chikyu. The objectives are to recover good quality core samples and collect data on undersea properties and drilling conditions, which will also provide valuable information for future expeditions. The coring operations were carried out under harsh drilling and ocean conditions so that core recovery was inconsistent and fluctuated from high to low. Moreover, differences in independent lithology, depth, and the type of coring tools from previous expeditions made it necessary to analyze and optimize drilling parameters with new data. A serious concern in retrieving core samples was the vertical heave motions caused by the drill-ship since the active heave compensator system could not be activated before operations due to the extreme deep sea conditions and only the passive heave compensator was used. The drill string and coring tools are particularly vulnerable to the high heaving movements of the vessel so that the core recovery rate and quality are also adversely affected. The present work presents an analysis of geotechnical information, drilling parameters and the drill-ship motions the NanTroSEIZE expedition in order to optimize core conditions and maintain high core recovery.


1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ertas ◽  
G. Mustafa ◽  
O. Cuvalci

It is well known that the upper ball joint in a marine riser, in deep drilling, can cause fatigue damage in the drill pipe passing through it. A study of fracture mechanics and S–N curve approaches has been undertaken to determine the dynamic fatigue damage in the drill pipe. Miner’s rule is utilized in both methods to determine the total damage. The results of both methods are compared.


2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (05) ◽  
pp. 192-195
Author(s):  
Rövşən Azər oğlu İsmayılov ◽  

The aricle is about the pipe stick problems of deep well drilling. Pipe stick problem is one of the drilling problems. There are two types of pipe stick problems exist. One of them is differential pressure pipe sticking. Another one of them is mechanical pipe sticking. There are a lot of reasons for pipe stick problems. Indigators of differential pressure sticking are increase in torque and drug forces, inability to reciprocate drill string and uninterrupted drilling fluid circulation. Key words: pipe stick, mecanical pipe stick,difference of pressure, drill pipe, drilling mud, bottomhole pressure, formation pressure


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arturo Magana-Mora ◽  
Mohammad AlJubran ◽  
Jothibasu Ramasamy ◽  
Mohammed AlBassam ◽  
Chinthaka Gooneratne ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective/Scope. Lost circulation events (LCEs) are among the top causes for drilling nonproductive time (NPT). The presence of natural fractures and vugular formations causes loss of drilling fluid circulation. Drilling depleted zones with incorrect mud weights can also lead to drilling induced losses. LCEs can also develop into additional drilling hazards, such as stuck pipe incidents, kicks, and blowouts. An LCE is traditionally diagnosed only when there is a reduction in mud volume in mud pits in the case of moderate losses or reduction of mud column in the annulus in total losses. Using machine learning (ML) for predicting the presence of a loss zone and the estimation of fracture parameters ahead is very beneficial as it can immediately alert the drilling crew in order for them to take the required actions to mitigate or cure LCEs. Methods, Procedures, Process. Although different computational methods have been proposed for the prediction of LCEs, there is a need to further improve the models and reduce the number of false alarms. Robust and generalizable ML models require a sufficiently large amount of data that captures the different parameters and scenarios representing an LCE. For this, we derived a framework that automatically searches through historical data, locates LCEs, and extracts the surface drilling and rheology parameters surrounding such events. Results, Observations, and Conclusions. We derived different ML models utilizing various algorithms and evaluated them using the data-split technique at the level of wells to find the most suitable model for the prediction of an LCE. From the model comparison, random forest classifier achieved the best results and successfully predicted LCEs before they occurred. The developed LCE model is designed to be implemented in the real-time drilling portal as an aid to the drilling engineers and the rig crew to minimize or avoid NPT. Novel/Additive Information. The main contribution of this study is the analysis of real-time surface drilling parameters and sensor data to predict an LCE from a statistically representative number of wells. The large-scale analysis of several wells that appropriately describe the different conditions before an LCE is critical for avoiding model undertraining or lack of model generalization. Finally, we formulated the prediction of LCEs as a time-series problem and considered parameter trends to accurately determine the early signs of LCEs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thad Nosar ◽  
Pooya Khodaparast ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Amin Mehrabian

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.


CORROSION ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 778-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Al-Marhoun ◽  
S. S. Rahman
Keyword(s):  

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