Investigation of drill pipe rotation effect on cutting transport with aerated mud using CFD approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 1141-1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa Keshavarz Moraveji ◽  
Mohammad Sabah ◽  
Ahmad Shahryari ◽  
Ahmadreza Ghaffarkhah
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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 2895-2920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanwei Sun ◽  
Meng Meng ◽  
Xiaodong Dai ◽  
Yuanfang Cheng ◽  
Yanli Wang ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 196 ◽  
pp. 00011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaroslav Ignatenko ◽  
Andrey Gavrilov ◽  
Oleg Bocharov ◽  
Roland May

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.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ahmed K. Abbas ◽  
Mortadha T. Alsaba ◽  
Mohammed F. Al Dushaishi

Abstract Extended reach (ERD) wells with a horizontal and highly deviated section are widely applied in the oil and gas industry because they provide higher drainage area than vertical wells; and hence, increase the productivity or injectivity of the well. Among many issues encountered in a complex well trajectory, poor hole cleaning is the most common problem, which occurs mainly in the deviated and horizontal section of oil and gas wells. There are significant parameters that have a serious impact on hole cleaning performance in high-angle and horizontal sections. These include flow rate, rheology and density of the drilling fluid, drillstring eccentricity, pipe rotation, and cuttings size. It has been recognized that the action of most of these parameters to transport drilled cuttings is constantly a point of controversy among oilfield engineers. In the present study, extensive experiments were conducted in an advanced purpose-built flow rig to identify the main parameters affecting on circulate the cuttings out of the test section in a horizontal position. The flow-loop simulator has been designed to allow easy variation of operational parameters in terms of flow rate, mud density, drillstring eccentricity, pipe rotation, and cuttings size. In addition, the study covers the impacts of laminar, transition, and turbulent flow regimes. The goal of such variation in the operational conditions is to simulate real field situations. The results have shown that drill string rotation and flow rate were the operational parameters with the highest positive influence on the cuttings transports process. In contrast, drill pipe eccentricity has a negative influence on cuttings removal efficiency. The cuttings transportation performance is further improved by pipe rotation at different levels of eccentricity, especially at fully eccentric annuli. It was also shown that larger cuttings appeared to be easier to remove in a horizontal annulus than smaller ones. The experimental results would provide a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between drilling operation parameters and hole cleaning efficiency in ERD operations. This will help the drilling teams to realize what action is better to take for efficient cutting transportation.


2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Gillan ◽  
Scott Boone ◽  
Gregory Kostiuk ◽  
Catherine Schlembach ◽  
Jason Pinto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Tomoya Inoue ◽  
Chang-Kyu Rheem ◽  
Masanori Kyo ◽  
Hide Sakaguchi ◽  
Miki Y. Matsuo

During drilling operations, the scientific drilling vessel Chikyu encounters vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of the riser during riser drilling as well as that of the drill pipe during riserless drilling. The characteristics of the VIV of the drill pipe will differ from those of the riser because the drill pipe rotates during operations. Therefore, investigating the characteristics of the VIV during drill pipe rotation is important. In this paper, the results of model experiments that show the characteristics of the VIV of a rotating drill pipe and drill pipe whirl are described. The authors conducted model experiments on the VIV response of a rotating cylinder in a water tank to observe the motion of the rotating cylinder. The results confirmed that rotating affects the characteristics of the VIV. When the rotating frequency of the drill pipe was low, the VIV resonated with the rotation; as the rotating frequency increased, the frequency of the VIV decreased. In addition, a self-excited whirl motion was also observed during the experiments. This “drill pipe whirl,” which rotated in the direction opposite to the rotation of the drill pipe at a low frequency, was larger in amplitude than the VIV. The results demonstrate that rotation of the drill pipe affects the characteristics of the VIV and generates the whirl motion.


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