Drilling Fluid Density and Hydraulic Drag Reduction With Glass Bubble Additives

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahri Kutlu ◽  
Nicholas Takach ◽  
Evren M. Ozbayoglu ◽  
Stefan Z. Miska ◽  
Mengjiao Yu ◽  
...  

This study concentrates on the use of materials known as hollow glass spheres, also known as glass bubbles, to reduce the drilling fluid density below the base fluid density without introducing a compressible phase to the wellbore. Four types of lightweight glass spheres with different physical properties were tested for their impact on rheological behavior, density reduction effect, survival ratio at elevated pressures, and hydraulic drag reduction effect when mixed with water-based fluids. A Fann75 high pressure high temperature (HPHT) viscometer and a flow loop were used for the experiments. Results show that glass spheres successfully reduce the density of the base drilling fluid while maintaining an average of 0.93 survival ratio, the rheological behavior of the tested fluids at elevated concentrations of glass bubbles is similar to the rheological behavior of conventional drilling fluids and hydraulic drag reduction is present up to certain concentrations. All results were integrated into hydraulics calculations for a wellbore scenario that accounts for the effect of temperature and pressure on rheological properties, as well as the effect of glass bubble concentration on mud temperature distribution along the wellbore. The effect of drag reduction was also considered in the calculations.

Author(s):  
Bahri Kutlu ◽  
Evren M. Ozbayoglu ◽  
Stefan Z. Miska ◽  
Nicholas Takach ◽  
Mengjiao Yu ◽  
...  

This study concentrates on the use of materials known as hollow glass spheres, also known as glass bubbles, to reduce the drilling fluid density below the base fluid density without introducing a compressible phase to the wellbore. Four types of lightweight glass spheres with different physical properties were tested for their impact on rheological behavior, density reduction effect, survival ratio at elevated pressures and hydraulic drag reduction effect when mixed with water based fluids. A Fann75 HPHT viscometer and a flow loop were used for the experiments. Results show that glass spheres successfully reduce the density of the base drilling fluid while maintaining an average of 0.93 survival ratio, the rheological behavior of the tested fluids at elevated concentrations of glass bubbles is similar to the rheological behavior of conventional drilling fluids and hydraulic drag reduction is present up to certain concentrations. All results were integrated into hydraulics calculations for a wellbore scenario that accounts for the effect of temperature and pressure on rheological properties, as well as the effect of glass bubble concentration on mud temperature distribution along the wellbore. The effect of drag reduction was also considered in the calculations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 3869
Author(s):  
Chen Niu ◽  
Yongwei Liu ◽  
Dejiang Shang ◽  
Chao Zhang

Superhydrophobic surface is a promising technology, but the effect of superhydrophobic surface on flow noise is still unclear. Therefore, we used alternating free-slip and no-slip boundary conditions to study the flow noise of superhydrophobic channel flows with streamwise strips. The numerical calculations of the flow and the sound field have been carried out by the methods of large eddy simulation (LES) and Lighthill analogy, respectively. Under a constant pressure gradient (CPG) condition, the average Reynolds number and the friction Reynolds number are approximately set to 4200 and 180, respectively. The influence on noise of different gas fractions (GF) and strip number in a spanwise period on channel flow have been studied. Our results show that the superhydrophobic surface has noise reduction effect in some cases. Under CPG conditions, the increase in GF increases the bulk velocity and weakens the noise reduction effect. Otherwise, the increase in strip number enhances the lateral energy exchange of the superhydrophobic surface, and results in more transverse vortices and attenuates the noise reduction effect. In our results, the best noise reduction effect is obtained as 10.7 dB under the scenario of the strip number is 4 and GF is 0.5. The best drag reduction effect is 32%, and the result is obtained under the scenario of GF is 0.8 and strip number is 1. In summary, the choice of GF and the number of strips is comprehensively considered to guarantee the performance of drag reduction and noise reduction in this work.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jitong Liu ◽  
Wanjun Li ◽  
Haiqiu Zhou ◽  
Yixin Gu ◽  
Fuhua Jiang ◽  
...  

Abstract The reservoir underneath the salt bed usually has high formation pressure and large production rate. However, downhole complexities such as wellbore shrinkage, stuck pipe, casing deformation and brine crystallization prone to occur in the drilling and completion of the salt bed. The drilling safety is affected and may lead to the failure of drilling to the target reservoir. The drilling fluid density is the key factor to maintain the salt bed’s wellbore stability. The in-situ stress of the composite salt bed (gypsum-salt -gypsum-salt-gypsum) is usually uneven distributed. Creep deformation and wellbore shrinkage affect each other within layers. The wellbore stability is difficult to maintain. Limited theorical reference existed for drilling fluid density selection to mitigate the borehole shrinkage in the composite gypsum-salt layers. This paper established a composite gypsum-salt model based on the rock mechanism and experiments, and a safe-drilling density selection layout is formed to solve the borehole shrinkage problem. This study provides fundamental basis for drilling fluid density selection for gypsum-salt layers. The experiment results show that, with the same drilling fluid density, the borehole shrinkage rate of the minimum horizontal in-situ stress azimuth is higher than that of the maximum horizontal in-situ stress azimuth. However, the borehole shrinkage rate of the gypsum layer is higher than salt layer. The hydration expansion of the gypsum is the dominant reason for the shrinkage of the composite salt-gypsum layer. In order to mitigate the borehole diameter reduction, the drilling fluid density is determined that can lower the creep rate less than 0.001, as a result, the borehole shrinkage of salt-gypsum layer is slowed. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the salinity, filter loss and plugging ability of the drilling fluid to inhibit the creep of the soft shale formation. The research results provide technical support for the safe drilling of composite salt-gypsum layers. This achievement has been applied to 135 wells in the Amu Darya, which completely solved the of wellbore shrinkage problem caused by salt rock creep. Complexities such as stuck string and well abandonment due to high-pressure brine crystallization are eliminated. The drilling cycle is shortened by 21% and the drilling costs is reduced by 15%.


Author(s):  
Lianzheng Cui ◽  
Zuogang Chen ◽  
Yukun Feng

The drag reduction effect of interceptors on planning boats has been widely proven, but the mechanism of the effect has been rarely studied in terms of drag components, especially for spray resistance. The resistance was caused by the high gauge pressure under the boats transformed from the dynamic pressure, and it is the largest drag component in the high-speed planning mode. In this study, numerical simulations of viscous flow fields around a planning boat with and without interceptors were conducted. A two degrees of freedom motion model was employed to simulate the trim and sinkage. The numerical results were validated against the experimental data. The flow details with and without the interceptor were visualized and compared to reveal the underlying physics. A thinner and longer waterline could be achieved by the interceptor, which made the boat push the water away more gradually, and hence, the wave-making resistance could be decreased. The improved waterline also reduced the component of the freestream normal to the hull surface and led to the less transformed dynamic pressure, resulting in the lowAer spray resistance. Furthermore, the suppression of the flow separation could also be benefited from the interceptor; the viscous pressure resistance was therefore decreased.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhao Xionghu ◽  
Saviour Bassey Egwu ◽  
Deng Jingen ◽  
Miao Liujie

Abstract The effect of corrosion inhibitor Benzotriazole on synthetic-based mud system was studied. Rheological performance of the benzotriazole enhanced synthetic-based fluid system was studied and compared against the base mud. To study its effect on dynamic wellbore conditions, different drilling fluid compositions were placed in a hot rolling oven for 16 hours at temperatures 150 °C and 170°C and the effect of temperature on mud properties were studied. Tests carried out include rheological test (before and after hot rolling), filtrate pH, lubricity test, and fluid loss test. The corrosion penetration rate was studied using the weight loss method. Based on experiment results, the synthetic-based mud system which comprised of benzotriazole displayed a reduction in coefficient of friction up to 95.93%. At ambient condition, optimal ratio of mineral oil:benzotriazole (M:B) which gives best lubricity performance on synthetic-based mud system is 80:20. This leads to improved corrosion inhibition and lubricity of the synthetic-based fluid by reducing the coefficient of friction up to 90.13%. Increased temperature led to further decrease in coefficient of friction with a % torque reduction of 95.93 displayed by the 80:20 ratio M:B mud composition at 170 °C. Significant alterations of the mud composition rheological and fluid loss parameters before and after exposure to high temperature in hot rolling oven were not observed. pH values were maintained ≥7 at the dynamic conditions highlighting solubility of the formulated fluid composition and absence of contaminants which can pose significant threats to the rates of corrosion in drill pipes. Increasing the concentration of Benzotriazole led to a reduction in corrosion rate. However, as the temperature effect increased, the corrosion rate elevated. Based on results from this investigation, it was concluded that Benzotriazole can be applied as a corrosion inhibitor in a synthetic-based drilling fluid system as an alternative corrosion inhibitor without significant alteration of the base mud properties. Benefits of this will be the optimization of extended reach well drilling operations due to excellent lubricity performance, corrosion rate reduction, compatibility with HPHT wellbore condition and fluid loss control.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Jiyang Qi ◽  
Yue Qi ◽  
Qunyan Chen ◽  
Fei Yan

In this study, the drag reduction effect is studied for a cylinder with different V-groove depths on its surface using a k-ω/SST (Shear Stress Transport) turbulence model of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), while a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system is employed to analyze the wake characteristics for a smooth cylinder and a cylinder with different V-groove depths on its surface at different Reynolds numbers. The study focuses on the characteristics of the different V-groove depths on lift coefficient, drag coefficient, the velocity distribution of flow field, pressure coefficient, vortex shedding, and vortex structure. In comparison with a smooth cylinder, the lift coefficient and drag coefficient can be reduced for a cylinder with different V-groove depths on its surface, and the maximum reduction rates of lift coefficient and drag coefficient are about 34.4% and 16%, respectively. Otherwise, the vortex structure presents a complete symmetry for the smooth cylinder, however, the symmetry of the vortex structure becomes insignificant for the V-shaped groove structure with different depths. This is also an important reason for the drag reduction effect of a cylinder with a V-groove surface.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Chao Han ◽  
Zhichuan Guan ◽  
Chuanbin Xu ◽  
Fuhui Lai ◽  
Pengfei Li

It is difficult to determine the safe operation window of drilling fluid density (SOWDFD) for deep igneous rock strata. Although the formation three-pressure (pore pressure, collapse pressure, and fracture pressure) prediction method with credibility improves the accuracy of formation three-pressure prediction, it still has a large error for deep igneous strata. To solve this problem, a modified method of the SOWDFD in deep igneous rock strata is proposed based on the leakage statistics of adjacent wells. This method is based on the establishment of the SOWDFD with credibility. Through statistical analysis of drilling fluid density of igneous rock leaky formation group in adjacent wells, the fracture leakage law of the formation is revealed and the upper limit of leak-off pressure containing probability information is obtained. Finally, the modified SOWDFD with credibility for deep igneous rock strata is formed. In this work, the proposed method was used to compute the SOWDFD with credibility of SHB well in Xinjiang, China. Results show that the modified density window is consistent with the field drilling conditions and can reflect the narrow density window in the Permian and lower igneous strata. Combined with the formation three-pressure prediction method with credibility and the actual leakage law of adjacent wells, it can effectively improve the prediction accuracy of the SOWDFD for deep igneous rock strata. The findings of the study can help in better understanding of the complex downhole geological environment in deep igneous rock strata and making reasonable drilling design scheme.


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