Comprehensive experimental investigation of hole cleaning performance in horizontal wells including the effects of drillstring eccentricity, pipe rotation and cuttings size

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ahmed K. Abbas ◽  
Mortadha T. Alsaba ◽  
Mohammed F. Al Dushaishi
Keyword(s):  
Flow Rate ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Real Field ◽  
Operational Parameters ◽  
Cleaning Efficiency ◽  
Hole Cleaning ◽  
Cleaning Performance ◽  
Pipe Rotation

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.

scholarly journals Optimization of Hole Cleaning and Cuttings Removal in High Inclined Till Horizontal Well

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-66
Author(s):  
Karrar Ahmed Mohammed ◽  
Ayad A. Al-Haleem
Keyword(s):  
Flow Rate ◽  
Horizontal Well ◽  
Rolling Force ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Flow Loop ◽  
Cleaning Efficiency ◽  
Hole Cleaning ◽  
Inclination Angles

The goal of this experimental study is to determine the effects of different parameters (Flow rate, cuttings density, cuttings size, and hole inclination degree) on hole cleaning efficiency. Freshwater was used as a drilling fluid in this experiment. The experiments were conducted by using flow loop consist of approximately 14 m (46 ft) long with transparent glass test section of 3m (9.84 ft.) long with 4 inches (101.6 mm) ID, the inner metal drill pipe with 2 inches (50.8 mm) OD settled with eccentric position positive 0.5. The results obtained from this study show that the hole cleanings efficiency become better with high flow rate (21 m3/hr) and it increase as the hole inclination angles increased from 60 to 90 degree due to dominated of the rolling force. The cuttings size has negative influence on cuttings recovered as size increased and that is true for all cuttings specific gravity due to direct effect of the cuttings size and density on the gravity force which work against lifting force. The increasing of hole inclination angle above 60 degree will affect positively on cuttings removal efficiency.

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.

Cuttings Bed Removal in Deviated Wells

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan David Ytrehus ◽  
Bjørnar Lund ◽  
Ali Taghipour ◽  
Birgitte Ruud Kosberg ◽  
Luca Carazza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Test Section ◽  
Critical Angle ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Drill String ◽  
Flow Loop ◽  
Cleaning Efficiency ◽  
Hole Cleaning ◽  
Low Viscosity ◽  
Deviated Wells

A drilling fluid for drilling deviated wellbores must provide adequate hole cleaning efficiency for all well angles relevant to the operation. For angles near vertical, experience show that hole cleaning is straight forward. In wellbore angles larger than, say, 45 degrees hole cleaning is more difficult. Cuttings beds are formed and at some well angles these beds may avalanche during circulation stops etc. This paper presents results from laboratory tests with injected cuttings using a low viscosity oil based drilling fluid with micronized grained barite as weight material. The fluid is designed for highly deviated wells with low ECD requirements and the cuttings transport performance through relevant wellbore inclinations was investigated. The experiments have been performed under realistic conditions. The flow loop includes a 10 meters long test section with 2” OD freely rotating steel drill string inside a 4” ID wellbore made of steel, representing a cased wellbore. Sand particles were injected while circulating the drilling fluid through the test section. Experiments were performed in three wellbore inclinations: 48, 60 and 90 degrees from vertical. Results show that hole cleaning in absence of drill pipe rotation is significantly improved if the well angle is less than a critical angle. This critical angle appears to be less than 60 degrees from vertical. Further result show that this critical inclination angle is dependent to the drill string rotation rate and the annular flow velocity.

New Hybrid Hole Cleaning Model for Vertical and Deviated Wells

2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdulhamid Mahmoud ◽  
Mahmoud Elzenary ◽  
Salaheldin Elkatatny
Keyword(s):  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Real Field ◽  
Oil Well ◽  
Hole Size ◽  
Drilling Mud ◽  
Rate Of Penetration ◽  
Hole Cleaning ◽  
Fluid Rheology ◽  
Pipe Size

Abstract Drilled cuttings transportation from the bottom hole to the surface to maintain efficient hole cleaning is a challenging issue while drilling vertical, deviated, high angle, and extended reach wells. This is attributed to the huge number of the parameters affecting the ability of the drilling fluid to leave the drilled solids. Drilling fluid rheology, density, and flowrate, hole size, drill pipe size, hole inclination, and rate of penetration are all confirmed experimentally to affect the effectiveness of the drilling mud to lift the fluid and keep a clean hole. Several parameters were developed earlier to account for the hole cleaning conditions, most of these parameters lake to including many of the parameters influencing the hole cleaning conditions. In this study, a new hole cleaning parameter was developed, which is called hole cleaning factor (HCF). The HCF parameter was developed based on the cutting carrying index (CCI) parameter, and it considered the effect of the drilling fluid rheology, density, and flowrate, the hole size, drill pipe size, hole inclination, and rate of penetration to identify the hole cleaning condition. The HCF model was applied in an oil well from North Africa to predict the hole cleaning condition at different 135 points where the depth ranges from 33 to 12,854 ft. The outcomes of the HCF were well correlated with the real-field scenarios, where the crew members faced by erratic torque with differentiation in drilling parameters resulting in worst stuck pipe conditions at the same depths as predicted by the HCF parameter. The developed HCF model will help the drilling engineers to avoid many issues while drilling such as cutting accumulation and drill pipe sticking. The predictability of the HCF model was compared with commercially available software, and the results indicated a good match between the predictability of the HCF model and the commercial software.

scholarly journals The effect of drill–pipe rotation on improving hole cleaning using polypropylene beads in water-based mud at different hole angles

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 1253-1262 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Katende ◽  
B. Segar ◽  
I. Ismail ◽  
F. Sagala ◽  
H. H. A. R. Saadiah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Buoyancy Force ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Drilling Mud ◽  
Hole Cleaning ◽  
Drag Forces ◽  
Water Based ◽  
Drilling Operations ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Pipe Rotation

AbstractHole cleaning is always a problem, particularly during drilling operations, and drilling fluid plays an important role in transporting drill cuttings through an annular section of wellbore to the surface. To transport the cuttings, a water-based mud with added polypropylene beads was selected since it is environmentally friendly and cost efficient. The polypropylene beads help to transport cuttings by providing an additional buoyancy force that lifts the cuttings to the surface via the influence of collision and drag forces. This experiment was performed using a 20 ft test section, 10 ppg drilling mud and 0.86 m/s annular velocity in a laboratory scale rig simulator, and the concentration of polypropylene beads was varied from 0 to 8 ppb. As the concentration of polypropylene increases, the cutting transport ratio also increases. It was observed that the fewest cuttings are lifted at a critical angle of 60°, followed by 45°, 30°, 90° and 0°. Additionally, cutting sizes had moderate effects on the cutting lifting efficiency, where smaller cutting sizes (0.5–1.0 mm) are easier to lift than larger cutting sizes (2.0–2.8 mm). Furthermore, a study of buoyancy force and impulsive force was conducted to investigate the cutting lifting efficiencies of various concentrations of polypropylene beads. This lifting capacity was also assisted by the presence of polyanionic cellulose (PAC), which increases the mud carrying capacity and is effective for smaller cuttings. The results show that in the presence of pipe rotation, the cutting lifting efficiency is slightly enhanced due to the orbital motion provided by the drill pipe for better hole cleaning. In conclusion, polypropylene beads combined with pipe rotation increase the cutting transport ratio in the wellbore.

Hole-Cleaning Fibers Improve Cuttings-Carrying Capacity

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (05) ◽  
pp. 63-64
Author(s):  
Chris Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Flow Regime ◽  
Carrying Capacity ◽  
Rheological Model ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Test Method ◽  
Abu Dhabi ◽  
Rheological Parameters ◽  
Cleaning Efficiency ◽  
Hole Cleaning ◽  
Drilling Operations

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 203147, “Investigating Hole-Cleaning Fibers’ Mechanism To Improve Cutting Carrying Capacity and Comparing Their Effectiveness With Common Polymeric Pills,” by Mohammad Saeed Karimi Rad, Mojtaba Kalhor Mohammadi, SPE, and Kourosh Tahmasbi Nowtarki, International Drilling Fluids, prepared for the 2020 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, held virtually 9–12 November. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Hole cleaning in deviated wells is more challenging than in vertical wells because of the boycott effect or the eccentricity of the drillpipe. Poor hole cleaning can result in problems such as borehole packoff or excessive equivalent circulating density. The complete paper investigates a specialized fibrous material (Fiber 1) for hole-cleaning characteristics. The primary goal is to identify significant mechanisms of hole-cleaning fibers and their merits compared with polymeric high-viscosity pills. Hole-Cleaning Indices Based on a review of the literature, most effective parameters regarding hole cleaning in different well types were investigated. These parameters can be classified into the following five categories: - Well design (e.g., hole angle, drillpipe eccentricity, well trajectory) - Drilling-fluid properties (e.g., gel strength, mud weight) - Formation properties (e.g., lithology, cutting specific gravity, cuttings size and shape) - Hydraulic optimizations (e.g., flow regime, nozzle size, number of nozzles) - Drilling practices (e.g., drillpipe rotation speed, wellbore tortuosity, bit type, rate of penetration, pump rate) In this research, rheological parameters and parameters of the Herschel-Bulkley rheological model are considered to be optimization inputs to increase hole-cleaning efficiency of commonly used pills in drilling operations. The complete paper offers a detailed discussion of both the importance of flow regime and the role of the Herschel-Bulkley rheological model in reaching a better prognosis of drilling-fluid behavior at low shear rates. The properties of the fibrous hole-cleaning agent used in the complete paper are provided in Table 1. Test Method Two series of tests were performed. The medium of the first series is drilling water, with the goal of evaluating the efficiency of Fiber 1 in fresh pills. The second series of tests was per-formed with a simple polymeric mud as a medium common in drilling operations. Formulations and rheological properties of both test series are provided in Tables 4 and 5 of the complete paper, respectively.

Full Scale Flow Loop Experiments of Hole Cleaning Performances of Drilling Fluids

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan David Ytrehus ◽  
Ali Taghipour ◽  
Sneha Sayindla ◽  
Bjørnar Lund ◽  
Benjamin Werner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Test Section ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drilling Fluids ◽  
Flow Loop ◽  
Base Oil ◽  
Hole Cleaning ◽  
Cleaning Performance ◽  
Water Based ◽  
Fluid Properties ◽  
Drilling Cost

One important requirement for a drilling fluid is the ability to transport the cuttings out of the borehole. Improved hole cleaning is a key to solve several challenges in the drilling industry and will allow both longer wells and improved quality of well construction. It has been observed, however, that drilling fluids with similar properties according to the API standard can have significantly different behavior with respect to hole cleaning performance. The reasons for this are not fully understood. This paper presents results from flow loop laboratory tests without and with injected cuttings size particles using a base oil and a commercial oil based drilling fluid. The results demonstrate the importance of the rheological properties of the fluids for the hole cleaning performance. A thorough investigation of the viscoelastic properties of the fluids was performed with a Fann viscometer and a Paar-Physica rheometer, and was used to interpret the results from the flow loop experiments. Improved understanding of the fluid properties relevant to hole cleaning performance will help develop better models of wellbore hydraulics used in planning of well operations. Eventually this may lead to higher ROP with water based drilling fluids as obtained with oil based drilling fluids. This may ease cuttings handling in many operations and thereby significantly reduce the drilling cost using (normally) more environmentally friendly fluids. The experiments have been conducted as part of an industry-sponsored research project where understanding the hole cleaning performance of various oil and water based drilling fluids is the aim. The experiments have been performed under realistic conditions. The flow loop includes a 10 meter long test section with 2″ OD freely rotating drillstring inside a 4″ ID wellbore made of concrete. Sand particles were injected while circulating the drilling fluid through the test section in horizontal position.

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.

Prediction of Cuttings Transport Behavior under Drill String Rotation Conditions in High-Inclination Section

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 2059035
Author(s):  
Shihui Sun ◽  
Jinyu Feng ◽  
Zhaokai Hou ◽  
Guoqing Yu
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Drill String ◽  
Additional Contribution ◽  
Fluid Viscosity ◽  
Fluid Flow Rate ◽  
Cuttings Transport ◽  
Hole Cleaning ◽  
Cuttings Bed

Cuttings are likely to accumulate and eventually form a cuttings bed in the highly-deviated section, which usually lead to high friction and torque, slower rate of penetration, pipe stuck and other problems. It is therefore necessary to study cuttings transport mechanism and improve hole cleaning efficiency. In this study, the cuttings-transport behaviors with pipe rotation under turbulent flow conditions in the highly deviated eccentric section were numerically simulated based on Euler solid–fluid model and Realizable [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] model. The resulted numerical results were compared with available experimental data in reported literature to validate the algorithm, and good agreement was found. Under the conditions of drill string rotation, cuttings bed surface tilts in the direction of rotation and distributes asymmetrically in annulus. Drill string rotation, drilling fluid flow rate, cuttings diameter, cuttings injection concentration and drilling fluid viscosity affect the axial velocity of drilling fluid; whereas drilling fluid tangential velocity is mainly controlled by the rotational speed of drill string. Increase in value of drill string rotation, drilling fluid flow rate or hole inclination will increase cuttings migration velocity. Notably, drill string rotation reduces cuttings concentration and solid–fluid pressure loss, and their variations are dependent on inclination, cuttings injection concentration, cuttings diameter, drilling fluid velocity and viscosity. However, when a critical rotation speed is reached, no additional contribution is observed. The results can provide theoretical support for optimizing hole cleaning and realizing safety drilling of horizontal wells and extended reach wells.

Drilling Rate of Penetration Prediction of High-Angled Wells Using Artificial Neural Networks

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed K. Abbas ◽  
Salih Rushdi ◽  
Mortadha Alsaba ◽  
Mohammed F. Al Dushaishi
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Artificial Neural Networks ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Complex Problem ◽  
Real Field ◽  
Operational Parameters ◽  
Rate Of Penetration ◽  
Weight On Bit ◽  
Artificial Neural ◽  
Deviated Wells

Predicting the rate of penetration (ROP) is a significant factor in drilling optimization and minimizing expensive drilling costs. However, due to the geological uncertainty and many uncontrolled operational parameters influencing the ROP, its prediction is still a complex problem for the oil and gas industries. In the present study, a reliable computational approach for the prediction of ROP is proposed. First, fscaret package in a R environment was implemented to find out the importance and ranking of the inputs’ parameters. According to the feature ranking process, out of the 25 variables studied, 19 variables had the highest impact on ROP based on their ranges within this dataset. Second, a new model that is able to predict the ROP using real field data, which is based on artificial neural networks (ANNs), was developed. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between input parameters and ROP, this model was used to check the effect of the weight on bit (WOB), rotation per minute (rpm), and flow rate (FR). Finally, the simulation results of three deviated wells showed an acceptable representation of the physical process, with reasonable predicted ROP values. The main contribution of this research as compared to previous studies is that it investigates the influence of well trajectory (azimuth and inclination) and mechanical earth modeling parameters on the ROP for high-angled wells. The major advantage of the present study is optimizing the drilling parameters, predicting the proper penetration rate, estimating the drilling time of the deviated wells, and eventually reducing the drilling cost for future wells.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document