The Effect of Different Oil Based Drilling Fluids on Mechanical Friction

Author(s):  
Jan David Ytrehus ◽  
Ali Taghipour ◽  
Arash Golchin ◽  
Braham Prakash ◽  
Arild Saasen

A very important aspect in highly inclined wellbores is the mechanical friction. For extended reach drilling (ERD) and through tubing extended reach drilling (TTERD) this can be a limiting factor. Friction caused by the contact between the drill string and the well casing or borehole is dependent to the drilling weight and fluid properties. Drilling fluids play an important role on mechanical friction and using oil based drilling fluids with higher lubricity can reduce torque and drag behavior and minimize stick and slip. Reducing mechanical friction will improve drilling efficiency in general, and will in particular enable longer reach for ERD wells. This paper presents results from experimental laboratory tests where mechanical friction has been investigated. The experiments have been conducted as part of a project in the Tribolab at Luleå University of Technology in cooperation with Det norske Oljeselskap. Friction behavior has been investigated for different drilling fluids; water based and oil based drilling fluids both with and without solid particles. A pin on disc setup was used for these experiments where a spherical steel pin was sliding on a rotational disc made of granite. Friction force has been measured in constant sliding speed and in presence of particles in wet condition. The test results show that mechanical friction in general is smaller with oil based than water based drilling fluids in the presence of solid particles. In addition, the friction coefficient increases when solid particles were added to the lubricants. Such experiments in a tribology laboratory are important to identify the effect of drilling fluids on mechanical friction from a basic point of view and isolated from all other wellbore parameters. It is interesting to monitor if the results from this setup can have quantitative relevance also for field situations and such comparison should be done as follow up. Test results and the experimental approach could therefore be of value for any one working with drilling and well construction.

Author(s):  
Ali Taghipour ◽  
Jan David Ytrehus ◽  
Bjørnar Lund ◽  
Arild Saasen

Mechanical friction is one of the most important aspects in highly inclined wellbores such as extended reach drilling (ERD) and through tubing extended reach drilling (TTERD). Friction caused by the contact between the drill string and the well casing or borehole is dependent to the drilling weight and fluid properties. Drilling fluids play an important role on mechanical friction and using oil based drilling fluids with higher lubricity can reduce torque and drag and minimize stick and slip concerns. Reducing mechanical friction will improve drilling efficiency in general, and will in particular enable longer reach for ERD wells. This paper presents results from experimental laboratory tests where mechanical friction has been investigated in non-circular wellbore geometry. The experiments have been conducted as part of a research project in the tribology lab in Technical University of Luleå. The project was sponsored by the Research Council of Norway and four oil companies. Friction behavior has been investigated for two different drilling fluids; water based and oil based drilling fluids both with and without solid particles. A pin on disc setup was used for these experiments where a spherical steel pin was sliding on a rotational disc made of granite. Friction force has been measured in constant sliding speed and in presence of particles in wet condition. The test results show that mechanical friction is smaller with oil based than water based drilling fluids in the presence of solid particles. In addition, the friction coefficient depends to the particle types and is higher when solid particles were added to the lubricants. Such experiments in a tribology laboratory are important to identify the effect of drilling fluid on mechanical friction from a basic point of view isolated from the other wellbore parameters. Test results and the experimental approach could therefore be of value for any one working with drilling and well construction.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan David Ytrehus ◽  
Ali Taghipour ◽  
Arash Golchin ◽  
Arild Saasen ◽  
Braham Prakash

A very important aspect in highly inclined wellbores is the mechanical friction. For extended reach drilling (ERD) and through tubing extended reach drilling (TTERD) this can be a limiting factor. Friction caused by the contact between the drill string and the well casing or borehole is dependent on the drilling weight and fluid properties. Drilling fluids play an important role in determining mechanical friction. The use of oil-based drilling fluids with higher lubricity can reduce torque and drag behavior and minimize stick and slip. Reducing mechanical friction will improve drilling efficiency in general, and will in particular enable longer reach for ERD wells. This paper presents results from experimental laboratory tests where the mechanical friction has been investigated. Friction behavior was investigated for different drilling fluids; water-based and oil-based drilling fluids both with and without solid particles. A pin on disk setup was used for these experiments where a spherical ended steel pin was slid against a rotating disk made of granite. The test results show that the mechanical friction in general is smaller with oil-based than water-based drilling fluids in the presence of solid particles.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian-Bin Huang ◽  
Jin-Sheng Sun ◽  
Yi Huang ◽  
Bang-Chuan Yan ◽  
Xiao-Dong Dong ◽  
...  

Abstract High-performance water-based drilling fluids (HPWBFs) are essential to wellbore stability in shale gas exploration and development. Laponite is a synthetic hectorite clay composed of disk-shaped nanoparticles. This paper analyzed the application potential of laponite in HPWBFs by evaluating its shale inhibition, plugging and lubrication performances. Shale inhibition performance was studied by linear swelling test and shale recovery test. Plugging performance was analyzed by nitrogen adsorption experiment and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation. Extreme pressure lubricity test was used to evaluate the lubrication property. Experimental results show that laponite has good shale inhibition property, which is better than commonly used shale inhibitors, such as polyamine and KCl. Laponite can effectively plug shale pores. It considerably decreases the surface area and pore volume of shale, and SEM results show that it can reduce the porosity of shale and form a seamless nanofilm. Laponite is beneficial to increase lubricating property of drilling fluid by enhancing the drill pipes/wellbore interface smoothness and isolating the direct contact between wellbore and drill string. Besides, laponite can reduce the fluid loss volume. According to mechanism analysis, the good performance of laponite nanoparticles is mainly attributed to the disk-like nanostructure and the charged surfaces.


Author(s):  
Massara Salam ◽  
Nada S. Al-Zubaidi ◽  
Asawer A. Al-Wasiti

In the process of drilling directional, extended-reach, and horizontal wells, the frictional forces between the drill string and the wellbore or casing can cause severe problems including excessive torque which is one of the most important problems during drilling oil and gas well. Drilling fluid plays an important role by reducing these frictional forces. In this research, an enhancement of lubricating properties of drilling fluids was fundamentally examined by adding Lignite NPs into the water-based drilling fluid. Lubricity, Rheology and filtration properties of water-based drilling fluid were measured at room temperature using OFITE EP and Lubricity Tester, OFITE Model 900 Viscometer, and OFITE Low-Pressure Filter Press, respectively. Lignite NPs were added at different concentrations (0.05 %, 0.1 %, 0.2 %, 0.5 %, and 1 %) by weight into water-based drilling fluid. Lignite NPs showed good reduction in COF of water-based drilling fluid. The enhancement was increased with increasing Lignite NPs concentrations; 23.68%, 35.52%, and 45.3 % reduction in COF were obtained by adding 0.2%, 0.5%, and 1% by weight Lignite NPs concentration, respectively.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4171
Author(s):  
Rabia Ikram ◽  
Badrul Mohamed Jan ◽  
Akhmal Sidek ◽  
George Kenanakis

An important aspect of hydrocarbon drilling is the usage of drilling fluids, which remove drill cuttings and stabilize the wellbore to provide better filtration. To stabilize these properties, several additives are used in drilling fluids that provide satisfactory rheological and filtration properties. However, commonly used additives are environmentally hazardous; when drilling fluids are disposed after drilling operations, they are discarded with the drill cuttings and additives into water sources and causes unwanted pollution. Therefore, these additives should be substituted with additives that are environmental friendly and provide superior performance. In this regard, biodegradable additives are required for future research. This review investigates the role of various bio-wastes as potential additives to be used in water-based drilling fluids. Furthermore, utilization of these waste-derived nanomaterials is summarized for rheology and lubricity tests. Finally, sufficient rheological and filtration examinations were carried out on water-based drilling fluids to evaluate the effect of wastes as additives on the performance of drilling fluids.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004051752110308
Author(s):  
Yang Liu ◽  
Zhong Xiang ◽  
Xiangqin Zhou ◽  
Zhenyu Wu ◽  
Xudong Hu

Friction between the tow and tool surface normally happens during the tow production, fabric weaving, and application process and has an important influence on the quality of the woven fabric. Based on this fact, this paper studied the influence of tension and relative velocity on the three kinds of untwisted-glass-fiber tow-on-roller friction with a Capstan-based test setup. Furthermore, an improved nonlinear friction model taking both tension and velocity into account was proposed. According to statistical test results, firstly, the friction coefficient was found to be positively correlated with tension and relative velocity. Secondly, tension and velocity were complementary on the tow-on-roller friction behavior, with neither being superior to the other. Thirdly, an improved model was found to present well the nonlinear characteristics between friction coefficient and tension and velocity, and predicational results of the model were found to agree well with the observations from Capstan tests.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1644
Author(s):  
Camilo Pedrosa ◽  
Arild Saasen ◽  
Bjørnar Lund ◽  
Jan David Ytrehus

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.


1993 ◽  
Vol 8 (04) ◽  
pp. 246-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.H. Zijsling ◽  
Roland Illerhaus
Keyword(s):  

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