Prediction Model of Mechanical Extending Limits in Horizontal Drilling and Design Methods of Tubular Strings to Improve Limits

Mechanical extending limit in horizontal drilling means the maximum horizontal extending length of a horizontal well under certain ground and down-hole mechanical constraint conditions. Around this concept, the constrained optimization model of mechanical extending limits is built and simplified analytical results for pick-up and slack-off operations are deduced. The horizontal extending limits for kinds of tubular strings under different drilling parameters are calculated and drawn. To improve extending limits, an optimal design model of drill strings is built and applied to a case study. The results indicate that horizontal extending limits are underestimated a lot when the effects of friction force on critical helical buckling loads are neglected. Horizontal extending limits firstly increase and tend to stable values with vertical depths. Horizontal extending limits increase faster but finally become smaller with the increase of horizontal pushing forces for tubular strings of smaller modulus-weight ratio. Sliding slack-off is the main limit operation and high axial friction is the main constraint factor constraining horizontal extending limits. A sophisticated installation of multiple tubular strings can greatly inhibit helical buckling and increase horizontal extending limits. The optimal design model is called only once to obtain design results, which greatly increases the calculation efficiency.