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Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores

Piroozian, Ali and Ismail, Issham (2011) Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores. Jurnal Teknologi, 56 . pp. 1-14. ISSN 0127-9696

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Abstract

Deviation from vertical path makes drill cuttings to accumulate on the lower side of the wellbore that induces the formation of cuttings bed. Subsequently, relative problems occur while drilling. Excessive torque and drag, difficulties in running casing in hole and accomplishing good cementing jobs and mechanical pipe sticking are few of the classical examples of such problems. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of influential parameters on hole cleaning seems to be essential. This paper presents results of an experimental study that was carried out to evaluate cuttings removal efficiency of three types of drilling fluid. Experiments were conducted using a 17 feet long opaque flow loop of 2 inch diameter as test section. For each test, the amount of cuttings transport performance (CTP) was determined from weight measurements. Three operating parameters were considered, namely drilling fluid viscosity, fluid velocity, and hole inclination. It showed that the use of high-viscosity drilling fluid improved CTP if the flow regime was turbulent. However, increasing viscosity when flow regime was transient or laminar flow lessened CTP gradually or sharply respectively. It was also revealed that an incremental increase in hole inclination from 60° to 90° has a positive effect on CTP. The most influential parameter in this study was fluid velocity in which a small raise of fluid velocity resulted in a substantial positive effect on hole cleaning.

Item Type:Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:Cuttings removal efficiency, cuttings tran sport performance, drill cuttings, drilling fluid, hole cleanin
Subjects:H Social Sciences > HE Transportation and Communications
Divisions:Chemical Engineering
ID Code:44827
Deposited By: Haliza Zainal
Deposited On:21 Apr 2015 03:31
Last Modified:01 Nov 2017 04:17

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