Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores

Drilling horizontal and highly deviated wells is almost always accompanied by hole cleaning issues and cuttings transport problems. This study was conducted to gain more in-depth understanding of cuttings transport in this type ofwells. A flow loop was designed to address the whirling and orbital mo...

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Main Author: Mahfooz Moherei, Mazen Ahmed
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2003
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/42633/1/MazenAhmedMahfoozMohereiFKKKSA2003.pdf
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spelling my-utm-ep.426332017-10-19T11:45:34Z Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores 2003 Mahfooz Moherei, Mazen Ahmed TN Mining engineering. Metallurgy Drilling horizontal and highly deviated wells is almost always accompanied by hole cleaning issues and cuttings transport problems. This study was conducted to gain more in-depth understanding of cuttings transport in this type ofwells. A flow loop was designed to address the whirling and orbital motion ofa self-eccentric drillpipe under various conditions ofhole inclinations, fluid velocity and viscosity as well as particle size. In this study, it has been observed that the orbital motion of the drillpipe plays a crucial role in the rate of cuttings-bed erosion and transport pattern under the action of streaming fluid and hence affect hole cleaning capabilities of the drilling fluid in highly deviated and horizontal sections of the well. Pipe rotation was seen to improve hole cleaning to up to 74 %. Annular velocity and degree of turbulence is also shown to be critical for efficient hole cleaning requirements. Increasing hole inclination from 60° to 90° has a substantial effect on hole cleaning, in most situations a 28% improvement was established as the angle turns from 60° to 90°. However, the effect of increasing fluid viscosity at velocities ofthis study adversely affect hole cleaning. Increasing the system kinematic viscosity from 1 cSt to 10 cSt turns the system from turbulent to laminar flow and resulted in about 38 % reduction in hole cleaning. Finally cuttings size was found to have a minor effect on hole cleaning. In this study, cuttings of 1.2 and 2.4 mm were used. Higher velocities and pipe rotation as well as higher viscosities and hole inclination seemed to assist transportation of large particles than smaller ones. 2003 Thesis http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/42633/ http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/42633/1/MazenAhmedMahfoozMohereiFKKKSA2003.pdf application/pdf en public http://libraryopac.utm.my/client/en_AU/main/search/results?qu=Cuttings+transport+in+horizontal+and+highly+deviated+wellbores&te= masters Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Chemical Engineering Faculty of Chemical Engineering
institution Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
collection UTM Institutional Repository
language English
topic TN Mining engineering
Metallurgy
spellingShingle TN Mining engineering
Metallurgy
Mahfooz Moherei, Mazen Ahmed
Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores
description Drilling horizontal and highly deviated wells is almost always accompanied by hole cleaning issues and cuttings transport problems. This study was conducted to gain more in-depth understanding of cuttings transport in this type ofwells. A flow loop was designed to address the whirling and orbital motion ofa self-eccentric drillpipe under various conditions ofhole inclinations, fluid velocity and viscosity as well as particle size. In this study, it has been observed that the orbital motion of the drillpipe plays a crucial role in the rate of cuttings-bed erosion and transport pattern under the action of streaming fluid and hence affect hole cleaning capabilities of the drilling fluid in highly deviated and horizontal sections of the well. Pipe rotation was seen to improve hole cleaning to up to 74 %. Annular velocity and degree of turbulence is also shown to be critical for efficient hole cleaning requirements. Increasing hole inclination from 60° to 90° has a substantial effect on hole cleaning, in most situations a 28% improvement was established as the angle turns from 60° to 90°. However, the effect of increasing fluid viscosity at velocities ofthis study adversely affect hole cleaning. Increasing the system kinematic viscosity from 1 cSt to 10 cSt turns the system from turbulent to laminar flow and resulted in about 38 % reduction in hole cleaning. Finally cuttings size was found to have a minor effect on hole cleaning. In this study, cuttings of 1.2 and 2.4 mm were used. Higher velocities and pipe rotation as well as higher viscosities and hole inclination seemed to assist transportation of large particles than smaller ones.
format Thesis
qualification_level Master's degree
author Mahfooz Moherei, Mazen Ahmed
author_facet Mahfooz Moherei, Mazen Ahmed
author_sort Mahfooz Moherei, Mazen Ahmed
title Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores
title_short Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores
title_full Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores
title_fullStr Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores
title_full_unstemmed Cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores
title_sort cuttings transport in horizontal and highly deviated wellbores
granting_institution Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Chemical Engineering
granting_department Faculty of Chemical Engineering
publishDate 2003
url http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/42633/1/MazenAhmedMahfoozMohereiFKKKSA2003.pdf
_version_ 1747816817099800576