Experimental Study and Modeling of Yield Power-Law Fluid Flow in Pipes and Annuli

A theoretical and experimental investigation of the effect of pressure on Mechanical Specific Energy and Cutting Efficiency was performed. The bottomhole expansion theory of Warren and Smith was verified and it was shown through finite element analysis that permeability of the formation restricts the use of this theory in many cases. Single cutter experimentations under pressure showed that the pressure environment has significant effects on both impermeable and permeable rocks. A hypothesis was produced to explain for the reduced efficiencies observed in the experiments. PROJECT STATUS: Task Completion Literature review 100% Theoretical study 100% Test facility preparation 100% Single cutter tests 100% Test data analysis 100% Final report 100% RECENT PROGRESS: ƒ Permeability effects were introduced into the bottomhole expansions theory and finite element analysis of its effect were done. ƒ Numerous tests were performed with the single cutter facility under various pressure conditions. ƒ A hypothesis was produced to explain the behavior of the single cutter under pressure as observed in the experiments. TRASIENT CUTTING TRANSPORT (BED EROSION) IN HORIZONTAL WELLS Investigator: M.Usman Khan Abstract: The past attempts to develop practical design models for efficient cuttings transport may be divided into two groups: mechanistic models and empirical models. The studies carried out for transient bed erosion is mostly limited to empirical models only having very limited range of application. Therefore, a rigorous theoretical analysis of “transient cuttings bed erosion” needs to be performed. A combination of mathematical modeling, experimental investigation and utilization of existing transient data from previous research projects is employed to achieve the above objective. This report presents the literature review being carried out, experimental results of cuttings transport on a Low pressure ambient temperature loop, work on transient cuttings transport mathematical model using conservation of mass and momentum, the computer code to predict bed height and pressure drop using two layer method. The Low Pressure Ambient Temperature (LPAT) was used to perform cuttings transport experiments using water and PAC-R with and without drill pipe rotation. Project Status: Tasks Percentage Accomplished Literature review 95%