TY - GEN
T1 - A VALIDATED COMPUTATION FLUID DYNAMICS MODEL INVESTIGATING CUTTINGS TRANSPORT WITH HERSCHEL BULKLEY DRILLING FLUIDS
AU - Khaled, Mohamed Shafik
AU - Khan, Muhammad Saad
AU - Rahman, Mohammad Azizur
AU - Hasan, A. Rashid
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 by ASME.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - A fundamental understanding of the impact of different hydrodynamic, scaling, and geometric conditions on cuttings transport are essential for successful wellbore drilling. This study presents a validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for investigating cuttings transport phenomena in deviated wells with Herschel Bulkley drilling fluids at different drilling conditions. A CFD model was developed and validated with our experiments conducted in the TAMUQ flow loop (5-meter horizontal length, 4.5in. X 2in.) and open literature. The Eulerian-Eulerian approach simulated solid-liquid laminar and turbulent flow in annular geometry utilizing hexahedral mesh under transient conditions. It was observed that the optimum range for efficient hole cleaning is from 0-200 RPM, and increasing RPM above 200 will have a marginal impact on improving hole cleaning. Cuttings size of 0.004 m was determined to be the critical size for solid particle removal. Hole enlargement has a hugely adverse effect on the fluid-carrying capacity due to the reduction of fluid velocity in the enlarged section and cuttings concentrate. Poor hole cleaning signs were observed with increasing cuttings density and wellbore inclination between 45-60 degrees.
AB - A fundamental understanding of the impact of different hydrodynamic, scaling, and geometric conditions on cuttings transport are essential for successful wellbore drilling. This study presents a validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for investigating cuttings transport phenomena in deviated wells with Herschel Bulkley drilling fluids at different drilling conditions. A CFD model was developed and validated with our experiments conducted in the TAMUQ flow loop (5-meter horizontal length, 4.5in. X 2in.) and open literature. The Eulerian-Eulerian approach simulated solid-liquid laminar and turbulent flow in annular geometry utilizing hexahedral mesh under transient conditions. It was observed that the optimum range for efficient hole cleaning is from 0-200 RPM, and increasing RPM above 200 will have a marginal impact on improving hole cleaning. Cuttings size of 0.004 m was determined to be the critical size for solid particle removal. Hole enlargement has a hugely adverse effect on the fluid-carrying capacity due to the reduction of fluid velocity in the enlarged section and cuttings concentrate. Poor hole cleaning signs were observed with increasing cuttings density and wellbore inclination between 45-60 degrees.
KW - Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
KW - Cuttings transport
KW - Drilling parameters
KW - Herschel Bulkley fluids
KW - Hole cleaning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140872131&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/OMAE2022-79540
DO - 10.1115/OMAE2022-79540
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85140872131
T3 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering - OMAE
BT - Petroleum Technology
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
T2 - ASME 2022 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE 2022
Y2 - 5 June 2022 through 10 June 2022
ER -