Date of Graduation
2002
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MS
Committee Chair
H. I. Bilgesu
Abstract
Efficient transportation of cuttings is a vital factor for a good drilling program. Cutting transport in annulus is a complex problem that is affected by numerous parameters. Predicting effective cuttings transport requires all of these parameters to be considered simultaneously. To better understand the effects of some of the parameters affecting the cutting transportation, a combination of casing-drill pipe annulus section was simulated and a model called ‘discrete phase model’ was used to observe the transportation of cuttings in the annulus. Tests were conducted to determine the effects of mud weight, particle size, drilling rate and viscosity on cutting transportation in both vertical and horizontal section of a well bore. The data collected were graphically correlated in the form of annular velocity with cutting transportation, which was used as a measure of the transportation efficiency. The results indicate that for the same drilling fluid horizontal well has better hole cleaning than vertical well. The results also indicate that the effectiveness of a circulating fluid in removing drilled cuttings is not only dependent on the rheology of the fluid but also on whether the fluid is in laminar or turbulent flow. For the tested particle size ranges (0.10 to 0.275 in.), the cleaning efficiency is partly dependent upon the particle’s size.
Recommended Citation
Ali, Md. Wazed, "A parametric study of cutting transport in vertical and horizontal well using computational fluid dynamics (CFD)." (2002). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD). 10668.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/10668