Parameter optimization based on deepwater drilling system simulation: A pre-salt exploration well in Brazil

Heave compensated response of long multi-segment drill strings

During the drilling process, horizontal drill strings are often subject to stick-slip and back-pressure phenomena, which undermine drilling safety and affect drilling costs. However, most of the models proposed in the existing literature apply only to the analysis of the drill string motion state and are irrelevant to the rotary drilling process in coal mines. This paper presents a lumped-mass model of a drill string in a horizontal coal mine well. First, based on reasonable assumptions, the drill-string system was considered as four lumped-mass units. The lateral-torsional dynamics model was established based on the Lagrange dynamics theory. Further, combined with lateral movement, the intermittent contact between the drill string and borehole wall is described, and the friction torque due to this intermittent contact is calculated. Combined with the Karnopp bit-rock interaction, a drill-string dynamics model of horizontal wells that considers intermittent contact friction was developed. The proposed horizontal well drill-string model is more suitable for rotary drilling in a coal mine, and the nonlinear influencing factors are considered more comprehensive.

Drill string models are of two major types- Conventional and Periodic. Conventional drill string models are widely used due to their simplicity in manufacturing and dynamics analysis. Drill strings are affected mainly by torsional, lateral and axial vibrations. The dispersive or propagative nature of these vibrations can only be analyzed by using periodic drill string models. Drill pipe makes up the majority of the drill string. In reality, at each end of the drill pipe, tubular, larger-diameter portions called the tool joints are located. Since the dimensions of the tool joint are negligible when compared to the drill pipe, conventional drill string models assume drill strings to be uniform structures. The tool joints in drill strings introduce a geometrical periodicity in the structure.A periodic structural component is comprised of a repeating array of cells, which are themselves an assembly of elements. The elements may have differing material properties as well as geometric variations. The periodic structures act as mechanical filters for the wave propagation. A material or geometrical change in the structure causes a disruption to the continuous propagation of vibration waves.There are three types of waves propagating in rotating structures: torsional, flexural (bending) and longitudinal. Of these waves, torsional and longitudinal waves are dispersive while flexural waves are non- dispersive. The proportions of the waves which are dispersed vary according to the Wavenumber. The wavenumber is a property of the wave and depends on the structural, material and geometrical properties of the wave guide. Waveguide is the medium through which a wave travels. The wave number, and hence the dispersion and propagation characteristics of waves can be tuned by varying the material and geometrical periodicity in the drill strings.This paper presents the vibration propagation and attenuation characteristics in conventional and periodic drill string models. The periodic drill string model is developed such that it can be easily scaled to a real drilling rig model. The research also features a laboratory setting which comprises a mini drilling rig and actual drilling samples. These features ensure robustness of the dynamics analyzed for the periodic drill string model.The research findings are analyzed under zero and non- zero borehole drill string interactions. Vibration information is collected from upper and lower parts of the drill string models to compare the propagation and attenuation characteristics. Proximity sensors are used for the data acquisition which is then analyzed using frequency and power spectrum graphs. The time and frequency domain vibration propagation characteristics are investigated for both the conventional and periodic drill string models. Laboratory testing analyzes (1) introduction of stop and pass band regions in frequency spectra by periodic drill string models, and (2) vibration attenuation in torsional and lateral vibration modes. The tests confirm the introduction of stop bands in frequency spectra for the periodic drill strings, while they were absent and had an all pass-band for conventional drill string models.The research opens up a new method of passive control of drilling vibrations- by introducing tool joint designs which could be tuned to efficiently dampen out the harmful vibrations affecting the drilling rigs.

To clarify the motion characteristic of the drill string in deviated well, the nonlinear dynamic model of lateral-torsional coupling for drill string system is established by the Lagrange equation. This model incorporates the contact between the drill string and borehole wall, torque dissipation, and borehole trajectory effects. Additionally, the contact behavior using linear elastic contact model is simulated. Meanwhile, the torque transfer law in the drill string system is described by a discrete torque-drag model. Finally, numerical simulations are employed to determine the dynamic properties of the drill string system. The results reveal that friction losses in drill string systems are increased with higher well inclination angles. The motion of BHA along the x direction is predominantly concentrated near the wellhole center at inclination angle of 65°, while in the y direction it primarily focuses on the low side of the wellhole. An increase in inclination angle leads to a more prominent occurrence of stick-slip motion in the drill string. When inclination angle more than 25°, there is a slightly higher collision frequency observed between the BHA and the low side of the borehole wall compared to that with the upper side. When increasing the WOB (weight on bit) to 160 kN, stick-slip motion becomes more pronounced within the drill string. Through parametric dynamics analysis of the drill string system, the rotary speed can be controlled in range from 40 to 70 r/min, and the WOB should be restricted in range from 20 to 40 kN in well depth 5000 m.

In order to understand critical vibration of a drill bit such as stick-slip and bit-bounce and their wave propagation characteristics through a drill string system, it is critical to model the torsional, longitudinal, and flexural waves generated by the drill bit vibration. Here, a modeling method based on a vibration transfer matrix between two sets of structural wave variables at the ends of a constant cross-sectional, hollow, circular pipe is proposed. For a drill string system with multiple pipe sections, the total vibration transfer matrix is calculated by multiplying all individual matrices, each is obtained for an individual pipe section. Since drill string systems are typically extremely long, conventional numerical analysis methods such as a finite element method (FEM) require a large number of meshes, which makes it computationally inefficient to analyze these drill string systems numerically. The proposed "analytical" vibration transfer matrix method requires significantly low computational resources. For the validation of the proposed method, experimental and numerical data are obtained from laboratory experiments and FEM analyses conducted by using a commercial FEM package, ANSYS. It is shown that the modeling results obtained by using the proposed method are well matched with the experimental and numerical results.

The TDS changed the drive mode and established a simple, flexible multi-body drill string system. The system consists of a derrick, a hoisting system, TDS, and a drill string system, and is inserted into a long, narrow borehole. The drill string then interacts with mud, the borehole wall, and the bottom hole, which generates resonance and increases the risk of drilling accidents. Natural frequency, which is related to the structure of the drill string, determines critical speed. In a vertical well, the transverse, torsional, and longitudinal fluid–structure interaction vibrations of the flexible multi-body drill string system within 1,700 m was analysed using the ANSYS. The natural frequency and the associated critical speed for different bottomhole assemblies (BHAs) were obtained. Results show that reasonably selecting the TDS rotation speed and optimizing BHA offer practical engineering applications for increasing drilling speed, reducing drilling accidents, and improving economic returns.

In order to understand critical vibrations of a drill bit such as stick-slip and bit-bounce and their wave propagation characteristics through a drillstring system, it is critical to model the torsional, longitudinal, and flexural waves. The objective is to model these waves propagating through the drillstring in a computationally efficient way. Here, a modeling method based on an acoustic transfer matrix between two sets of wave variables at the ends of a cylindrical pipe is proposed. For a drillstring system with multiple pipe sections, the total acoustic transfer matrix is calculated by multiplying all individual matrices of which each is obtained for an individual pipe section. Since drillstring systems are typically extremely long, conventional numerical analysis methods such as FEM require a large number of meshes, which makes it difficult to analyze these drillstring systems. On the contrary, the analytical acoustic transfer matrix method requires significantly low computational costs. For the validation, experimental and numerical data are obtained from a laboratory measurement and by using a commercial FEM package, ANSYS, respectively. They are compared to the modeling results obtained by using the proposed method. It is shown that the modeling results are well matched with the experimental and numerical results.

In order to understand critical vibrations of a drill bit such as stick-slip and bit-bounce and their wave propagation characteristics through a drillstring system, it is critical to model the torsional, longitudinal, and flexural waves. The objective is to model these waves propagating through the drillstring in a computationally efficient way. Here, a modeling method based on an acoustic transfer matrix between two sets of wave variables at the ends of a cylindrical pipe is proposed. For a drillstring system with multiple pipe sections, the total acoustic transfer matrix is calculated by multiplying all individual matrices of which each is obtained for an individual pipe section. Since drillstring systems are typically extremely long, conventional numerical analysis methods such as FEM require a large number of meshes, which makes it difficult to analyze these drillstring systems. On the contrary, the “analytical” acoustic transfer matrix method requires significantly low computational costs. For the validation, experimental and numerical data are obtained from a laboratory measurement and by using a commercial FEM package, ANSYS, respectively. They are compared to the modeling results obtained by using the proposed method. It is shown that the modeling results are well matched with the experimental and numerical results.

Drilling a wellbore can result in several types of vibration that lead to inefficient drilling and premature failure of drill string components. These vibrations are subdivided based on their operating direction into lateral, torsional, and axial vibrations. Especially in hard and dense formations, high-frequency torsional oscillations are found in the bottom-hole assembly (BHA). These critical vibrations are induced by a self-excitation mechanism caused by the bit–rock interaction. Self-excitation mechanisms are regenerative effects, mode coupling, or a velocity-dependent torque characteristic at the drill bit. To increase drilling performance and reduce tool failure due to high-frequency torsional oscillations, the critical vibration amplitudes localized at the bottom-hole assembly need to be minimized. Increasing the damping of self-excited systems to affect the energy output during vibration is a common approach to mitigate self-excited vibrations. In drilling systems, the achievable damping is naturally limited by the small installation space due to the drilled borehole diameter. Therefore, alternative methods to influence vibrations are necessary. Applying parametric excitation in self-excited systems can result in a parametric anti-resonance and therefore in an energy transfer within different modes of the structure. This allows, among other benefits, improved utilization of the structural damping. In this article, the influence of additional stiffness–based parametric excitation on self-excited torsional vibration in downhole drilling systems is investigated. For this purpose, a finite element model of a drill string is reduced using the component mode synthesis and analyzed with the goal to mitigate torsional vibrations. The multiple degree of freedom drill string model is investigated regarding the additional energy transfer due to the parametric excitation. Robustness of various parameters, especially with regard to the positioning within the bottom-hole assembly, is analyzed and discussed. Additionally, the problem of multiple unstable self-excited modes due to the nonlinear velocity-dependent torque characteristic in drilling systems is addressed.

Continental and offshore scientific drilling is one of the most effective methods of earth investigation. The experience of realization of such wells drilling programs obtained in the last few years points to the fact that there are a number of problems, particularly when drilling crystalline rocks. Simultaneous analysis of deep water and continental drilling results allows to draw up general principles of drilling and coring technology. In the paper there are given the results of tests and field use of coring technology and technique in crystalline rocks without pulling out the drill string, developed by VNIIBT. Onshore drilling strategy consisted in coring with retrievable tool and research of the pilot slim hole for one drill string running, and then drilling’ the main borehole with minimum vertical deviations. In offshore drilling without re-entry equipment with retrievable down hole motors and retractable bits it was possible to spud and core the well on the sea floor into bare rocks. On the paper the information about the characteristics of technical means for the technology realization is given. From the onshore and offshore drilling of more than two thousand meters with retrievable down hole motors and core barrels in crystalline rocks there are shown the advantages and perspectives of using drilling technology without pulling out drill string in different conditions.

In Part 1, the Engineering Simulator for Drilling (ESD) is described, explaining the overall design, the engineering algorithms, the use of the interactive graphics, and the software and hardware used to create and operate any drilling system. Part 2 presents how the ESD is designed as a tool for the drilling person, giving the person the flexibility to use the ESD as a drilling time and cost analysis tool, or for well planning, or a full engineering simulator. A stand alone capability to use parts of the ESD for real time drilling analysis is also possible. An example of how a drilling person would use the ESD to build a drilling system is given. This includes logging onto the ESD, selecting the drilling location and geology, selecting the drilling rig, the initiation of the wellbore and the design of the mud system and the drill string. A description is given of how the user can operate the newly created drilling system, describing some of the options available to him. All Figures are actual photographs or plots of the various ESD graphic's pictures and menus.

Drilling engineering is a high input and risk underground project, which needs the real-time down-hole diagno- sis and forecast technique. Drilling string vibration signals contain full and complex vibration waves, which contains the vibration of the drilling string by itself, the vibration stimulated by the interaction of bit and the formation, the vibration induced by colliding between drill string and bore hole. By adopting drilling string vibration testing system, down-hole vibration can be measured, and use it to the learn and analyze the state of down-hole. Drilling string vibration testing Sys- tem adopts the ADuC841 MCU as the core chip, and uses the high reliability technology to complete the software and hardware design of the testing system. The Storable down-hole drilling string vibration testing system has advantages of small in size, low power consumption, vibration resistance and high temperature resistance. High temperature test, vibra- tion test, laboratory test and spot test show that the down-hole drilling string vibration testing system has the ability to ac- curately record the actual down-hole drill string dynamic vibration status, and system can meet the needs of the drilling site testing.

During the drilling process, the whirling motion often occurs, which will cause the drill string to vibrate violently, accelerate the fatigue damage of the drill string, and eventually cause the bottom hole assembly to fail. But the existing research rarely focuses on the critical whirling velocity of drill string. To solve this problem, the whirl differential equation of drill string was set up based on the D’Alembert principle, and the critical whirling speed equation of drill string was deduced according to separation variable method. Reference to actual downhole conditions, the influence of drill stem wall thickness, tension, drilling depth, drilling fluid flow rate, and other factors on the critical whirling speed of drill string are considered. Research results indicate that when n ≤ 8324, drill string has a critical whirling speed, and when n > 8324, there is no critical whirling speed. And under different orders, as drill string wall thickness and drilling depth increase, the critical whirling velocity decreases. In general, the drill string rotation rate is 0–150 rad/min. When the drilling depth is 0–500 m, the critical speed is not considered. However, as drilling depth exceeds 500 m, the critical whirling velocity is within the general range of drill string speed. Therefore, drill string velocity should be chosen reasonably to avoid resonance. When the tension increases, critical whirling velocity increases. As the drilling fluid flow rate increases, the critical whirling velocity of drill string decreases. But when drilling fluid velocity is close to 120 L·s−1, increasing the drilling fluid velocity hardly affects the critical whirling velocity of drill string. In a word, research results of this paper have certain guiding significance to drilling engineering.

Torsional vibrations experienced by drill strings can be detrimental to drilling operations. With a goal of understanding torsional vibrations experienced by drill strings and determining means to attenuate undesired vibrations, the authors have studied the effect of adding a sinusoidal modulation to a constant rotation speed of a drill string. A combination of modeling, analysis, and experiments is used to explore the influence of this rotation input modulation on the system response. The drill string is modeled as a modified Jeffcott rotor, which is described by a system with three degrees of freedom. Considering the case of forward whirling of a rotor in continuous contact with a stator, the equations of motion are reduced to a single degree-of-freedom nonlinear oscillator describing the torsional motions. In order to understand the fast time scale and slow time scale components of the motion, the method of direct partitions of motions is used to determine an approximate response to the nonlinear oscillator. The obtained results of the analysis illustrate that with the sinusoidal modulation of the rotor drive speed, the equivalent torsion stiffness can be enhanced and the character of the friction force at the contact can be made smooth. The analyses helps bring forth the stabilizing influence of the added sinusoidal input to the rotor drive speed. Over the considered parameter ranges, the numerical results obtained with the full three degree-of-freedom model and the reduced single degree-of-freedom model are found to be in agreement with each other. Furthermore, the results from these models are found to compare well with those obtained by using the method of direct partition of motions. Experiments with a laboratory scale drill-string arrangement are to be carried out to validate the analytical and numerical findings and further explore the effectiveness of the drive speed modulation on the rotor dynamics. Introduction Slender rotating structures are used in many engineering applications. Drill strings are long rotating slender structures, which are used in drilling operations. A schematic of a rotary drill rig is shown in Fig. 1 (e.g., Liao, Balachandran, Karkoub, and Abdel-Magid, 2011). Drill strings experience different types of vibrations (axial, torsional, and lateral vibrations) that may lead to detrimental failures of a drilling system. Drill-string vibrations have attracted the attention of many researchers, and many models have been developed to understand them. Since drill strings have a large length-to-diameter ratio, typically, the first torsional natural frequency and first lateral natural frequency are close to each other. This frequency proximity and the nature of the system allows for coupling and energy transfer between the associated vibration modes. Here, as a step towards developing further understanding, a drill string is modeled as an extended planar Jeffcott rotor with gravity acting normal to the rotor. Due to the planar motions, no gyroscopic effects are considered. The extended model, which was earlier considered in the work of Vlajic, Liu, Karki, and Balachandran (2014), is shown in Fig. 2. The model is described with three degrees of freedom (DOF), namely, x and y to account for lateral motions, and theta to account for torsional motion. A large number of research efforts have focused on controlling drill-string vibrations by using different feedback control algorithms, which need measurements along the drill string. In this work, the authors propose a different control approach to mitigate whirling motions during continuous rotor-stator contact. This can be compared to a situation of a drill string being in continuous contact with the borehole. The approach is open loop in implementation and this approach is based on adding a high frequency input to the drive speed of the drill string. Given the open-loop nature, the method does not depend on any measurements along the drill string or rotary table, which could be attractive for a practical stand point. Although the current focus is on motions of a rotor with continuous stator contact, it is planned to study stick-slip and non-contact cases in the future. System Modeling, Studies, and Results As previously mentioned, the drill string is modelled as a Jeffcott rotor with three DOF. Proceeding along the lines of the group's prior work (Vlajic, Liu, Karki, and Balachandran, 2014), after some approximations for the continuous rotor-stator contact case, the 3 DOF system is reduced to a single second-order nonlinear differential equation governing the torsional motion. In Fig. 3, for a representative case with a constant drive speed, the torsional state histories obtained for the full model and the reduced model are plotted. It is noted that the final state of the motion is captured quite well. To further analyze the response during forward whirling, the reduced-order model was nondimensionalized and an approximate solution was obtained by using the method of direct partitions. This method allows one to separate slow scale motions from fast scale motions. As discussed, in the group's prior work, this method can be useful to examine whirling motions. The results obtained by directly integrating the full model as well as the reduced-order model have been compared with that obtained by using the method of direct partitions of motions. It is seen that the perturbation analyses is able to provide an approximate solution that compares well with the numerical results obtained through direct integrations. Next, this analysis is used to examine the influence of the addition of secondary frequency component. It is seen that the addition of the secondary frequency, a high-frequency one, helps smooth out the friction coefficient variation with respect to the relative speed at contact. This is found to have a beneficial effect on the motion and helps suppress large-amplitude torsional motions. Stability analysis was also conducted to examine this effect. Concluding Remarks A study has been conducted to examine the influence of sinusoidal modulation of rotor drive speed in a system, wherein the rotor experiences continuous stator contact. A single degree of-freedom reduced model is developed to study the torsion response and it is found that the addition of a high frequency input can be beneficial in attenuating rotor motions. This is believed to be useful for developing open-loop control schemes for attenuating forward whirling motions of drill strings. Results obtained from a lab scale experimental arrangement will be used to examine the effect of this drive speed modulation further and they will be reported in the conference presentation. Future studies could build on the current effort to examine cases of backward whirling. Acknowledgment: The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the support received from the Qatar National Research Fund for NPRP Project 7-083-2-041, to pursue this collaborative work between the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA and Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.

This paper presents a method to simulate the circulating system while drilling a well. For any given pump rate the pressure losses through the surface system, down the drill pipe, through the bit, and up the annulus can be determined. The algorithm also has the capability of simulating a washout in the drill string, losing fluid to the formation, having fluid produced into the annulus, and fracturing the formation(s). The algorithm is general enough to calculate pressure losses for turbulent and laminar flow, simultaneously. This covers the situation where multiple flow regimes exist in the same circulation loop. Formulation of the algorithm is presented, showing how a network type of solution is used to calculate the pressures and flows. The iterative solution converges rapidly and can be used for real time and faster than real time simulation. Detailed surface pressure data was obtained from two wells in Texas. The circulation simulation program was used to calculate pressure losses at various depths in each well for a variety of circulation rates. Results presented in this paper show close agreement with the field data. To show the versatility of the simulation algorithm a series of idealized circulation system simulations are presented. These include various downhole circulation situations such as lost circulation, circulation without returns, and fluid production response as a function of permeability and pressure, and circulating with a hole in the drill string.