A Phenomenological Approach to Analysis of Barite Sag in Drilling Muds

Paslay, P. R.; Sathuvalli, Udaya B.; Payne, M.L.

doi:10.2118/110404-ms

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…They are focused on the period during which pumping and rotation are stopped (Acrivos and Herbolzheimer 1979;Paslay et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study and Modelling of Barite Sag in Annular Flow

Adariani

2014

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

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The phenomenon of settlement of weighting-material particles in drilling fluid is known as barite sag, which can lead to a number of drilling problems including lost circulation, well-control difficulties, poor cementing operation, and stuck pipe. This study investigates barite sag, both experimentally and numerically, in the annulus under flow conditions. Settlement of the weighting materials is generally called barite sag because barite is the most popular weight material used in drilling industry.The experimental part of the study has been conducted using a flow loop with 35-ft-long annulus test section to investigate the effects of fluid velocity in annulus, annulus eccentricity, pipe rotation, and inclination angle on barite sag. Density of the flowing fluid is measured continuously using Coriolis densitometers at the inlet and outlet of the annular test section.The simulation part of this study is based on a proposed particle-tracking method called "particle-elimination technique." In this method, falling and axial velocities of the solid particles are estimated to predict their travelling paths. Density of the flowing fluid is updated, taking into account the number of particles that become stationary by reaching the casing wall. To model the downward motion of the barite bed on an inclined bed, the analogy of falling film of a viscous liquid on an inclined plane is applied. Velocity of the falling barite bed is calculated on the basis of an apparent viscosity approximated by the experiments. Knowing the velocity of the moving bed, the mass rate of barite downstream of the bed, which goes back into the main flow stream, is calculated and a new density for the moving fluid is achieved. The numerical simulation is modified from laboratory scale to real wellbore dimensions to be used for practical drilling applications.Results of the tests indicate that the highest sag occurs at low annular velocities, low rotational speeds, and high inclination angles. Barite-sag reduction caused by decreasing the inclination angle continues until the inclination-angle values are approximately 60 , after which it becomes insignificant. Another observation made from experimental results and simulation work is that as the circulation of the drilling fluid in the loop continues, the fluid density decreases until it reaches an equilibrium stage. The equilibrium stage occurs faster for lower inclination angles. Effects of annular velocity and inner-pipe rotational speed on barite sag are similar; however, they are different from the trend observed when the inclination angle changes. Eccentricity of a nonrotating inner pipe did not have a significant effect on barite sag. However, the effect of inner-pipe rotation on barite sag for an eccentric annulus is more significant than in the concentric case.Comparing the results of numerical simulation with the experimental study shows a good agreement. The proposed simulation approach in this study can be used for barite-sag predictions in the annulus. A good prediction of the barite sag...

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“…They are focused on the period during which pumping and rotation are stopped (Acrivos and Herbolzheimer 1979;Paslay et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study and Modelling of Barite Sag in Annular Flow

Adariani

2014

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

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“…Efforts have been taken from around 10 years ago to develop a method to predict the shear pressure of Ram BOP. According to the report prepared for the US Minerals Management Services [3], analytical models were first presented, and then developments made to improve the accuracy of the analytical methods [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Test-Free Simulation Method for Blowout Preventer Pipe Shearing Powered by Data

Wang

Nault

Givens

et al. 2023

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A Blowout Preventer (BOP) serves as a safety valve in the drilling process in the oil and gas industry. It will be closed if an influx of formation fluids occurs and threatens the rig. A Ram BOP is one type of widely used BOP. It is composed of two ram blades, which will move toward each other to shear the drilling pipe and to close the valve. To ensure the shearing process is completed on the rig, lab tests are often run to evaluate the BOP’s capability and the required shearing pressure. Over the last decade, Finite element analysis (FEA) based simulation method has been set up to predict the shearing process. The simulation method still requires pipe damage parameters and requires lab test. This paper presents a test-free simulation method enabled by analyzing the ram BOP pipe shearing data, which significantly reduces the lead time and test costs.

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“…Paslay et al [2] presented a fundamental theoretical effort to describe dynamic sag in drilling fluids by considering the behaviour of a system of particles in a non-Newtonian Bingham fluid. The authors employed continuum mechanics to develop a model of dynamic sag in an inclined annulus 2 Advances in Numerical Analysis in terms of the fluid and particle properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Simulation of Barite Sag in Pipe and Annular Flow

Kabanda

Wang

2017

Advances in Numerical Analysis

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With the ever increasing global energy demand and diminishing petroleum reserves, current advances in drilling technology have resulted in numerous directional wells being drilled as operators strive to offset the ever-rising operating costs. In as much as deviated-well drilling allows drillers to exploit reservoir potential by penetrating the pay zone in a horizontal, rather than vertical, fashion, it also presents conditions under which the weighting agents can settle out of suspension. The present work is categorized into two parts. In the first part, governing equations were built inside a two-dimensional horizontal pipe geometry and the finite element method utilized to solve the equation-sets. In the second part, governing equations were built inside a three-dimensional horizontal annular geometry and the finite volume method utilized to solve the equation-sets. The results of the first part of the simulation are the solid concentration, mixture viscosity, and a prediction of the barite bed characteristics. For the second part, simulation results show that the highest occurrence of barite sag is at low annular velocities, nonrotating drill pipe, and eccentric drill pipe. The CFD approach in this study can be utilized as a research study tool in understanding and managing the barite sag problem.

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A Phenomenological Approach to Analysis of Barite Sag in Drilling Muds

Cited by 9 publications

References 18 publications

Experimental Study and Modelling of Barite Sag in Annular Flow

Experimental Study and Modelling of Barite Sag in Annular Flow

Test-Free Simulation Method for Blowout Preventer Pipe Shearing Powered by Data

Numerical Simulation of Barite Sag in Pipe and Annular Flow

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