CFD Method for Predicting Annular Pressure Losses and Cuttings Concentration in Eccentric Horizontal Wells

Ofei, Titus Ntow; Irawan, Sonny; Pao, William

doi:10.1155/2014/486423

Cited by 40 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Similar pressure drop predictions have been performed by Ofei et al (2014) using the experiments of Han et al (2010) and Osgouei (2010). The Eulerian-Eulerian model implemented in their work yielded a mean error of less than 5%.…”

Section: Cfd Model Validationsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…It was also shown that fluid flow rate, hole inclination angle and ROP have a major impact on the transport efficiency. Ofei et al (2014) implemented the Eulerian-Eulerian multiphase model to predict cuttings concentration and pressure losses at different diameter ratios in eccentric horizontal annuli. According to their results, drilling mud had superior transport capabilities compared to water at low diameter ratios; however, the performance of both fluids can be similar at a high diameter ratio of 0.9.…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Under these circumstances, drilling engineers must monitor and optimise the influence of these significantly intertwined drilling variables in order to achieve reliable and cost-effective design of any drilling program. Cuttings transport phenomena significantly change with respect to other parameters such as varying eccentricities and inclination angles across the entire hole, drill pipe rotation and drill pipe/hole diameter ratio (Ofei et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A multiparametric CFD analysis of multiphase annular flows for oil and gas drilling applications

Epelle

Gerogiorgis

2017

Computers & Chemical Engineering

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The increasing global energy demand has pushed the oil industry towards developing more innovative and advanced methods of enhancing oil recovery even under unfavourable technical and environmental conditions. The severity of many operational problems affecting the drilling and production of oil and gas wells is worsened by inaccessibility; hence, remedial efforts must be implemented from afar. One of these problems is ensuring efficient removal of formation rock cuttings with a suitable fluid, whose rheology is often complicated. Furthermore, pressure losses along the annular geometry involved, and decreased Rates of Penetration (ROP) due to accumulated drill cuttings downhole, constitute significant portions of the total energy to be supplied. Thus, the application of sophisticated modelling techniques with credible elucidation of the phase distributions (solids, liquids and gas) and prevalent flow regimes becomes essential, if adequate and economic design of a drilling program is desired. The advent of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the growth in the available computational power to support it have provided an unprecedented opportunity to simulate and understand complex real flows, especially when experimental methods become extremely demanding. The present study employs the tool of Computational Fluid Dynamics to simulate a two-phase solid-liquid flow in an annulus based on the analysis of cuttings concentration, pressure drop profiles, axial fluid, and solid velocities as a function of several drilling parameters: drill pipe eccentricity, inclination, drill pipe rotation, ROP and fluid rheology. Special emphasis is however, placed on the impact of changing hole eccentricity on cuttings transport efficiency. The suitability of the Eulerian-Eulerian (EE) multiphase tracking scheme in modelling systems of high volume fractions is fully utilised in this work. A non-Newtonian (power law) fluid model with well-described flow parameters is implemented, considering a uniform cuttings size distribution (3 mm). A commercial CFD software (ANSYS FLUENT TM 17.1) has been used; the descriptive and predictive potential of the CFD software has been confirmed on account of the reasonable agreement with previously published experimental data (a relative error of less than 11% is achieved), as illustrated by the corresponding sensitivity plots. This multi-parametric CFD analysis study of multiphase cutting transport during drilling applications has confirmed that fluid velocity, hole inclination and annular eccentricity are the most influential factors governing the cuttings transport efficiency.2

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Section: Cfd Model Validationsupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A multiparametric CFD analysis of multiphase annular flows for oil and gas drilling applications

Epelle

Gerogiorgis

2017

Computers & Chemical Engineering

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“…In the study of Ofei et al [3,4] influence of drill pipe rotation was numerically investigated. In article Mokhtari et al [5] investigated influence of yield stress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of steady-state cuttings transport through a horizontal annulus channel

Ignatenko¹,

Gavrilov

Bocharov³

et al. 2019

EPJ Web Conf.

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The current study is devoted to simulating cuttings transport by drilling fluid through a horizontal section of borehole with an annular cross section. Drill pipe rotates in fixed eccentric position. Steady-state flow is considered. Cuttings are rigid spheres with equal diameters. The carrying fluid is drilling mud with Herschel-Bulkley rheology. Suspension rheology depends on local shear rate and particles concentration. Continuous mixture model with algebraic equation for particles slipping velocity is used. Two hydrodynamic regimes are considered: axial flow without drill pipe rotation and with drill pipe rotation. In the case of axial flow was shown that increasing of power index n and consistency factor k increases pressure gradient and decreases cuttings concentration. Increasing of yield stress leads to increasing of pressure gradient and cuttings concentration. Cuttings concentration achieves constant value for high yield stress and not depends on it. Rotation of the drill pipe significantly changes the flow structure: pressure loss occurs and particles concentration decreases in the cross section. Two basic regimes of rotational flow are observed: domination of primary vortex around drill pipe and domination secondary vorticity structures. Transition between regimes leads to significant changes of flow integral parameters.

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“…Several studies [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] have adopted CFD techniques to model solid-liquid flow in annular geometries with much accuracy. This is due to the many advantages CFD has over experimental setup and empirical correlations in handling complex multiphase flow problems with unlimited physical and operational conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Yield Power Law Fluid Rheological Properties on Cuttings Transport in Eccentric Horizontal Narrow Annulus

Ofei

2016

Journal of Fluids

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Narrow annular drilling such as casing-while-drilling technique is gaining popularity due to its ability to mitigate nonproductive time during oil and gas drilling operations. However, very little is known about the flow dynamics in narrow annular drilling. In this study, the Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid model was used to examine the influence of Yield Power Law fluid rheological properties on cuttings transport in eccentric horizontal narrow annulus. The flow was assumed as fully developed, laminar, and transient state. The present simulation model was validated against experimental data, where a mean percent error of −1.2% was recorded. Results revealed an increase in the radial distribution of cuttings transport velocity in the wide annular region as the consistency index, , and the flow behavior index, , increase. Nonetheless, increasing the yield stress, , had insignificant effect on the cuttings transport velocity. Three-dimensional profiles showed how cuttings preferred to travel in less resistant flow area, whereas cuttings concentration builds up in the narrow annular region. Furthermore, annular frictional pressure losses also increased as , , and increased. This study serves as a guide to properly optimize drilling fluid rheological properties for efficient cuttings transport and equivalent circulating density (ECD) management in narrow annular drilling.

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CFD Method for Predicting Annular Pressure Losses and Cuttings Concentration in Eccentric Horizontal Wells

Cited by 40 publications

References 19 publications

A multiparametric CFD analysis of multiphase annular flows for oil and gas drilling applications

A multiparametric CFD analysis of multiphase annular flows for oil and gas drilling applications

Simulation of steady-state cuttings transport through a horizontal annulus channel

Effect of Yield Power Law Fluid Rheological Properties on Cuttings Transport in Eccentric Horizontal Narrow Annulus

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