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Article history: As one of the most crucial concerns in hole cleaning and especially in directional drilling, cutting
Received 14 May 2016 transport optimization eventuates in the reduction of drilling costs and increase in oil recovery. Cutting
Received in revised form removal is, however, affected by different parameters including uid ow rate, drill pipe rotation, cutting
10 July 2016
size and inclination which have to be considered simultaneously. In the current report, Liquid-Solid
Accepted 13 July 2016
model is implemented to solve the governing equations in the Eulerian CFD framework. Results are
Available online 16 July 2016
compared with experimental data and successful validation with experimental data is achieved. On the
basis of design of experiment algorithm, further simulations have been carried out to investigate the
Keywords:
Hole cleaning
effect of the as mentioned key parameters on cutting transport behavior. Results show that hole in-
Cutting transport clinations between 45 and 60 are the most difcult angles in hole cleaning process. Moreover, increase
Computational uid dynamic in values of ow rate and drill pipe rotation will effectively improve the drag effects leading to superior
Hole inclination cutting removal. Besides, it has been proven that cutting size affects cutting transport less than the other
Pipe rotation parameters. For industrial applications, an empirical correlation is developed for estimating cutting
concentration. Buckingham-p theorem along with multi-variable regression technique is applied to
establish the correlation.
2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jngse.2016.07.029
1875-5100/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
B. Amanna, M.R. Khorsand Movaghar / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 34 (2016) 670e679 671
Table 1
Specications of experimental equipment and properties of uid.
Fig. 4. Comparison of cutting concentrations from model prediction with lab data.
4.3. Effect of inclination on concentration of cuttings operations, careful considerations should be given to critical angles
in order to prevent formation of cutting beds. Similar observations
Fig. 9 simultaneously shows the effect of inclination and RPM on have been proposed by Fig. 11.
hole cleaning at an averaged ow rate of 70 GPM. Fig. 10 also
demonstrates the effect of ow rate on hole cleaning at an averaged 4.4. Contours of cutting concentration
RPM of 60, as the inclination changes. In both gures, particles have
a diameter of 5 mm. For further investigations on the effects of operational param-
In spite of the previous results, particle concentration shows a eters on hole cleaning, contours of cutting concentrations have
polynomial behavior with respect to changes in inclination and the been presented at two hole angles of 30 and 60 . Side bars in these
trend is no more linear. Within the range of 45e60 , a maximum gures present cutting concentrations where red and blue colors
value of cutting volume concentration is experienced. This range of refer to maximum and minimum concentrations, respectively.
hole angles is referred to as critical area. During drilling As observed in Figs. 12 and 13, the concentration of cuttings in
Table 2
Variables of design of experiment.
Run NO. Flow rate (GPM) Inclination (degrees) Cutting size (mm) Drill pipe rotation (RPM)
1 70 60 5 30
2 70 60 8 50
3 50 60 5 50
4 60 75 6.5 60
5 80 45 6.5 60
6 70 60 2 50
7 90 60 5 50
8 60 45 3.5 40
9 80 75 3.5 60
10 70 60 5 70
11 80 45 6.5 40
12 80 75 6.5 40
13 60 45 6.5 40
14 60 75 6.5 40
15 80 45 3.5 60
16 60 45 3.5 60
17 60 75 3.5 60
18 60 75 3.5 40
19 80 75 3.5 60
20 70 30 5 50
21 80 45 3.5 40
22 60 45 6.5 60
23 70 60 5 50
24 70 90 5 50
25 80 75 3.5 40
B. Amanna, M.R. Khorsand Movaghar / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 34 (2016) 670e679 675
Inc=30,RPM=60
0.45
0.4
0.3
0.25
siz = 2
siz = 3.5
0.2
siz = 5
siz = 6.5
0.15
siz = 8
0.1
50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Flow rate(gpm)
Fig. 5. Effect of ow rate on cutting concentration for different cutting sizes, inclination of 30 and drill string speed of 60 RPM.
the annular space decreases as the ow rates increase from 60 to 80 of annulus. As formerly described, the difference between the
and also with RPM increases from 30 to 70. According to the con- concentration of cuttings at inclinations of 30 and 60 can be
centration contours, drilling cuttings have an asymmetric distri- observed in Figs. 12 and 13.
bution and cutting beds will be simply formed at relatively low
RPMs and ow rates. As larger drag forces applied to particles
caused by drill string rotation in the vicinity of drill string, the 5. Empirical correlation
accumulation of cuttings is more obvious near the casings. Larger
RPMs moves the cuttings out of the bed to the dispersed layer As discussed in the previous sections, cutting concentration is a
where higher ow rates improve the transportation of cuttings out function of many parameters and can be dened as:
Inc=60,RPM=60
0.4
Total Cutting Volume Concentration(%)
0.35
0.3
0.25 siz = 2
siz = 3.5
siz = 5
0.2
siz = 6.5
siz = 8
50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Flow rate(gpm)
Fig. 6. Effect of ow rate on cutting concentration for different cutting sizes, inclination of 60 and drill string speed of 60 RPM.
676 B. Amanna, M.R. Khorsand Movaghar / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 34 (2016) 670e679
Q=60,Inc=30
0.34
0.33
Siz= 2
Total Cutting Volume Concentration(%)
0.32
Siz= 3.5
0.31
0.3 Siz= 5
0.29
Siz= 6.5
0.28
Siz= 8
0.27
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
RPM
Fig. 7. Effect of drill string speed on cutting concentration for different cutting sizes, inclination of 30 and ow rate of 60 GPM.
Q=60,Inc=60
0.345
0.34
Total Cutting Volume Concentration(%)
0.335
Siz= 2
0.33
Siz= 3.5
0.325
Siz= 5
0.32
0.31
Siz= 8
0.305
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
RPM
Fig. 8. Effect of drill string speed on cutting concentration for different cutting sizes, inclination of 60 and ow rate of 60 GPM.
Vb n2
f q; n; u; rl ; rs ; m; Dh ; g; dc (14) p2 (16)
VW gDhyd
Based on Buckingham-p theorem, seven dimensionless groups
are determined as follows (Ozbayoglu et al., 2008):
p3 Cc (17)
rnDhyd
p1 (15)
m p4 q (18)
B. Amanna, M.R. Khorsand Movaghar / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 34 (2016) 670e679 677
Q=70,Siz=5
0.3
0.28
0.24
0.22
0.2
0.18
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Inc
Fig. 9. Effect of inclination on cutting concentration for different drill string speeds, ow rate of 70 GPM and cutting size of 5 mm.
RPM=60,Siz=5
0.45
0.4
Total Cutting Volume Concentration(%)
0.35
Q= 50
0.3 Q= 60
Q= 70
0.25
Q= 80
0.2
Q= 90
0.15
0.1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Inc
Fig. 10. Effect of inclination on cutting concentration for different ow rates, drill string speed of 60 RPM and cutting size of 5 mm.
stands for pipe rotation (s-1), rl is the density of drilling uid (kg/
p5
dc
(19) m3), rs is the density of cuttings (kg/m3), m represents the viscosity
Dhyd of drilling uid (Pa/s), dc is the cuttings size (m), Dhyd stands for the
hydraulic diameter (m), Cc is the cuttings concentration, g stands
dc rn for the gravity (N/kg).
p6 (20) In related experimental condition and simulations, injected
m
cuttings concentrations is constant, so the term p3 is neglected and
Eq. (14) is changed to:
uDhyd
p7 (21)
n Vb
a1 pa12 pa23 pa44 pa55 pa66 pa77 (22)
VW
where Vb represents cuttings volume (m3), Vw is wellbore volume
(m3), q is the inclination ( ), v represents uid ow rate m/s, x The multi-variable regression technique is applied for data from
678 B. Amanna, M.R. Khorsand Movaghar / Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering 34 (2016) 670e679
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