Global Geology，13（ 3 /4） ∶ 165-170（ 2010）

doi： 10. 3969 / j. issn. 1673-9736. 2010. 03 /04. 10

Article ID： 1673-9736（ 2010） 03 /04-0165-06

Air flow calculation of reverse circulation drilling

technique with air DTH hammer

HUANG Yong1 ，ZHU Lihong2 ，YIN Kun1 and BO Kun1

1． College of Construction Engineering，Jilin University，Changchun 130026，China；

2． School of Petroleum Engineering，China University of Petroleum，Qingdao 266555，shandong，China

Abstract： Air DTH hammer has been successfully applied in minor-caliber solid mineral exploration，water-
well drilling and other drilling areas． In order to expand the applications of the technology，the authors further
studied the principle and analyzed the mechanism of reverse circulation drilling technique with air DTH hammer
to get the perfect assembles of equipments by optimizing working parameters． No parameter seemed more impor-
tant than the air volume because it could maintain the working performance stability． The minimum air volume
is related to the parameters such as depth and pressure，which was calculated under the actual conditions． It
was solved for the air injection flow tables of the air DTH Hammer working at the different pressures． According
to the data tables，operators could adjust the air volume to meet the demand on this technique，which had a re-
alistic guiding significance． So it could build up a set of systematic and complete hi-technique．
Key words： air DTH Hammer； reverse circulating bit； CFD simulation； derivation equation； air flow calcula-
tion

prior study of reverse circulation drilling technique has

Introduction
Reverse circulation drilling technique with air
DTH hammer is the hi-tech drilling technology． In re-
cent years，air drilling technology has been applied in
many large oilfields （ Lian et al． ，2003； Yin et al． ，
2003； Bo，2005； Wang et al． ，2005） ． For instance，
when the air hammer drilling was used in oil and gas
exploration hard formation，the drilling efficiency was
usually increased by over 5 times，which had been
commonly acknowledged by oilfield drilling industries
（ Li ＆ Yang，1997； Wang et al． ，2000； Ren et al． ，
2006） ． Along with shortcomings of the normal circu-
lation air drilling technique obvious and growing，the
been already started in order to overcome these de-
fects． At present，it is found that reverse circulation
drilling technique with air DTH hammer has been suc-
cessfully applied in minor-caliber solid mineral explo-
ration， water-well drilling and building foundation
rock-socketed irrigation pile engineering （ Chen et
al． ，2003； Su ＆ Zhang，2003） ． Its application area
has been and is being enlarged with the further study
on the principle，as well as by optimizing working pa-
rameter，consequently to get the perfect assembles of
equipments． The paper developed a detailed discus-
sion on above questions，so it could build up a set of
systematic and complete hi-tech drilling technology．

Received 2 August 2010，accepted 22 August 2010

 166 Huang Y． ，Zhu L． H． ，Yin K． ，et al．
1 Reverse circulation drilling tech-
nique with air DTH hammer
Reverse circulation drilling technique with air
DTH hammer composed of twofold wall drill tools and
reverse circulating bit is a reverse circulation drilling
tools system． Its working principle is shown in Fig． 1．
1-chip removal hose； 2-two-channel air / water swivel； 3-
gooseneck tube； 4-intake hose； 5-double-wall drilling pipe；
6-check valve； 7-heart tube； 8-inner cylinder； 9-pistion；
10-bush； 11-reverse circulating bit
Fig． 1 Principle of reverse circulation drilling tech-
nique with air DTH hammer
Firstly，the intake hose 4 is just on the right of
two-channel air / water swivel 2，and the compressed
air supplied by air compressor is entering by the in-
take hose 4，then through air / water swivel 2 and the
circle gap between inner and outer pipe，and arriving
to the top joint of the DTH hammer． It is then pushing
away check valve 6，via by way of inner cylinder side
to flow into the air inlet，so entering the pre and post
air chamber of the DTH hammer． At the same time，
the compressed air propels piston impact hammer 9 to
make the high frequency impulse motions，and the
impact stress wave can volume break rock with the co-
lumnar-dentate carbide alloy of reverse circulating bit．
Finally，the drilling and pore forming is completed
with the high speed． The waste air which is already
driven the piston to do work，via annular channel be-
tween piston 9 and heart tube 7，is discharging to an-
nular space above the bit 11，via the channel between
the spline and keyway，and then is excluded by dis-
charge port of bit． Air velocity of the bit discharge
port outlet is higher than sound velocity，and is usual-
ly 400-600 m / s jet velocity． It is found that this ve-
locity may product entrainment effect near the bottom
of bit discharge port to form the low-pressure area．
And the jet stream entrainment effect and the low-
pressure area make it possible for the fluid surround-
ing the bit sucked inward in order to block the fluid
flowing to the bit lateral． Otherwise it may cause the
trend of normal circulation．
2 Minimum air flow rate
2. 1 Derivation equation
Based on Angel model （ Angel，1957） ，without
considering the interaction-energy，quality and mo-
mentum exchange-between cuttings and the fluid，and
under the condition of no spondylolisthesis between
gas and solid phases，it is regarded the density and
velocity of gas-solid mixtures as a steady uniform sin-
gle-phase flow in annulus （ William et al． ，2001；
Ren et al． ，2007； Bi et al． ，2008 ） ． According to
the gas dynamics theory，it is derived the minimum
annular velocity V g in which the cuttings are effective-
ly lifted up from the bottom hole to the surface． Under
the standard pressure and temperature conditions
（ 20℃ ，0. 1 MPa） ，V g is 15. 24 m / s （ Guo ＆ Ali，
2002） ． Therefore，the unit volume kinetic energy E go
is：
1 r go
E go = × × V2go （ 1）
2 g
Where r go is the air specific weight at the stand-
ard condition （ 12. 642 N / m3 ） ，V go is the minimum
air velocity at the standard condition （ 15. 24 m / s） ，g
is gravity acceleration （ 9. 8 m / s2 ） ． The standard air
kinetic energy whose volume is 1 m3 and the velocity is
15. 24 m / s is
( )
1
E go × 12. 642 × 15. 24 2 = 149. 806 J （ 2）
2 9. 8
This result is in need of the minimum unit vol-
ume kinetic energy to carry solid particles． If the cut-
 Air flow calculation of reverse circulation drilling technique with Air DTH hammer 167

tings-carried ability of the fluid at the calculation point 2. 46 × 10 －12 × S g × T × Q go

P = （ 8）
in well bore is equal to that of standard air，it should V2go × A
meet the following relationship： We can Obtain P，A and A to design well depth
1 r go 1 r on the basis for the minimum kinetic energy criterion
× × V2go = × × V2 （ 3）
2 g 2 g is realized．
r go 2. 2 Air flow calculation
Equation （ 3） can be rewritten as： V2 = × V2go
r In order to guarantee the DTH hammer working
Where r is any point air specific weight in well performance stable，the air volume flow is changing
bore （ N / m3 ） ，V is any point air velocity in well bore with the drilling depth increasing． The air injection
（ m / s） ． flow is15 m3 / min，but the air volume is becoming
Based on the gas state equation，it is derived that small in view of the increasing depth． Moreover，it is
R is： indispensable of supplementary air flow to realize the
S g × P0 100000 × 1. 0 normal work of DTH hammer and to avoid unnecessary
R = = = 26. 98 m / K
T0 × r go 12. 642 × 293. 15 chipping crushing repeatedly at the bottom hole． The
（ 4） supplementary air flow is
In above function where is the gas constant for
the standard condition air （ m / K） ，S g is the relative Q1 = Q0 － Q （ 9）
density of the particular gas relative to the standard Where，Q1 is the supplementary air flow under the
condition air，P0 is the local atmospheric pressure same condition with Q （ m3 / min） ． Nevertheless，op-
（ Pa） ，T0 is the local absolute temperature （ K） ． erators need the supplementary air flow under the lo-
Substituting the gas constant R of the equation cal atmospheric pressure． Equation （ 9） becomes
（ 4） into the ideal gas state equation yields P0 × T av
Sg × P Q1 = × Q go （ 10）
P ×T
r =
26. 98 × T The bottom hole temperature T d is determined
Where，r is any point air specific weight in well from the surface geothermal temperature rock forma-
bore （ N / m3 ） ，P is a certain point pressure （ Pa） ． tion at the surface，the geothermal gradient，and the
The gas volume flow on desired point in well bore depth of the borehole． The geothermal gradient is ap-
is derived from the gas state equation，and substitu- proximated to be 0. 03℃ / m in this calculation． The
ting P0 and T0 into it yields： surface temperature T0 is determined by local tempera-
P0 × T × Q go 3. 348 × 10 －4 × T × Q go ture，according to data，it is assumed to be 293 K．
Q = =
T0 × P P Thus，the average temperature of the whole borehole
（ 6） is
Where，Q is any point gas volume flow in well T d = T0 + 0. 03 × H
bore （ m3 / min） ，Q go is the standard injection gas vol- T0 + T d
T av =
ume flow （ m3 / min） ． 2
Equation （ 6） is divided by channel cross section Where，H is the whole drilling depth （ m） ．
area，so it could obtain velocity equation，as follows： To get the supplementary air flow under the local
－6
5. 58 × 10 × Q go × T atmospheric pressure，equation （ 10） becomes
V = （ 7）
P ×A P ×T
2
Q s1 = × Q1 （ 11）
Where，A is channel cross section area （ m ） ． P0 × T av
Substituting equation （ 5） and equation （ 7） into Where，Q s1 is the supplementary air flow under the lo-
equation （ 3） yields： cal atmospheric pressure （ m3 / min） ．
 168 Huang Y． ，Zhu L． H． ，Yin K． ，et al．

According to the above equations，it is re-
spectively calculated the supplementary air flow at the
3 3
inlet air flow of 15 m / min and 30 m / min． When
calculations are in progress，take depth and pressure
change into consideration． The data are shown in Ta-
ble 1 and Table 2． Based on the data tables，accord-
ing to the different drilling depth and pressure，opera-
tors can adjust the air flow to meet the need of reverse
circulation drilling technique with air DTH hammer．
From the data tables，it is seen that when the pressure
is at 1. 5 － 2. 5 MPa，the supplementary air flow is ze-
ro，because through the above equations' calculation，
the supplementary air flow is negative．

Table 1 Air injection rate at 15 m3 / min

P / MPa H /m Q0 / m3 ·min － 1 Q go / m3 ·min － 1 Q / m3 ·min － 1 Q s1 / m3 ·min － 1

1. 5 0 15 225 26. 5000 0

2. 0 100 15 225 140. 6061 0

2. 5 200 15 225 209. 0700 0

3. 0 300 15 225 254. 7126 29. 7126

3. 5 400 15 225 287. 3144 62. 3144

4. 0 500 15 225 311. 7658 86. 7658

4. 5 600 15 225 330. 7836 105. 7836

5. 0 700 15 225 345. 9978 120. 9978

5. 5 800 15 225 358. 4458 133. 4458

6. 0 900 15 225 368. 8191 143. 8191

6. 5 1000 15 225 377. 5965 152. 5965

7. 0 1100 15 225 385. 1200 160. 1200

7. 5 1200 15 225 391. 6404 166. 6404

8. 0 1300 15 225 397. 3457 172. 3457

8. 5 1400 15 225 402. 3798 177. 3798

9. 0 1500 15 225 406. 8546 181. 8546

9. 5 1600 15 225 410. 8583 185. 8583

10. 0 1700 15 225 414. 4617 189. 4617

10. 5 1800 15 225 417. 7219 192. 7219

11. 0 1900 15 225 420. 6857 195. 6857

11. 5 2000 15 225 423. 3917 198. 3917

the bottom hole DTH hammer need to normal work is

3 Conclusions
（ 1 ） According to the minimum kinetic energy
and Angel model，the air injection flow is calculated
and deduced to get its calculation equation changing
with depth and pressure．
（ 2） To meet the DTH Hammer working perform-
ance stable，based on the pressure equction at the
calculated well depths，the added gas equction which
derived．
（ 3） Based on actual conditions，we got the air
injection flow tables with the minimum air injection
flow equation and the added gas equction ． According
to the data tables，operators adjust the air flow to meet
the need of the reverse circulation drilling technique
with air DTH hammer．
 Air flow calculation of reverse circulation drilling technique with Air DTH hammer 169

Table 2 Air injection rate at 30 m3 / min

P / MPa H /m Q0 / m3 ·min － 1 Q go / m3 ·min － 1 Q / m3 ·min － 1 Q s1 / m3 ·min － 1

1. 5 0 30 450 52. 9991 0

2. 0 100 30 450 281. 2122 0

2. 5 200 30 450 418. 1400 0

3. 0 300 30 450 509. 4252 59. 4251

3. 5 400 30 450 574. 6289 124. 6289

4. 0 500 30 450 623. 5316 173. 5316

4. 5 600 30 450 661. 5671 211. 5671

5. 0 700 30 450 691. 9955 241. 9955

5. 5 800 30 450 716. 8915 266. 8915

6. 0 900 30 450 737. 6381 287. 6381

6. 5 1000 30 450 755. 1930 305. 1930

7. 0 1100 30 450 770. 2400 320. 2400

7. 5 1200 30 450 783. 2807 333. 2807

8. 0 1300 30 450 794. 6914 344. 6914

8. 5 1400 30 450 804. 7596 354. 7596

9. 0 1500 30 450 813. 7091 363. 7091

9. 5 1600 30 450 821. 7166 371. 7166

10. 0 1700 30 450 828. 9233 378. 9233

10. 5 1800 30 450 835. 4437 385. 4437

11. 0 1900 30 450 841. 3713 391. 3713

11. 5 2000 30 450 846. 7835 396. 7835

ing． Exploration Engineering，（ Suppl． ） ： 236-240． （ in

4 Acknowledgments Chinese with English abstract）

We wish to acknowledge the assistance in data
test from Petroleum Drilling Technology Institute of Si-
chuan Province． This study was supported by the pro-
ject of the feasibility study on air reverse circulation
drilling system，research foundation for out standing
teachers，Jilin University （ No． 2006220100003435） ．
Thank Key Laboratory of Geo-Exploration Instrumen-
tation，Ministry of Education for support．
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