Browsing by Subject "effect of drag forces"

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Access status: Open Access ,
Temperature profiles in directional and horizontal wells - the effect of drag forces
(2009) Nguyen, Due; Miska, Stefan; Yu, Mengjiao; Mitchell, Robert F.
Knowledge of temperature profiles in a wellbore is of considerable importance for accurate predictions of pressure losses, wellbore stability and drillstring failures. However, existing literature often neglects the effect of various heat sources on the behavior of drilling fluid temperature during different operations. In fact, the formation temperature in the vicinity of the wellbore is also affected, which could result in different formation rock behaviors and consequent wellbore stability problems. This study is conducted to examine the temperature profiles of drilling fluid and the near-wellbore formation, taking into account the effect of mechanical friction and associated heat sources. A new model is proposed that is applicable to directional and horizontal wells. The model incorporates thermal effects due to the drag forces created from the contacts between drillpipe and casing/formation during drilling and tripping operations. It has been found that the wellbore curvature (dogleg severity) is the major factor influencing temperature profiles. The model is also utilized in a number of configurations of horizontal wells to study temperature profiles behaviors. It is observed that the drilling fluid temperature is noticeably under-predicted by existing literature, and in some cases it can easily exceed the geothermal formation temperature if mechanical friction is taken into account. The proposed model and the results of this study are very useful for more accurate predictions of thermal regime it the wellbore at the design stage of well development, thereby, avoiding potential drilling fluid/drillstring over- heating and wellbore stability problems.