ARMA 14-7108

Experiments on stick-slip vibrations in drilling

with drag bits
Kovalyshen, Y.
Drilling Mechanics Group, CSIRO Earth and Resource Engineering, Kensington, WA, Australia
Copyright 2014 ARMA, American Rock Mechanics Association
th

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 48 US Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium held in Minneapolis, MN, USA, 1-4 June
2014.
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ABSTRACT: The paper presents preliminary results of the ongoing experimental study of stick-slip, a mode of torsional
vibrations of drilling assembly using drag bits. These experimental results are in agreement with a recent theoretical paper on stickslip that concludes that the main driving mechanism of stick-slip is not the velocity weakening effect and not the self-excited axial
vibrations but the cutting action of the bit, and the wearflat/rock interaction. In fact, the results illustrate that stick-slip can be
mitigated through axial compliance.

1. MOTIVATION

This particular paper presents some results of the

ongoing experimental study of stick-slip.
The
experiments are been carried out on a small-scale drill
rig called ASPEN [8] (see Figs 1 and 2).

actuator

mobile frame

The goal of the current work is to understand the root

cause of stick-slip, a mode of torsional vibrations of
drilling assembly using drag bits. Stick-slip is often
related to the so-called velocity weakening effect, a
monotonic decrease of the mean torque-on-bit with the
imposed angular velocity under constant weight-on-bit
[1, 2]. While this velocity weakening effect was
observed in field data and laboratory drilling
experiments [3, 4, 5], it is still not clear whether this
effect is inherent to the bit-rock interaction or if it can be
attributed to the axial dynamic of the drilling assembly,
namely to the self-excited axial vibrations [6]. At the
same time a recent analytical study [7] argued that are
two main driving mechanisms of stick-slip are: i) the
cutting action of the bit, and ii) the wearflat/rock
interaction.

motor

dead load
spring

shaft
accelerometer
bit
rock sample

Fig. 1. ASPEN

3. EXPERIMENTS

dead load

spring

force sensor
LVDT

torque sensor

shaft
accelerometer
bit

Fig. 2. ASPEN: details

2. ASPEN
ASPEN is a kinematically controlled drilling rig
composed of the four parts: (i) upper assembly, (ii)
mobile frame, (iii) bit assembly, and (iv) core drive
mechanism. The upper assembly is composed by a
geared brushless servomotor and a linear actuator
mounted on top of the frame. Designed to perform tests
under kinematic control the upper assembly is able to
move the mobile frame precisely in a prescribed manner.
The bit assembly includes bit, load cell measuring
weight- and torque-on-bit, accelerometer, and shaft. The
bit is 49 mm in diameter and is composed of four
straight sharp or blunt (0.5 mm of wearflat) blades (see
Fig. 3). The bit assembly is attached to the mobile frame
through an adjustable leaf spring. The stiffness of the
spring can be varied over a wide range (from 0 to
infinity). The mass of the vibrating part, which includes
the shaft with the bit, can be adjusted through dead load.
The relative position of the shaft with respect to the
mobile frame is measured by an LVDT. Located at the
bottom part of the frame, the core drive mechanism
consists of a geared brushless servomotor and a core
holder. Different from conventional drilling rig, the core
drive mechanism drives the rock sample at a controlled
angular velocity. Any rotary speeds in the range 10
400 RPM can be imposed. Using control it is possible to
simulate torsional stiffness ranging from 0.05 Nm/rad to
14 Nm/rad. To remove cuttings, high pressure air is
used. The cylindrical rock samples are 115 mm in
diameter and about 200 mm height. The bit assembly
can be replaced with a standard 20 mm or 30 mm
diameter masonry bit to drill out the core of the sample.

The main goal of the tests was to verify the finding of

the recent analytical study [7]. In particular, the results
of the study indicate that the main driving mechanisms
of stick-slip are the cutting action of the bit, and the
wearflat/rock interaction. This is in contrast to the
existing perception that the stick-slip is either due to
velocity weakening effect [1, 2] or due to self-excited
axial vibrations [6]. One more interesting finding of the
analytical study was the fact that stick-slip can be
mitigated through axial compliance of the drillstring. All
the presented here experimental results were obtained in
Savonnieres limestone (USC~10 to 15 MPa).
Since it was assumed that axial vibrations are not the
driving mechanism of the stick-slip, the first series of
tests was carried out with locked axial spring (zero axial
compliance). In the torsional direction the system
parameters were the following: stiffness = 0.08 Nm/rad,
natural frequency = 1.4 Hz, damping coefficient ~ 0.01
Nm sec. The rate of penetration for each test was kept
constant and was imposed through depth of cut per one
revolution of the bit (DOC). Fig 4 and 5 illustrate two
tests conducted with the same imposed DOC = 2 mm
(note that instantaneous depth of cut is defined not only
by the axial position of the bit but also by the angular
position of the rock) but with different rotational speeds:
10 RPM and 20 RPM, respectively. In both tests a blunt
bit with 0.5 mm of wearflat per blade was used. One can
clearly see that the system undergoes violent stick-slip
vibrations at 10 RPM, while it is stable at 20 RPM.
Interestingly, the mean weight-on-bit (WOB) and
torque-on-bit (TOB) is much higher in the case of stickslip compared to the case of stable drilling.
Conducting tests at different DOC and RPM it is
possible to build a stability map. An example of such a
map is shown in Fig. 6. One can see that the blunt bit is
more prone to stick-slip compared to the sharp one. This
is in line with field observations [2, 4].
Fig. 7 illustrates stabilizing role of the axial compliance
(cf. Fig. 4). Although there are still considerable amount
of RPM variations (torsional vibrations), the stick-slip
disappeared. According to [7] the stabilizing role of the
axial compliance is due to the fact that the fast axial
dynamics (natural frequency is 19 Hz) can rapidly
reduce any changes in the depth of cut caused by slow
torsional vibrations (natural frequency is 1.4 Hz). Also,
as soon as the stick-slip disappeared the mean WOB and
TOB dropped considerably.
Finally, Figs 8 and 9 illustrate effect of torsional
compliance on the axial vibrations (note, that in those
conditions the system undergoes violent bit bounce).
Clearly, in that particular example the axial vibrations do
not lead to torsional ones.

Fig. 3. Drillbit

Fig. 4. Stick-slip vibrations at 10 RPM and DOC = 2 mm:

axial compliance is 0

Fig. 5. Stable drilling at 20 RPM and DOC = 2 mm: axial

compliance is 0

Fig. 6. Stability map: axial compliance is 0

4. CONCLUSIONS
The paper presents preliminary results of the ongoing
experimental study of stick-slip. These experimental
results are in agreement with a recent theoretical paper
on stick-slip [7] that concludes that the main driving
mechanism of stick-slip is not the velocity weakening
effect and not the self-excited axial vibrations but the
cutting action of the bit, and the wearflat/rock
interaction. In fact, the results illustrate that stick-slip
can be mitigated through axial compliance.

AKNOWLEGMENTS
The author would like to thank to Dr. Luiz Franca from
CSIRO for valuable discussions and comments. The
author is also grateful to Greg Lupton from CSIRO for
design of ASPEN as well as for continuous assistance on
tuning, adjustments, and modifications of ASPEN.
Finally the author would like to thank to Stephen Banks
from CSIRO, Luis Mariano from CSIRO, and Ian Penny
from CSIRO for technical support in the lab.

Fig. 7. Stable drilling at 10 RPM and DOC = 2 mm: axial

compliance = 200 N/mm, axial natural frequency 19 Hz.

Fig. 8. Axial vibrations at 360 RPM and DOC = 1 mm: torsional compliance = 0

Fig. 9. Axial vibrations at 360 RPM and DOC = 1 mm: torsional compliance = 0.08 Nm/rad

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Kovalyshen, Y. 2014. Understanding root cause of

stick-slip vibrations in deep drilling with drag bits.
Submitted to Journal of Sound and Vibration.

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Kovalyshen, Y. 2013. Self-Excited Axial Vibrations of

a Drilling Assembly: Modeling and Experimental
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In
47th
US
Rock
Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, no ARMA 13495, San Francisco, CA, USA, 23-26 June 2013.