DRILLING HYDRAULICS - CALCULATIONS AND OPTIMIZATION

Shashwat Sharma
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Chennai, India

ABSTRACT
The hydraulics system plays an active role during the drilling
operations; so its proper design and maintenance can accelerate
the drilling effort and lower the overall well cost. This paper
discusses the relevance of the hydraulics system in the
optimization of the drilling operations, in the enhancement of
penetration rate and reduction in system pressure losses to
allow more useful pressure loss to occur across the bit. The
major requirements of the drilling hydraulics system are
discussed, along with the major considerations in each
application. A review of commonly used rheological models
has been done, with introduction of two recent and more novel
rheological models Herschel-Bulkley and Casson models.
Impact of choice of the rheological model on the hydraulics
calculations is studied. Finally, a summary of the procedure that
is followed during the calculation and optimization of
hydraulics parameters is discussed via equations.

Drilling hydraulics reflected by fluid flow and pressure

response is a key parameter in the well construction process. It
is a factor that is continuously present during drilling and
tripping operations. Special attention needs to be paid to the
optimization of drilling hydraulics in highly inclined and
extended reach wells where stuck and lost pipe situations
maybe encountered more easily and frequently.

INTRODUCTION
The hydraulics system is the mud system in the wellbore when
it is in either a static or a dynamic state. The static system
occurs when the mud stands idle in the well. The dynamic state
occurs when the mud is in motion, resulting from pumping or
pipe movement.
The hydraulics system serves many purposes in the well. Since
it is centered on the mud system, the purposes of mud and
hydraulics are often common to each other. Some of these
objectives are listed below:

Control subsurface pressures

Provide buoyancy to drill string and casing
Cuttings removal from below the bit
Increase penetration rate (ROP)
Control surge pressures created during lowering pipe
into the well
Minimize swab pressures generated during pulling out
pipe from the well

The hydraulics system consists of a non-Newtonian suspension

(drilling mud) circulated from surface to the bottom hole
through the drill column, flowing through the bit nozzle
restrictions and returning to surface in the annular region
between the borehole and drill column (Figure 1).

FIGURE 1: SCHEMATIC OF THE CIRCULATION SYSTEM;

P1 - P5 INDICATE PRESSURES AT NODES

PRESSURE LOSSES
The circulating system can be divided into four sections for
nodal analysis surface connections (including standpipe,
rotary hose and swivel), tubulars (including drill pipe, heavyweight drill pipe and drill collars), annular areas around the
tubular regions, and the drill bit. Hydraulics calculations for
drilling aim to calculate the pressure (energy) losses in every
part of the circulating system and then find the total system
losses. This will then determine the pumping requirements from
the rig pumps and in turn the horsepower requirements.

Copyright 2014 by ASME

1.

Surface connection losses:

These pressure losses are determined by converting the
range of lengths and ODs of surface equipments such as
standpipe, rotary hose, swivel and Kelly to an equivalent
length and then using the following general equation to
evaluate the pressure loss:

1.

Sufficient cuttings entrainment along the annulus

Uniform annular velocity profiles:

If turbulent, velocities are constant but two
difficulties appear: shear stress close to the
wall of the borehole is too high (dangerous
for the wellbore stability in soft formations),
and pressure circulation losses are high.
If laminar, velocities profile depends on
rheological model.

Annular velocity vs. cuttings sedimentation

velocity:
Annular velocity greater than sedimentation
velocity of cuttings is required to prevent balling
up or stuck pipe incidents. The cuttings
sedimentation velocity depends on cuttings
density, cuttings shape, cuttings dimensions, mud
density, viscosity and rheological characteristics.

(1)
where,
P1 = pressure loss (psi)
E = constant
2.

Pipe and Annular losses:

These pressure losses take place due to frictional drag
between the pipe material and fluid. The magnitude of
these pressure losses depends upon:

Tubular dimensions (length, OD, ID)

Mud rheological properties (density, plastic viscosity
and yield point)
Type of flow (laminar or turbulent)

2.

Wellbore stability

Minimum shear stress along borehole wall:

Shear stresses close to the wall of the borehole
can erode it and cause caving. It strongly depends
on the velocity gradient, function of the mud
annular velocities curve. Laminar flow regime
induces lower velocity gradients and thus lower
shear stresses. So, it's recommended, in soft
sedimentary formations, to keep a laminar flow
regime inside the annulus.

Annulus pressure vs. formation breakdown

pressure:
The annulus pressure is composed by the static
pressure (function of mud density and of depth),
and dynamic pressure (function of pressure
circulation
losses
(depending
on
mud
characteristics, annulus dimensions, depth, and
mud flow rate). Any increase in this total pressure
above the breakdown pressure of the formation
will result in leak-off problems.

Out of the above three factors, the choice of model used to

characterize the drilling mud, viz. Power law, HerschelBulkley, Bingham plastic etc. has a major effect upon the
pressure loss determined from the conventional equations.
3.

Drill bit losses:

Drill bits are provided with nozzles to provide a jetting
action required for cleaning and cooling. More often, the
nozzles used are a fraction of an inch. Hence, the pressure
requirements to pass, say 1000 gpm, through such small
nozzles are large.
The pressure loss across the bit is greatly influenced by the
sizes of nozzles used, and volume flow rate. For a given
flow rate, smaller nozzles lead to greater pressure drop
and, in turn, a greater nozzle velocity. The pressure drop
across the bit is obtained by subtracting Pc (= P1 + P2 + P3
+ P4 + P5) from the pump pressure.
Drilling hydraulics optimization usually refers to
optimization of the bit hydraulics to achieve maximum bit
penetration rate through the formation. This can be
obtained by increasing mechanical parameters (weight-onbit and rotating speed) and hydraulic parameters.
Procedures followed for maximizing bit horsepower, jet
impact, and bit nozzle velocity are those presented by
Kendall and Goins1 and later modified by Bobo2. These are
discussed later using relevant equations.

3.

Optimum bit performance

The mud flow rate must be sufficient to cool the bit to
temperatures that allow extended functional life at
bottomhole drilling conditions. In addition to it, it's
important the mud flow rate is sufficient to carry up all
cuttings drilled. The cuttings discharge depends on the
rate of penetration, the drilled cross-section area (R).

MAIN REQUIREMENTS OF DRILLING HYDRAULICS

Drilling parameters such the annulus dimensions, the drilling
mud characteristics and the mud flow rate have to be chosen in
order to ensure:

Copyright 2014 by ASME

4.

Minimum circulation power consumption

It's important to minimize pressure circulation losses, in

order to minimize power consumption. It depends on the
mud density, friction factor coefficient, annular velocity
and tubular dimensions, including eccentricity.
A large Yield stress (in laminar regime) strongly increases
the losses if annulus clearance is small. This ratio
"YP/Aannulus" is an important parameter about circulation
losses and can explain main differences observed between
conventional and slim hole drillings. It's possible to define
the optimized annulus dimensions to avoid too important
pressure losses for a maximum mud flow rate given (by an
economic ROP).
The rapidity with which chips or cuttings are removed has a
considerable effect on ROP. It is the mud velocity that chiefly
governs this factor. Figure 2 shows ideally the velocity profiles
in the annulus. In laminar flow, there is a much larger velocity
variation across the annulus than in turbulent flow. In turbulent
flow, overturning effect of flattish chips will not occur due to a
much more gradual variation of velocity across annulus width.
It has, thus, been concluded (Williams and Bruce3) that low
viscosity, low gel strength muds are most efficient cutting
lifters since the velocity at which turbulent flow occurs for
these muds is lower. Turbulent slip velocities used by Williams
and Bruce are determined from the following equation:

DRILLING MUD RHEOLOGICAL MODELS

Most drilling fluids are non-Newtonian suspensions exhibiting
a characteristic rheogram response. Regular rheological
measurements in drilling rigs are made by a coaxial cylinder
viscometer at two different speeds (300 and 600 rpm) which
only represent the high shear rate region. Since drilling fluids
are subjected to very different shear rates, from very low values
in the mud pits to very high values through bit nozzles, the
rheological parameters estimate based only on two
measurements will lead to significant imprecision such as yield
point overestimation.
Rheological models are useful tools to describe mathematically
the relationship between shear stress and shear rate of a given
fluid. Traditionally, the oil industry uses the Bingham and
Ostwald de Waele models. However, more realistic models
have been proposed to represent more adequately the behavior
from rheogram. We also consider two other rheological models:
Casson and Herschel-Bulkley.

(2)
where,
vc
= cutting clip velocity in turbulent flow (ft/min)
tc/dc
= thickness to diameter ratio of cutting

FIGURE 3: FLUID RHEOGRAM FOR DIFFERENT MODELS

1.

Bingham Plastic model:

This model describes laminar flow using the flowing
equation:
(3)

2.

Ostwald de Waele model:

This is essentially a Power law model which provides
greater accuracy in determination of shear stresses at
low shear rates. The following relation is followed:
(4)
where,
K
= Consistency index
N
= Power law index
The K value is a measure of the thickness of the
mud. It is defined as the shear stress at a shear rate of
one reciprocal second. An increase in the value of 'K'
indicates an increase in the overall hole cleaning
effectiveness of the fluid.

FIGURE 2: COMPARISON OF LAMINAR AND TURBULENT

VELOCITY DISTRIBUTIONS IN ANNULUS (AFTER
WILLAMS AND BRUCE)

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The value of constant n indicates the degree of nonNewtonian behavior over a given shear rate range. If
'n' = 1, the behavior of the fluid is considered to be
Newtonian. As 'n' decreases in value, the behavior of
the fluid is more non-Newtonian and the viscosity will
decrease with an increase in shear rate.
3.

Casson model:
This model considers the variation of shear stresses
with the square roots of shear rate and Yield stresses
in a fluid under laminar regime. The relation is as
follows:

(5)
4.

Herschel Bulkley model:

It is a Yield Power law model which uses a Yield
stress value in addition to the Power law relation to
describe the rheological behavior more accurately than
any other model:

(6)
The model is very complex and requires a minimum of
three shear stress/shear rate measurements for a fluid.
It, however, can be reduced to the Bingham Plastic
model when n 1 or to the Power law model when 0
= 0.
However, as already discussed, the first two models tend to
represent inaccurately the drilling fluids behavior, especially at
medium and low shear rate ranges. Casson model can surpass
this shortcoming, but its a two parameter model that is
somewhat simplistic in nature for oilfield applications. The
Herschel-Bulkley model presents more adequate rheological
parameters as compared to traditional calculations involving
Newtonian shear rates. However, the most adequate model for a
particular application is always determined by the minimum
standard error deviation value for the experimental results.

For a given length of drill string (drill pipe and drill collars) and
given mud properties, pressure losses P 1, P2, P3, P4 and P5
(Figure 1) will remain constant. However, the pressure loss
across the bit is greatly influenced by the nozzle size, which
directly needs to reflect the cleaning requirements and chip
transport requirements from the drilling mud. Features such as
extended nozzles and varying the number of nozzles have been
shown to affect drill rate.
Attempts have been made to optimize certain bit hydraulics
variables to cause perfect cleaning. The variables most
commonly optimized are impact force, hydraulic horsepower,
or jet velocity. Each optimized variable yields different values
of bit pressure drop and, in turn, different nozzle sizes. Thus,
its a difficult engineering decision over which criterion should
be used and optimized. Moreover, in most drilling operations
the flow rate for each hole section has already been fixed to
provide optimum annular velocity and hole cleaning. This
leaves only one variable to optimize: the pressure drop across
the bit, Pb.
Both criteria are directly dependent on the bit friction loss, and
consequently maximum bit friction loss is desired. The bit
friction loss is calculated by the following equation:

(8)
where Pparasite is the energy dissipated by fluid circulation
through the drilling column and the annular region. Since the
surface pressure is limited by pumping equipments, the
maximum bit pressure loss can occur when P parasite is
minimized.
The two criteria most commonly used are maximum bit
hydraulic power and maximum jet impact force. These are
discussed below:
1.

Bit Hydraulic Power:

The general relation for hydraulic power can be
written for the drill bit as:

(9)
Using calculus, the equation relating surface (pump)
pressure and bit pressure loss can be optimized to
show that:

HYDRAULICS CALCULATIONS
Drilling hydraulics aims to maximize the rate of penetration of
the bit through the formation. To optimize hydraulics the
pressure relationships throughout the well must be defined. A
nodal analysis of pressure at different points in the circulating
system gives us the following relation:

(10)
where m is the flow exponent, with values between
1.75 to 2. Keeping m=2 on a conservative approach, it
can be seen that:

(7)
where,
Pp
= Pump pressure
PF
= Sum of all pressure drops except bit loss
Pb
= Bit pressure loss

(11)

Copyright 2014 by ASME

In other words, for optimum hydraulics, the pressure

drop across the bit should be 65% of the total available
surface pressure.

2. Jet Impact Force:

The general relation for jet impact force for the drill
bit can be written as:

(12)

It has been generally agreed in the literature that better

hydraulics increases the penetration rate by cleaning the hole
bottom to prevent regrinding of cuttings. In addition, increased
weight and rotary speed may be applied to the bit before bit
balling occurs. However, since the rate of bit wear increases as
bit weight and rotary speed increase, there exists an optimum
weight and rotary speed even in a perfectly clean hole. Once
the optimum cleaning needs have been obtained, there is no
additional advantage to a further increase in hydraulics.

Using calculus, the descriptive equation for impact

force by the jet can be maximized and resolved as:

(13)
With the value of m as 2, the relation reduces to:

(14)
This implies that 50% of the pump pressure must be
expended at the bit for optimum impact conditions.
The optimum flow rate for both criteria must be searched inside
a range defined by the minimum flow rate required to transport
the solids cut by the bit to the surface and the maximum
allowed by the pumping equipment. The optimum flow rate
corresponds to either the maximum hydraulic power or impact
force. Once calculated the optimum flow rate, the bit nozzle
diameters are calculated by:

FIGURE 4: BIT HYDRAULIC POWER OBTAINED BY

MAXIMUM EQUIPMENT AS COMPARED TO
CONVENTIONAL JET PROGRAM
(AFTER KENDALL AND GOINS)

(15)

The nozzle velocity (in ft/s) is given by:

(16)

SUMMARY OF PROCEDURE FOR HYDRAULICS

CALCULATIONS
The procedure for calculating the various pressure losses and
hydraulics parameters for a circulating system is summarized
below:

The total flow area from the nozzles (in sq. inches) is given by:

1.
2.

(17)

3.

The main advantage of the jet bit is its higher efficiency in

removing rock cuttings from the hole. In order to utilize the full
potential of the jet bit, a proper nozzle size and pump pressure
must be used. Figure 3 illustrates the large increase in bit
hydraulic power that can be achieved by the selection of a
proper hydraulics program of bit nozzle size and pump
operating conditions. Large increases in penetration rate and
thus decreases in the cost per foot of hole drilled have been
achieved through optimizing bit hydraulics.

Calculate surface pressure losses using equation (1).

Determine the rheological model that suits the
condition under study most adequately Bingham
Plastic/Power law/Herschel-Bulkley.
Calculate the pressure drops inside the drill pipe and
drill collars:
Calculate critical flow velocity (vcritical)
Calculate average flow velocity (vavg)
Determine whether flow is laminar or
turbulent:
If vavg < vcritical - flow is laminar
If vavg > vcritical - flow is turbulent
Use appropriate equation to calculate
pressure drop.

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4.

5.
6.
7.

Divide the annulus around drill collars and drill pipe

into open and cased sections and calculate annular
flow for both cases.
Add the values for pressure losses obtained from
above steps. This is termed system pressure loss.
Determine the pressure drop available for bit using
equation (8).
Determine the nozzle velocity, nozzle size and total
flow area using equations (15) through (17).

CONCLUSION
There is considerable potential for performing much of the
drilling operations more efficiently. This would imply lower
cost and better use of available energy. Drilling hydraulics is
the key area of focus when it is required to optimize the
penetration rate into the formation, eliminating lost time to the
greatest possible degree by maximizing cutting removal and
improving energy dissipated at bit for rock removal.
Hydraulics calculations are rooted in accurate determination of
rheological models. However, as the mud is subject to a wide
range of shear rates during circulation, it is imperative to
perform specific non-linear regression numerical methods so
that shear stress vs. shear stress behavior is more representative.
In addition to this, it must be stressed that simplified
formulations must not be used which restrict hydraulics
calculations to inaccurate values. More realistic rheological
models and friction loss prediction correlations must be used
for this purpose.

REFERENCES
1. Kendall, H. A. and Goins, W. C., Jr.: Design and
Operation of Jet Bit Program for Maximum Hydraulic
Horsepower, Impact Force, Jet Velocity, Trans., AIME
(1960) 219, 238.
2. Bobo, R. A.: Application of Hydraulics to Rotary Drilling
Rigs, presented at 1963 Spring Meeting of API Division
of Production Southern District, New Orleans, Louisiana.
3. Williams, C.E., Jr., and Bruce, G.H.: Carrying Capacity
of Drilling Muds, Trans. AIME, Vol. 192, (1951), p. 111.
4. Kendall, H. A. and Goins, W. C., Jr.: How Drilling Rate
is affected by Hydraulic Horsepower, Oil and Gas
Journal, (1972).
5. Bourgoyne, A.T., and Kimbler, O.K.: A Critical
Examination of Rotary Drilling Hydraulics, Society of
Petroleum Engineers of AIME, Dallas (1969)
6. Bourgoyne. Jr., A.T., Chenevert, M. E., Milheim, K.K. and
Young Jr., F. S., Applied Drilling Engineering, S.P.E.
Print., Richardson, Texas, USA. (1986).
7. De Sa, C.H.M., Martins, A.L., and Amaral, M.S.: A
Computer
Programme
for
Drilling
Hydraulics
Optimization Considering Realistic Rheological Models,
Society of Petroleum Engineers paper 27554, presented at
European Petroleum Computer Conference, Aberdeen
(1994)
8. Rabia, H Rig hydraulics Textbook, Entrac (1989)

NOMENCLATURE
ROP
O.D.
I.D.
m
c
Q
PV, p
P

= rate of penetration (ft/s)

= outer diameter (in.)
= inner diameter (in.)
= mud density (ppg)
= cuttings density (ppg)
= mud flow rate (gpm)
= plastic viscosity (cP)
= pressure (psi)
= shear stress (lb/100ft2)
= Yield point (lb/100ft2)
= shear rate (s-1)

Cd
Q

= nozzle discharge coefficient

= mud flow rate (gpm)

dj
nj
vn
vcritical
vavg

= nozzle diameter (in.)

= number of nozzles
= nozzle velocity (ft/s)
= critical flow velocity (ft/s)
= average flow velocity (ft/s)

Copyright 2014 by ASME

Copyright 2014 by ASME