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The Effect of Hole Curvature on the Wellbore Pressure Loss Prediction for Highly
Tortuous Ultradeep Wells
G.Robello Samuel, Halliburton-Landmark Graphics
Abstract
Drilling operations in deep and ultra-deep water are increasing
around the world. The development of these substantial
prospects is very challenging and requires the integration of
knowledge with prudent designs at different stages of the well
development. However, the cost premium imposed by deep
and ultra deepwater wells are higher and many of the
discoveries are marginal in terms of the commercial viability.
With the increase of developing and operating costs, there is a
growing need to reduce the cost of drilling and other allied
operations. The hydraulic program for the deep wells
constitutes a significant portion of the well planning.
Challenges associated with extreme depth, pressures and
temperatures translate to additional problems to the well
design. As the wells are drilled deeper and deeper, accurate
prediction of the wellbore pressures are increasingly
important. Also, more wells are drilled in rotary steerable
mode. Alternating between the sliding and rotary modes
results in hole spiraling and wellbore oscillation becomes
more pronounced due to frequent slide drilling. The estimation
of pressures during drilling are indispensable for making
appropriate well completion decisions. The prediction of
wellbore pressures and downhole equivalent circulating
density are of critical importance in wells where the pressure
must be maintained within narrow limits of pore and
fracture pressures.
This paper presents a study on how to adapt to the new
wellbore hole spiraling effects encountered in ultra deep wells.
This paper examines some of these effects, while asserting
that it is necessary to integrate this new approach, so that more
accurate solutions can be predicted as a result. This new
hydraulic design encapsulating hole spiraling effects provides
IADC/SPE 87183
j=1
i =1
DL a DL p
T=
MD j MD i
= sin 2 M
P
n = +
+ cvc
2 sin n
Random Inclination and Azimuth method is similar to the
Random Inclination Dependent Azimuth Variation method as
described as above, except that the azimuth variation is
IADC/SPE 87183
n = +
+ cvc
2 sin n
In order to observe how the well trajectory has changed,
absolute and relative tortuosities are also calculated to
measure the degree of tortuosity applied to the wellpath.
Absolute tortuosity of the survey before or after applying
tortuosity is the mid-sum angle divided by the mid-measured
depth between two survey stations. Relative tortuosity
characterizes the undulation of the survey relative to the
absolute tortuosity. Relative tortuosity is zero unless tortuosity
has been applied. Also, the absolute tortuosity of the original
survey is the difference between the absolute tortuosity of the
survey with tortuosity and the relative tortuosity.
Secondary Flow Effects
Due to the spiraled nature of the wellbore, there will be a
variation of the centrifugal force due to the swirling flow
across the drillstring inside and the annulus. This results in a
pressure gradient maximum at the outer wall of the drilling
and wellbore, and minimum at the inner wall of the drillstring
and the outer wall of the drillstring. Swirling flows are those
where the velocity component is dominant in the azimuthal
direction and the hydraulics with the flow is fundamentally
different. The curvature of individual curves increases the
pressure drop incrementally as the spiraled hole increases in
length. Problems are predominant when the drillstring lies in
strongly curved wellpath. This causes an increase in the
frictional energy loss near the drillstring walls and the pressure
drop will be greater than the corresponding flow in the straight
pipe. The secondary flow due to coriolis force takes place
when viscous fluid flows through a straight pipe rotating about
an axis perpendicular to the pipe axis. The effects of
secondary flow on different newtoninan and non-newtoninan
fluids have been investigated and reported by researchers(4,5,6)
in the past. The concept of secondary flow has been studied
extensively in pipeline and piping systems. There have been
many experimental and numerical studies with curved toroidal
pipes. Furthermore, the effects of secondary flow in cured
pipes in the form of helical and spiral coiled attracted many
investigators. Mishra and Gupta(6) investigated the effects of
curvature and pitch on the pressure drop in both laminar and
turbulent flow regimes. Coiled pitch and radius of curvature of
the pipe effects were experimentally investigated and
presented by Gupta(6). The pioneering work was published by
Dean(7,8) on the theoretical aspects of the toroidal flow and
showed the effects of pressure gradient on curvature of the
pipe. He also presented a fundamental relation between the
flow resistance and curvature of the pipe by way of defining a
parameter called Dean Number.
The Dean number and Reynolds number are related(7)
as follows:
r
N De = N Re
R
All the above studies concluded that there exist strong effects
on pressure loss due to curvature. Most of the studies
neglected the effect of torsion. Germano, Yamamoto studied
the effect of curvature as well as torsion effects of the pipe.
The effects of curvature on the pressure loss in coiled tubing
have been recently reviewed and extensively studied again by
Sha and Zhou(11,12) with Newtonian and non Newtonian fluids
for coiled tubings on the reels. Anwar and So(13,14) analyzed
the effect of bend curvature on secondary motion in curved
pipe flows. They found that the secondary flow in the curved
pipe is reorganized by fluid swirl effects and also they studied
the flow recovery from fluid swirl. They conducted theoretical
and experimental studies with non-Newtonian fluids. Taking
into account of the non-newtoninan fluid behavior McCann
and Islas(15) studied and generalized the Srinivasan and
Nandapuraker(16) correlation for turbulent flow. They
compared the generalized correlation for power law fluid with
flow loop full-scale tests. The results were conducted with six
different fluids in three different diameter tubings. The friction
factor given by them is as follows
0.1
1.06a r
N 0Re.8b R
where
log 10 (n ) + 3.93
a=
50
1.75 log10 (n )
b=
7
The above friction factor is used in the present study.
f=
IADC/SPE 87183
Well Schematic
0 ft
RKB
Mean Sea Level
2500 ft
Mud Line
3000 ft
4000 ft TOC
5000 ft
4900 ft TOC
7000 ft
KOP 7100 ft
6000 ft TOC
17800 ft
9922 ft TVD
10 5/8" Open Hole
IADC/SPE 87183
300
250
Amplitude = 0.75
Amplitude = 1.0
18200
200
150
Amplitude =0.25
Pressu re (p si)
Period= 150 ft
Amplitude = 0.5
16200
Period = 100 ft
14200
Period = 80 ft
Period = 50 ft
100
Amplitude = 0.1
50
24000
23000
22000
21000
20000
Period = 35 ft
12200
Period= 20 ft
10200
8200
6200
0
18000
19000
4200
2200
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Flowrate(gpm)
Length = 6000 ft
16000
Length = 5000 ft
Length = 4000 ft
14000
Length = 3000 ft
Length = 1000 ft
17080
10000
8000
17060
S y s te m P re s s u re L o s s (p s i)
T o ta l S y s te m P re s s u re lo s s (p s i)
Length = 2000 ft
12000
6000
4000
2000
0
100
17040
17020
Magnitude = 1
17000
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Magnitude = 0.50
Flowrate(gpm)
16980
Magnitude = 0.25
16960
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Period(ft)
IADC/SPE 87183
14400
S y s te m P re s s u re L o s s (p s i)
14380
14360
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their appreciation to
Landmark Graphics Corporation for the opportunity to present
this paper.
14340
Magnitude =1.0
14320
Magnitude = 0.50
14300
Magnitude =0.25
14280
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Period (ft)
Nomenclature
f
= friction factor,
r
= radius of the pipe, ft
D
= Measured depth, ft
P
= period,
M = magnitude,
n
= power-law exponent
NDe = Dean number,
NRe = Reynolds number,
R
= radius of curvature of pipe, ft
u
= angular parameter
xvc = cross vertical correction
= random number
SI Metric Conversion Factors
E +00 = m
ft 0.3048
inch 25.4
E -03= m
in3/min 1.6387
E -05 = m3/min
E +00 = liter
Gal (US) 3.785
psi 6.8948
E -03 = MPa
References
1. Tom Gaynor, Doug Hamer, David Chen, Darren Stuart:
Quantifying Tortuosities by Friction Factors in Torque
and Drag Model SPE 77617 presented at The SPE
Annual Technical Conference, San Antonio, Texas, 29
September-2 October 2002.
2. Paul Pastusek and Van Brackin,.: A Model for Borehole
Oscillations SPE 77617 presented at The SPE Annual
Technical Conference, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., pp. 5-8
October 2003.
3. Tom Gaynor, Doug Hamer, David Chen, Darren Stuart,
Blaine Comeaux.: Tortuosity versus Micro-Tortuosity Why Little Things Mean a Lot SPE 67818 SPE/IADC
Drilling Conference held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
27 February-1 March 2001.
4. Yamamoto K. A. Aribowo, Y. Hayamizu, T. Hirose,
Kawahara, K., Visualization of the flow in a helical
pipe Fluid Dynamics Research, Vol. 30 (4) (2002) pp.
251-267 The Japan Society of Fluid Mechanics and
IADC/SPE 87183
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
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