ARMA 14-XXXX

Investigation of Enhancing Drill cuttings Cleaning and Penetration Rate

Using Cavitating Pressure Pulses
Sadegh Babapour, MEng
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, NL, Canada
S. D. Butt, PhD, P.Eng
Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, NL, Canada

Copyright 2014 ARMA, American Rock Mechanics Association

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 48th US Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium held in Minneapolis, MN, USA, 1-4 June
2014.
This paper was selected for presentation at the symposium by an ARMA Technical Program Committee based on a technical and critical review of
the paper by a minimum of two technical reviewers. The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any position of ARMA, its officers, or
members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for commercial purposes without the written consent of ARMA
is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 200 words; illustrations may not be copied. The
abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgement of where and by whom the paper was presented.

ABSTRACT: This laboratory investigation involved evaluating the potential to enhance drilling Rate of Penetration (ROP) and
drilling efficiency by applying axial vibrations on the bit using a pulse cavitation drilling tool in combination with varying levels of
axial compliance. The pulse cavitation tool generates cavitation bubbles in the drilling fluid by flowing through a venturi. When
the cavitation bubbles produced within the tool are collapsed, pressure pulses are generated which produce pressure pulsations and
oscillatory forces on the bit. Drilling results were evaluated on the basis of ROP, Mechanical Specific Energy (MSE), bit loads and
bit displacements. The tool was tested both with and without compliance to evaluate the effects of the compliant element.
Experimental results show that the pulse cavitation tool starts to cavitate and produce vibrations when a critical flow rate is
reached. When the drilling system was rigid (i.e. no compliance was used), the vibration produced did not have any significant
effect on the ROP. However, when the drilling system was compliant the vibrations produced by the tool intensified the natural
displacement vibration of the compliant element and the ROP was increased and MSE was decreased.

pessure surges are created within the fluid.The

1. INTRODUCTION
Drilling efficiency is governed by rock cuttings removal
by hydraulic forces. The mechanical forces introduced
by drill bit removes these cuttings from the parent rock.
The cuttings will be held down until the downward
forces due to overburden pressure are overcome.
The turbulent jet that flushes away these chips consists
of static impingement and dynamic pressure
fluctuations. Instead of providing high pressure and
hence enhancing the pressure fluctuations of the
turbulent jet by rig pumps, the existing fluid pressure can
be used more effectively.
A fluid passing a convergent-divergent venturi
demonstrates significant pressure fluctuations due to the
cavitation phenomenon. As the fluid passes the venturi,
according to the Bernoullis law, the fluid velocity
increases and hence the pressure decreases. If pressure
drops below the fluid vapor pressure, cavitation is
incepted and bubbles are created.
As the bubble clusters are carried away from the venturi,
due to higher ambient pressure the bubbles implode and
successive collapse of bubble clusters produce vibrations
in the system. If the bubbles did not implode before they
impact on a solid surface, the direct collapse could cause
surface erosion on the solid specimen.
Another advantage of this method was to solely take
advantage of the nature of pressure pulsations. The
pulsating jet increases the cleaning efficiency of the bit
by introducing high lifting forces that would flush larger
cutting sizes.
Pressure pulsations produed by venturi were used as
vibration source in drilling experiments. Axial
compliance was also integrated into the drilling rig to
study the vibration effects with and without compliance.
Different prototypes were designed to investigate the
probability of cavitation occurrence by using CFD
simulations. The successful designs were venturis with
diameters of 4, 12 and 8 mm. The results obtained
confirmed the pressure pulses and occurrence of
cavitation.
The successful candidates were then tested with various
flow rates and pressure conditions in order to better
understand the pressure pulsations and oscillatory forces
obtained.
Experiments further continued with drilling tests to
study the vibration effects in increasing the drilling
efficiency with and without axial compliance in drilling
system.
2. CFD SIMULATIONS
CFD simulations studied the various scenarios with
different flow conditions. variables such as flow rate,
effect of throat section size in venturi, convergent and
divergent section angles, and upstream and downstream
pressure were studied to finalize the best prototypes for
testing.
Figure 1 shows the assembly imported to the geometry
section of the CFD software. Boundary Conditions set as
shown are 22 USGPM for the inlet and atmospheric
pressure at the outlet of the tool.
Figure 1. Assembly schematic with defined Boundary
conditions
Figure 2 shows the sequence of the cavitation inside the
venturi inside the tool. The Image 1 on the left shows the
beginning of the simulation. As the simulation starts and
the results start to stabilize, flow start to pass from the
inlet and move towards the convergent section of the
venturi.
Figure 2. CFD simulation of cavitation inception
As the fluid passes this section, the pressure starts to fall.
As the pressure decline continues and reaches the critical
vapor pressure of the fluid, small cavities start to grow.
The second image shows the fixed cavity at near the
outer section of the venturi.
As they are detached they move along the tool and when
they are introduce to the high compressive pressure at
the outlet, they are imploded. Then, this phenomenon
continues repeatedly.
The pressure probe feature of the CFD software records
the pressure history of the flow at any given location.
Figure 3 shows the pressure fluctuations of the flow after
the venturi section.
Figure 3. Outlet Pressure pulses pattern
Various features of CFD software were analyzed in
order to better understand the physics of the cavitating
flow inside the tool. Cavitation Vapor Volume Fraction
(CVF) represents the fraction of vapor present in the
flowing fluid. CVF ranges fom 0 to 1. CVF=0 epresents
no cavity clouds present in the flow and CVF=1
represents the scenario when the flow is fully filled with
cavity clusters.
Figure 4 depicts the initiation of cavitation phenomenon
and development of the fixed cavity cloud.
Figure 4. CVF reperesentation of fixed cavity growth

After the simulation step was complete and analysis
proved the cavitation inception and pressure pulsations
after bubble implosions inside the tool, prototypes were
manufactured to conduct the preliminary experiments.
3. Flow TESTS
Figure 5 shows the test fame used to conduct various
flow tests with the pulse cavitation prototype.
Figure 5. Test frame
The frame consists of safety valves to circulate the flow
back to the pump in case of any problem occurring
during testing. There needle valve is to apply back
pressure to the flow assembly. A flow meter and two
pressure transducers are installed on the frame to
measure the flow rate and inlet and outlet pressure of the
system.The flow in this system is upward opposite to the
direction of gravity.
Lateral movement constriction is applied via triangular
plates as shown in Figure 5 to avoid any lateral
movement of the assembly. The main housing of the
assembly is attached to the triangular plate which
supports 3 different loadcells recording forces induced
by the flow inside pulse cavitation assembly.
A restriction plate is installed at the end of the pipe
connected to the assembly as a representation of a
drilling bit. The restriction plate is shown in Figure 6.
The restriction plate represents a drilling bit with 3
nozzles. The plate is used to convert the pressure pulses
produced by the pulse cavitation tool to forces acting on
the bit. These force fluctuations act as the secondary
source added to the static weight on bit (WOB).
Figure 6. Restriction plate
Testing the tool started with water as the flowing fluid
and flow and pessure as the variables. The inlet and
outlet pressures were recorded as well as the forces
recorded by the three loadcells
Data analysis showed that the cavitation phenomenon
was initiated at 26 USGPM. At 26 USGPM, the fluid
velocity increase equals to the pressure drop which is
needed to initiate the cavitation phenomenon. Small
bubbles are created after the venturi. These bubbles
which move in small groups as bubble clusters are
moved along the assembly. When they are introduced to
the high compressive pressure at the outlet, they start to
implode and pressure surges are produced. These
pressure peaks are recorded by the pressure transducer at
the outlet of the assembly. The restriction plate used as
the bit analogous, captures the impact of the remaining
bubble clusters which were not collapsed. Figure 7
shows the outlet pessure transduce data at this flow rate.
Figure 7. Outlet pressure transducer at 26 USGPM
Further analysis revealed that venturi works within a
flow range and increasing the flow rate will not
necessarily increase cavitation intensity. Therefore, the
pressure pulses due to the cavitation bubbles collapse,
decrease after the maximum pressure peaks are
achieved. Figure 8 shows the pattern of outlet pressure
from 8 USGPM to 40 USGPM.
Figure 8. Outlet pressure signals at different flow rates
During the short duration of experiments, surface of the
restriction plate was eroded. This erosion due to
cavitation is referred to as cavitation pitting which
results from repeated collapses of the bubbles on the
plate surface. Figure 9 shows the different spots of the
cavitation bubbles impact on the restrictor plate.
Examining the surface of the plate with the naked eye
does not show significant erosion due to short duration
of the exposure of the plate to the cavitating flow.
However, the microscopic view of one of the spots
reveals the depth of eroded zone with respect to the non-
eroded area.
Figure 9. Different views of restriction plate erosion
4. DRILLING EXPERIMENTS AND EFFECT OF
AXIAL COMPLIANCE
Drilling experiments were conducted with the pulse
cavitation prototype integrated into the drill sting.
Different factors affecting the ROP and MSE such as
WOB and flow rate were studied. Also, a compliant
element was mounted on the drill rig to study the effects
of the axial compliance in drilling performance.
The setup used for drilling the synthetic rock specimens
was the modified small scale drilling setup developed in
advanced drilling group. Figure 10 shows the different
sections of this setup.
Figure 10. Drilling setup
The most important modification of the drilling setup
was mounting the compliant plate assembly. This
modification was done regarding the further analysis of
the effect of vibrations in enhancing drilling
performance. The compliant element converts the force
vibrations into displacement and also improves the
transfer of vibrations from the vibration source to the
drill bit and hence increases the penetration rate. After
confirming this idea with simulations done with PFC2D
software, a compliant element was designed to be
mounted on the drill setup. Figure 11 shows the
compliant section for the drill rig.

Figure 11. Compliant element
The experiments were planned in order to study the
sensitivity of the drilling operation to the effects of pulse
cavitation tool and compliant element. To study the
effects of compliance two sets of experiments were
performed with and without the compliance effect.
After applying the specified WOB and flow rate, drilling
started with turning on the drill motor and let the bit
penetrate the rock as the suspended weight was moved
downward. Meanwhile the data was recorded by the
sensors and sent to the DAQ system. After drilling
procedure was completed, the system was turned off and
the drilled sample was replaced with another sample and
experiments continued.
5. DRILLING RESULTS
Analysis of the ROP and MSE shows that compliance
effect was significant in increasing the penetration rate
and reducing the required energy in order to remove the
unit volume of the rock. Pulse cavitation tool drilling
results also confirmed that without axial compliance
vibration produced due to pressre pulses will not have
signifcant effect.
Figures 12 and 13 show the ROP and MSE vesus flow
rate.
Figure 12. ROP versus flow rate
As predicted from the CFD software for the pulse
cavitation prototype used in the drill string, cavitation
was incepted at 22.6 USGPM.
Figure 13. MSE versus flow rate
drilling results for the pulse cavitation tool showed that
although at 22.6 USGPM the tool is cavitating at its
maximum performance, these vibrations were enhancing
the drilling efficiency when there was compliance and
with the rigid pattern was not significant.
Also, a set of experiments were conducted by varying
the WOB at a fixed flow rate with the rigid and
compliant configuration. Results indicated the axial
compliance and conversion of force oscillations into
axial displacement of the bit is significant. Figues 14
and 15 show the ROP and MSE results for these
experiments.
Figure 14. ROP versus WOB
Comparison of the spectral analysis also
demonstrated the effect of the compliance. The
analysis showed that the specific pattern chosen for
the complaint element has a specific vibration
frequency of 13 Hz. Analysis shows that when the
vibrations coming from the vibration source, which
is the pressue pulses fom pulse cavitation tool, are
around 13 Hz, the natural vibration frequency of the
compliant element, drilling efficiency goes higher.
Studying the spectral analysis revealed that at both
the low and high ROP tests, the dominant frequency
is 13 HZ, but when this frequency is intensified due
to the vibration coming from the tool, the compliant
element acts more efficiently and drilling rate is
higher.
Figure 15. MSE versus WOB
Figures 16 and 17 show the FFT analysis for WOB and
compliant element displacement respectively.
Figure 16. FFT analysis of WOB
Figure 17. FFT analysis of compliant displacement
6. CONCLUSIONS
The drilling plan was focused on investigating the
drilling efficiency sensitivity to both the effects of the
cavitation and the axial compliance effect. For this
reason, drill pipe with venturi insert was tested. To
detect the effect of cavitation, flow range was chosen
from lowest to highest possible achievable flow rate.
Also in order to study the effect of the axial compliance,
axial compliant element was embedded to the drill setup
which provided the displacement of synthetic rock
sample.. The compliant element was implemented into
the system to convert the force vibrations coming from
the tool into displacement.
Comparing the drilling results for the drill pipe with
venturi insert, with and without the compliant element,
indicated that although at 22.6 USGPM the tool is
cavitating at its maximum performance, these vibrations
were enhancing the drilling efficiency when there was
compliance and with the rigid pattern, no significant
improvement obtained.
The spectral analysis of the WOB and the displacement
of the compliant element shows that different
configurations have their own natural frequency and
whenever the vibrations are intensifying these
frequencies, ROP and MSE values are enhanced.
Identifying the specific natural frequency of the
compliant element would assist in designing vibration
tools that would match this frequency and result in
further enhancement of drilling efficiency.
7. REFERENCES
[1] Adam T. Bourgoyne Jr. et al. (1991). Applied
Drilling Engineering. Richardson, TX, Society of
Petroleum Engineers.
[2] Ozonek, J. (2012). Application of hydrodynamic
cavitation in environmental engineering, CRC Press.
[3] Jean-Pierre FRANC, J.-M. M. (2005). Fundamentals
of Cavitation. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Springer
Science.
[4] Stanley, C. (2012). Experimental Investigation of
Cavitation in a Cylindrical Orifice. School of
Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Australia,
University of New South Wales. Doctor of Philosophy.
[5] Kshitj Mohan, F. A. (2009). Tracking Drilling
efficiency using hydro-MSE. Roy Beardmore.
Amsterdam, Netherlands, SPE/IADC.