Rafael Ortega

ES 350 HW #1
1/23/2017
Heat and Mass Transfer in Drilling Hydraulics
Heat and mass transfer plays a big role in drilling hydraulics in order to maintain a safe drilling
environment. The most important component in drilling is the drilling fluids used which are
affected by the formation temperature. This is especially important when drilling offshore or in
high temperature and pressure formations. Deep formations can reach a temperature of 100 to
degrees to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. These high temperatures have adverse effects on the drilling
fluids properties. Viscosity, rheology, and density of the fluid are affects which change drilling
performance. Knowing formation temperature as well as the heat transfer from the formation into
the mud is important and considered.
Heat transfer occurs as soon as it enters the wellbore into the drill pipe. The mud must travel
thousands of feet down through the drill pipe as temperature increases the deeper the depth.
Friction as well as convection increase the mud temperature. Friction increases the fluid
temperature due to high velocity of the mud being pumped against the pipe it is in. The pipe
which stays in the ground while drilling has a higher temperature than the mud circulating
through it. As the mud flows through the pipe down the temperature increases of both the pipe
and mud due to a linear temperature gradient. Mud is usually checked and created at the surface
so it is important that the heat transfer be taken into account in order to prepare an efficient
drilling mud for safety and performance. The interesting thing about this phenomenon is the heat
transfer based on the flow regime of the drilling mud. Laminar and turbulent flow have different
effects on how heat will be transferred into the fluid.
Figure 1: Figure displaying how the drilling fluid circulates down the drill pipe and into the
annulus and to the surface.
 Rafael Ortega
ES 350 HW #1
1/23/2017
Figure 2: Figure showing the fluid properties changing as depth and temperature increase.

Figure 3: Fluid flow through the drill pipe with a laminar flow regime.