Different Techniques for Characterizing the Filter Cake

Abstract

Abstract Filter cake occurs intentionally during the drilling operations to prevent fluid losses to the formation and allow good circulation for drilling fluids from the bottom hole to the surface. The filter cake composition depends on a well-designed drilling fluids and additives. The filter cake should allow for minimum filtration, prevent solid invasions to the formation, and withstand high differential overbalance pressures. This work involves a detailed discussion for the most important filter cake properties such as filter cake thickness, porosity, permeability, and filter cake mineralogy for both oil-based and water-based drilling muds. Moreover, it provides measuring methods for these filter cake properties and the range of accuracy in each method. The effect of each filter cake property on drilling operation and health of the drilled wellcan be investigated. The survey was found to provide a comprehensive study for filter cake properties and methods. The reader can easily use this paper to benchmark the produced data or select the right method.