TRANSPORTATION OF CUTTINGS BY DRILLING MUD IN HORIZONTAL WELLS. PART 1. MODELING THE STRUCTURE OF DISPERSED CURRENTS

Abstract

Link for citation: Kharlamov S.N., Mehran Janghorbani, Zaykovskiy V.V. Transportation of cuttings by drilling mud in horizontal wells. Part 1. Modeling the structure of dispersed currents. Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Geo Аssets Engineering, 2023, vol. 334, no. 10, рр. 34-48. In Rus. The relevance of the research is associated with the development of technical solutions for drilling wells with horizontal endings, in which cleaning the annulus from particles of drilled cuttings in hydraulic transport conditions seems technologically and economically efficient compared to other, for example, mechanical methods. The purpose of the article is to develop a computational methodology/approach to a detailed forecast and deep understanding of the physical mechanism of the influence of hydraulic transport on the well cleaning intensity. Moreover, the strategy of such a study is focused on the choice of flow conditions/rheological parameters of the model, in which the obtained detailed theoretical information on the evolution of the dynamic flow structure should be used in the development of design methods and the formulation of recommendations to engineering personnel for emergency warnings. The object of this study is a new class of viscous currents of dispersed media induced by external and internal forces, characteristic of the functioning of special equipment that ensures the movement of drilling mud with complex rheology in the well through an eccentric annular annulus. Results. The given article is the first part of the study devoted to solving complex problems accompanying the hydraulic transfer of rheologically complex mixtures through wells with an extended horizontal section and their cleaning from drilling cuttings. The first part presents the data on reasonable modeling of hydrodynamics of viscous dispersed mixture within the framework of reference to full equations describing laws of mass conservation, impulse for detection of peculiarities, determination of flow regularities in eccentric area of annular annulus, as well as search for ways of intensification of cleaning under conditions of real drilling. It is assumed that the viscous-inertial-gravitational flow of a liquid of the Herschel–Bulkly type with solid particles (sand) is carried out in conditions of laminar-turbulent, straight-flow and twisted (by the method of a movable wall) flow developing in the space. It is noted that the formation of modes with active and conservative action of external and internal forces allows efficient cleaning of the annulus. System of defining equations of mathematical model of hydrodynamics and mass transfer is analyzed for possibility of taking into account changes in nonlinearity of thermophysical properties, resistance to disturbances at boundaries of flow area and phase separation. It is noted that the prediction of molar processes is carried out within the framework of modern statistical models of the RANS method and the Euler–Lagrangian approach to describing the movement of heterogeneous media implemented in the ANSYS CFD software. It was shown that at the real drilling conditions, the mathematical model is successful in determining the spectrum of local and integral parameters of hydrodynamics and mass transfer in a wide range of changes in drilling conditions, which make it possible to understand the effects of particle sedimentation on the lower wall, the dynamics of vortex separation and the transfer of particles to the low-Reynolds region with a suspended state of the mixture structure and the inertial zone of the flow core. It is noted that the intensity of hydraulic transport downstream is significantly influenced by the conditions of phase entry, rheological characteristics of the mud. The calculations established the flow areas with satisfactory agreement of dynamic characteristics of the flow according to the proposed model with available experimental data, for example, shear stress at the wall, radial distributions of the components of the fluid velocity vector along the length of the well at different angles of deviation of its borehole from the vertical. Moreover, the results of this article should be taken into account when describing the data of the second part, as an addition to the study of hydraulic transport according to the proposed technique of real drilling of horizontal wells with optimal rheological properties of the mud.