Browsing by Subject "Wellbore strengthening"

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Finite element analysis of wellbore strengthening
(2011-12) Kocababuc, Berkay; Podnos, Evgeny; Gray, Kenneth E.
As the world energy demand increases, drilling deeper wells is inevitable. Deeper wells have abnormal pressure zones where the difference between pore pressure and fracture pressure gradient, is very small. Smaller drilling margins make it harder to drill the well and result in high operation costs due to the increase of non-productive time. One of the major factors influence non-productive time in drilling operations is lost circulation due to drilling induced fractures. The most common approach is still plugging the fractures by using various loss circulation materials and there are several wellbore strengthening techniques present in the literature to explain the physics behind this treatment. This thesis focuses on development of a rock mechanics/hydraulic model for quantifying the stress distribution around the wellbore and fracture geometry after fracture initiation, propagation and plugging the fracture with loss circulation materials. In addition, fracture behavior is investigated in different stress states, for different permeability values and in the presence of multiple fractures. The following chapters contain detailed description of this model, and analysis results.
Fracture analysis for lost circulation and wellbore strengthening
(2016-09-09) Feng, Yongcun; Gray, Kenneth E., Ph. D.; Daigle, Hugh C; Foster, John T; Jones, John F; McClure, Mark W
Lost circulation is the partial or complete loss of drilling fluid into a formation. It is among the major non-productive time events in drilling operations. Most of the lost circulation events are fracture initiation and propagation problems, occurring when fluid pressure in a wellbore is high enough to create fractures in a formation. Wellbore strengthening is a common method to prevent or remedy lost circulation problems. Although a number of successful field applications have been reported, the fundamental mechanisms of wellbore strengthening are still not fully understood. There is still a lack of functional models in the drilling industry that can sufficiently describe fracture behavior in lost circulation events and wellbore strengthening. A finite-element framework was first developed to simulate lost circulation while drilling. Fluid circulation in the well and fracture propagation in the formation were coupled to predict dynamic fluid loss and fracture geometry evolution in lost circulation events. The model provides a novel way to simulate fluid loss during drilling when the boundary condition at the fracture mouth is neither a constant flowrate nor a constant pressure, but rather a dynamic wellbore pressure. There are two common wellbore strengthening treatments, namely, preventive treatments based on plastering wellbore wall with mudcake before fractures occur and remedial treatments based on bridging/plugging lost circulation fractures. For preventive treatments, an analytical solution and a numerical finite-element model were developed to investigate the role of mudcake. Transient effects of mudcake buildup and permeability change on wellbore stress were analyzed. For remedial treatments, an analytical solution and a finite-element model were also proposed to model fracture bridging. The analytical solution directly predicts fracture pressure change before and after fracture bridging; while the finite-element model provides detailed local stress and displacement information in remedial wellbore strengthening treatments. In this dissertation, a systematic study on lost circulation and wellbore strengthening was performed. The models developed and analyses conducted in this dissertation present a useful step towards understanding of the fundamentals of lost circulation and wellbore strengthening, and provide improved guidance for lost circulation prevention and remediation.
Numerical investigation of lost circulation and fracture resistance enhancement mechanism
(2016-08-11) Zhao, Peidong; Gray, Kenneth E. Ph. D.; Santana, Claudia L
Drilling in complex geological settings often possesses significant risk for unplanned events that potentially intensify the economic problem of cost-demanding operations. Lost circulation, a major challenge in well construction operations, refers to the loss of drilling fluid into formation during drilling operations. Over years of research effort and field practices, wellbore strengthening techniques have been successfully applied in the field to mitigate lost circulation and have proved effective in extending the drilling mud weight margin to access undrillable formations. In fact, wellbore strengthening contributes additional resistance to fractures so that an equivalent circulating density higher than the conventionally estimated fracture gradient can be exerted on the wellbore. Therefore, wellbore strengthening techniques artificially elevate the upper limit of the mud weight window. Wellbore strengthening techniques have seen profound advancement in the last 20 years. Several proposed wellbore strengthening models have contributed considerable knowledge for the drilling community to mitigate lost circulation. However, in each of these models, wellbore strengthening is uniquely explained as a different concept, with supporting mathematical models, experimental validation, and field best practices. Due to simplifications of the mathematical models, the limited scale of experiments, and insufficient validation of field observations, investigating the fundamental mechanisms of wellbore strengthening has been an active and controversial topic within the industry. Nevertheless, lost circulation is undoubtedly induced by tensile failure or reopening of natural fractures when excessive wellbore pressure appears. In this thesis, a fully coupled hydraulic fracturing model is developed using Abaqus Standard. By implementing this numerical model, an extensive parametric study on lost circulation is performed to investigate mechanical behaviors of the wellbore and the induced fracture under various rock properties and bottomhole conditions. Based on the fracture analysis, a novel approach to simulate the fracture sealing effect of wellbore strengthening is developed, along with a workflow quantifying fracture gradient extension for drilling operations. A case study on fracture sealing is performed to investigate the role of sealing permeability and sealing length. The results described in this thesis indicate the feasibility of hoop stress enhancement, detail the mechanism of fracture resistance enhancement, and provide insights for lost circulation mitigation and wellbore strengthening treatment.