Gas hydrate formation may be encountered during deep-water drilling because of the large amount and wide distribution of gas hydrates under the shallow seabed of the South China Sea. Hydrates are extremely sensitive t...Gas hydrate formation may be encountered during deep-water drilling because of the large amount and wide distribution of gas hydrates under the shallow seabed of the South China Sea. Hydrates are extremely sensitive to temperature and pressure changes, and drilling through gas hydrate formation may cause dissociation of hydrates, accompanied by changes in wellbore temperatures, pore pressures, and stress states, thereby leading to wellbore plastic yield and wellbore instability. Considering the coupling effect of seepage of drilling fluid into gas hydrate formation, heat conduction between drilling fluid and formation, hydrate dissociation, and transformation of the formation framework, this study established a multi-field coupling mathematical model of the wellbore in the hydrate formation. Furthermore, the influences of drilling fluid temperatures, densities, and soaking time on the instability of hydrate formation were calculated and analyzed. Results show that the greater the temperature difference between the drilling fluid and hydrate formation is, the faster the hydrate dissociates, the wider the plastic dissociation range is, and the greater the failure width becomes. When the temperature difference is greater than 7℃, the maximum rate of plastic deformation around the wellbore is more than 10%, which is along the direction of the minimum horizontal in-situ stress and associated with instability and damage on the surrounding rock. The hydrate dissociation is insensitive to the variation of drilling fluid density, thereby implying that the change of the density of drilling fluids has a minimal effect on the hydrate dissociation. Drilling fluids that are absorbed into the hydrate formation result in fast dissociation at the initial stage. As time elapses, the hydrate dissociation slows down, but the risk of wellbore instability is aggravated due to the prolonged submersion in drilling fluids. For the sake of the stability of the wellbore in deep-water drilling through hydrate formation, the drilling fluid展开更多
With considering the interlayer mass transfer and fluid influx from the reservoir, a one-dimensional two-layer hydraulic model was established to describe the mechanism of transient cuttings transport with foam fluid ...With considering the interlayer mass transfer and fluid influx from the reservoir, a one-dimensional two-layer hydraulic model was established to describe the mechanism of transient cuttings transport with foam fluid in horizontal well section. The model was numerically calculated based on the modified SIMPLE algorithm, and the height of cuttings bed was predicted by the trial-and-error method. Sensitivity analysis was conducted on the affecting factors on the cuttings transport performance. Results show that cuttings deposition moves along the horizontal wellbore from the drilling bit, and finally achieves a steady state with dynamic balance. Dimensionless cuttings bed height decreases with the increase of foam quality or foam flow rate, but increases with the increase of drillpipe eccentricity, cuttings size or drilling rate. The influx of water and gas from the reservoir is helpful to improve the cuttings transport efficiency with foam. The proposed model offers theoretical guidelines for hydraulic parameter design and hole cleaning control in foamed horizontal drilling.展开更多
基金supported by the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Teams in University (IRT_14R58)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 16CX06033A)+3 种基金the State Key Laboratory Program of Offshore Oil Exploitationthe National Key Research and Development Program (No. 2016 YFC0304005)the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, No. 2015CB251201)the Qingdao Science and Technology Project (No. 15-9-1-55-jch)
文摘Gas hydrate formation may be encountered during deep-water drilling because of the large amount and wide distribution of gas hydrates under the shallow seabed of the South China Sea. Hydrates are extremely sensitive to temperature and pressure changes, and drilling through gas hydrate formation may cause dissociation of hydrates, accompanied by changes in wellbore temperatures, pore pressures, and stress states, thereby leading to wellbore plastic yield and wellbore instability. Considering the coupling effect of seepage of drilling fluid into gas hydrate formation, heat conduction between drilling fluid and formation, hydrate dissociation, and transformation of the formation framework, this study established a multi-field coupling mathematical model of the wellbore in the hydrate formation. Furthermore, the influences of drilling fluid temperatures, densities, and soaking time on the instability of hydrate formation were calculated and analyzed. Results show that the greater the temperature difference between the drilling fluid and hydrate formation is, the faster the hydrate dissociates, the wider the plastic dissociation range is, and the greater the failure width becomes. When the temperature difference is greater than 7℃, the maximum rate of plastic deformation around the wellbore is more than 10%, which is along the direction of the minimum horizontal in-situ stress and associated with instability and damage on the surrounding rock. The hydrate dissociation is insensitive to the variation of drilling fluid density, thereby implying that the change of the density of drilling fluids has a minimal effect on the hydrate dissociation. Drilling fluids that are absorbed into the hydrate formation result in fast dissociation at the initial stage. As time elapses, the hydrate dissociation slows down, but the risk of wellbore instability is aggravated due to the prolonged submersion in drilling fluids. For the sake of the stability of the wellbore in deep-water drilling through hydrate formation, the drilling fluid
基金supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, Grant No. 2006AA06Z218)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50574062)
文摘With considering the interlayer mass transfer and fluid influx from the reservoir, a one-dimensional two-layer hydraulic model was established to describe the mechanism of transient cuttings transport with foam fluid in horizontal well section. The model was numerically calculated based on the modified SIMPLE algorithm, and the height of cuttings bed was predicted by the trial-and-error method. Sensitivity analysis was conducted on the affecting factors on the cuttings transport performance. Results show that cuttings deposition moves along the horizontal wellbore from the drilling bit, and finally achieves a steady state with dynamic balance. Dimensionless cuttings bed height decreases with the increase of foam quality or foam flow rate, but increases with the increase of drillpipe eccentricity, cuttings size or drilling rate. The influx of water and gas from the reservoir is helpful to improve the cuttings transport efficiency with foam. The proposed model offers theoretical guidelines for hydraulic parameter design and hole cleaning control in foamed horizontal drilling.
