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Full design of a drilling mud pump and flow program

Balac Srdan

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Summary

Drilling projects must be planned carefully as they need to be a balance of both efficiency of drilling and the project expenditure; that is, the goal is to drill the well reaching target depth with highest performance at the lowest cost.When it comes to reducing the cost of a project, mud hydraulics are one of the most important factors. By minimizing pressure loss, due to friction in drilling string and annulus, maximum efficiency of the drilling bit and the maximum usage of pump pressure is achieved.Knowing the rheology of the mud and the flow regime we can calculate pressure loss in the system. Rheology studies the flow, or rather deformation of matter, described in terms of shear rate and shear stress. Shear rate is defined as the flow velocity gradient in the direction perpendicular to the flow direction. Hence, the higher the shear rate, the higher the friction between the flowing particles. On the other hand, Fluids are described as Newtonian or non-Newtonian depending on their response to shear stress.Flow regime that appear in drilling are laminar flow, turbulent flow, and transitional flow. Pressure loss in the system can be expressed by calculating fluid velocity and Reynolds number for flow regimes. Circulating fluid must overcome friction between the fluid layers and the drill pipe, hole walls or casing walls, as well as the friction between solid particles and fluid. The major pressure loss occurs on the drilling bit nozzles. Therefore, pressure on the pump must be high enough to compensate for it; and it is equal to sum of all these forces.When it comes to the required hole cleaning and high rate of penetration, mud pumps are the most important equipment for providing the bit hydraulics. Drilling hydraulics can always be optimized by altering the pump liner, flow rate, and size of the nozzles; in accordance to the depth of drilling.In making an effective design, it is essential to have an understanding of hydraulics problems, as well as all their possible causes; in order to prepare adequate solutions to overcome delays, reduce operation costs, and reach the target.This thesis studies hydraulics as a means of assisting the design of full flow programs, that will in return give us the necessary mud pump specification for optimal drilling. Through modeling this problem, the goal is to avoid potential drilling problems in order to ensure further efficient drilling; especially in complex and inclined wells, where the hydraulic are usually more complex because of well path and geometry.

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