ABSTRACT
Current drilling engineering applications programs generally consider only one aspect of the drilling process and therefore allow drilling optimisation in terms of only one variable. In reality, however, drilling is a highly complex and interactive process in which optimisation of one parameter in isolation can have significant and possibly detrimental effects on another.
This paper describes a novel computer program, the Wellbore Fluids Model, that allows a realistic replication of the interacting processes that occur as drilling fluid flows around the wellbore; these include, for example, cuttings transport, hydraulic pressures and fluid property changes with temperature and pressure. By considering these interactions simultaneously the model can provide a more realistic foundation on which to base engineering decisions to ensure optimum rate of penetration.
The paper provides a comparison of the model predictions against field measured data. A simulation which illustrates the complex interactions that occur whilst drilling is presented.
