Effect of Drillpipe Rotation on Cuttings Transport in Horizontal Wellbore Section

In this project interaction between drill pipe rotation and drilling fluid to remove the cuttings from horizontal concentric annuli were simulated using ANSYS CFX 14 Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). CFD software has proven to be successful tool in studying fluid flow in bit hydraulic and gas liquid flow in pipeline and separator. Investigation of drill pipe rotation effect on cuttings volume fraction and annular pressure losses has been validated against flow loop tests conducted by Ozbayoglu and Saasaen (2008). Cuttings transport has been one of the major concerns during drilling horizontal and directional wells cleaning. Inadequate hole cleaning significantly affect cost, time and quality of horizontal wells. Improper hole cleaning may lead to number of problems such as pipe sticking, causing higher drag and toque, slower rate of penetration, formation of fractures and wellbore steering problems, especially in eccentric horizontal annulus. Our aim is to simulate the pipe rotation to achieve better transport of cuttings from horizontal annuli during conventional drilling. The process includes using ANSYS CFX 14 software to simulate the flow of water–flow medium through two concentric cylinders annuli containing initial stationary cuttings bed. The inner cylinder rotates while the outer is fixed. The parameters of focus Newtonian fluid (water) and cuttings concentration and rotary speed, would be varied accordingly and the effects on cuttings concentration and friction pressure losses would be observed. Data obtained has been validated against experimental data by Ozbayoglu and Saasaen (2008) which showed a good agreement