Theoretical Analysis and CFD Simulation of the Solid Ball Kill Process in Offshore Blowout Wells

Well blowout results in massive disaster especially for offshore well. The risk for
blowout is increasing as drilling for oil and gas moves into more complex and
challenging environment. The damages from blowout incident include life, environment
and economy. Conventional well kill methods are either not effective or too slow. Thus,
fast and reliable well kill method is needed.
This research project is based on the well killing method invented by Xianhua Liu
which uses heavy kill balls to be released into the well. These balls will block and
suppress the flow of blowout fluids. This method is fast and reliable. The purpose of this
project is to study theoretically on the interaction of kill balls with blowout fluids inside
the well and also to simulate the behavior of kill balls by using Computational Fluid
Dynamics simulation. This research process starts with literature review on blowout
incidents and available well killing methods. Then, fluid mechanics theory and
calculation are used for theoretical study. After that ANSYS 14 software is used for
simulation purpose. Finally, the results from the study and simulation are analyzed. Kill
balls are expected to suppress and significantly reduce the flow velocity of blowout fluids
so that the well can be completely killed.
The outcome of this project will benefits in solving well blowout problems fast
and effectively so that to minimize the property loss of the petroleum company and
environmental damage.