AUTHOR=Li Baixue , Wang Xueying , Zhang Feifei , Wang Xi , Wang Yuezhi , Wang Yidi 

TITLE=A mechanistic model for minimizing pressure loss in the wellbore during drilling by considering the effects of cuttings

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Earth Science

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.1036281

DOI=10.3389/feart.2022.1036281

ISSN=2296-6463

ABSTRACT=Because of the existence of cuttings in the flow, the pressure loss in the wellbore can increase significantly. Minimization of the flow pressure loss has great benefit to the drilling process. This works investigates the most important factors to the pressure loss in the wellbore during hole cleaning process. It is found that for solid-liquid, two phase flow, fluid flow rate is not always proportional to annular pressure loss as the single-phase flow. The mechanisms behind this effect is studied, and a mechanistic model based on solid-liquid, two-phase flow is proposed to simulate the hole cleaning process and predict the critical fluid flow rate which gives the minimum pressure loss in the wellbore. The effect of inclination angle, fluid rheological parameters, annulus geometry and rate of penetration (ROP) on the critical value are investigated by using the proposed model. Results show that the critical flow rate value increases as the inclination angle increases under 60 degree, and decreases once the inclination angle goes beyond 60 degree. And the critical flow rate increases as the fluid viscosity and the wellbore geometry increases. This proposed model can be used to minimize the pressure loss in wellbore in given operational conditions and optimize the drilling parameters.