Parameter Definition Using Vibration Prediction Software Leads To
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IBP1282_12 PARAMETER DEFINITION USING VIBRATION PREDICTION SOFTWARE LEADS TO SIGNIFICANT DRILLING PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS 1 2 3 4 Dalmo Amorim , Chris Hanley , Isaac Fonseca , Juliana Santos , 5 6 7 Daltro J. Leite , Augusto Borella , Danilo Gozzi Copyright 2012, Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute - IBP This Technical Paper was prepared for presentation at the Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012, held between September, 17- 20, 2012, in Rio de Janeiro. This Technical Paper was selected for presentation by the Technical Committee of the event according to the information contained in the final paper submitted by the author(s). The organizers are not supposed to translate or correct the submitted papers. The material as it is presented, does not necessarily represent Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute’s opinion, or that of its Members or Representatives. Authors consent to the publication of this Technical Paper in the Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 Proceedings. Abstract The understanding and mitigation of downhole vibration has been a heavily researched subject in the oil industry as it results in more expensive drilling operations, as vibrations significantly diminish the amount of effective drilling energy available to the bit and generate forces that can push the bit or the Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) off its concentric axis of rotation, producing high magnitude impacts with the borehole wall. In order to drill ahead, a sufficient amount of energy must be supplied by the rig to overcome the resistance of the drilling system, including the reactive torque of the system, drag forces, fluid pressure losses and energy dissipated by downhole vibrations, then providing the bit with the energy required to fail the rock. If the drill string enters resonant modes of vibration, not only does it decreases the amount of available energy to drill, but increases the potential for catastrophic downhole equipment and drilling bit failures. In this sense, the mitigation of downhole vibrations will result in faster, smoother, and cheaper drilling operations. A software tool using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been developed to provide better understanding of downhole vibration phenomena in drilling environments. The software tool calculates the response of the drilling system at various input conditions, based on the design of the wellbore along with the geometry of the Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) and the drill string. It identifies where undesired levels of resonant vibration will be driven by certain combinations of specific drilling parameters, and also which combinations of drilling parameters will result in lower levels of vibration, so the least shocks, the highest penetration rate and the lowest cost per foot can be achieved. With the growing performance of personal computers, complex software systems modeling the drilling vibrations using FEA has been accessible to a wider audience of field users, further complimenting with real time field monitoring. Vibration prediction diminishes the importance of trial-and-error procedures such as drill-off tests, which are valid only for short sections. It also solves an existing lapse in Mechanical Specific Energy (MSE) real-time drilling control programs applying the theory of Teale1, which states that a drilling system is perfectly efficient when it spends the exact energy to overcome the in situ rock strength. Using the proprietary software tool this paper will examine the resonant vibration modes that may be initiated while drilling with different BHA’s and drill string designs, showing that the combination of a proper BHA design along with the correct selection of input parameters results in an overall improvement to drilling efficiency. Also, being the BHA predictively analyzed, it will be reduced the potential for vibration or stress fatigue in the drill string components, leading to a safer operation. In the recent years there has been an increased focus on vibration detection, analysis, and mitigation techniques, where new technologies, like the Drilling Dynamics Data Recorders (DDDR), may provide the capability to capture high frequency dynamics data at multiple points along the drilling system. These tools allow the achievement of drilling performance improvements not possible before, opening a whole new array of opportunities for optimization and for verification of predictions calculated by the drill string dynamics modeling software tool. The results of this study will identify how the dynamics from the drilling ______________________________ 1 Master in Petroleum Engineer - Western Hemisphere Training Instructor - National Oilwell Varco 2 Mechanical Engineer – Senior Software Project Leader – National Oilwell Varco 3 Mechanical Engineer – Optimization Leader – National Oilwell Varco 4 Master in Drilling Engineer – Drilling Solutions Engineer – National Oilwell Varco 5 Mechanical Engineer – Drilling Engineer Consulter – Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. 6 Petroleum Engineer – Drilling Engineer Consulter – Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. 7 Petroleum Engineer – Drilling Engineer – Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 system, interacting with formation, directly relate to inefficiencies and to the possible solutions to mitigate drilling vibrations in order to improve drilling performance. Software vibration prediction and downhole measurements can be used for non-drilling operations like drilling out casing or reaming, where extremely high vibration levels - devastating to the cutting structure of the bit before it has even touched bottom - have been measured by DDDR tools. A variety of case studies, incorporating the results of the software-based vibration analysis and measured downhole data, will demonstrate solid improvements in terms of time and cost savings, improved dull conditions and record setting in areas where the software was used for the first time. 1. Fundamentals The natural frequency of a mechanical system is defined as the frequency at which it will oscillate in free vibration after an input is applied to the system with no additional driving motion forcing it. If we examine a simple mass, spring, damper system in translational motion with one degree-of-freedom; the undamped natural frequency of the system can be calculated using the following equation2: k n M where: n (rad/s) is the Undamped Natural Frequency k (N/m or lbf/ft) is the System Stiffness M (kg or lbm) is the System Mass As there is always some level of damping in practical mechanical systems, the quantity above serves primarily as a theoretical value to describe the natural motion of the system with no damping. However, this value is related to the natural frequency of the system with damping and also to the input frequency at which the system would resonate in forced vibration. If we examine the same simple mass, spring, damper system in translational motion with one degree- of-freedom; the damped natural frequency of the system can be calculated using the following equation2: 2 d n * 1 where: d (rad/s) is the Damped Natural Frequency n (rad/s) is the Undamped Natural Frequency ( ) is the Damping Ratio (defined below) c cc where: ( ) is the Damping Ratio c (N*s/m or lbf*s/ft) is the System Damping cc (N*s/m or lbf*s/ft) is the Critical Damping for the System (defined below) cc 2 Mk where: cc (N*s/m or lbf*s/ft) is the Critical Damping for the System M (kg or lbm) is the System Mass k (N/m or lbf/ft) is the System Stiffness Forcing a system into motion with an input frequency close to or at a natural frequency of the system can result in large amplitude outputs that can escalate to destructive magnitudes when left unchecked. This phenomenon is known as 2 Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 resonance. The input frequency at which this large amplitude vibration occurs is referred to as the resonant frequency for the system2. Resonance in drilling applications has been previously documented and measured in varied global field cases3, 4. For simple systems, such the single degree-of-freedom mass, spring, damper system described above; the natural frequency and harmonics can be calculated without too much difficulty using classical methods (assuming the mass, stiffness, and damping for the system can be accurately characterized). However, for mechanical systems with greater complexity, such as a drill string with multiple degrees-of-freedom and various interrelated subsystems, different techniques are required to calculate these frequencies. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a technique that can be applied in cases where a solution is too complicated or inefficient to arrive at by using classical or experimental methods. The fundamental use of FEA is to provide a method to model a system in such a manner that a numerical solution can be found for a specific problem. Common types of problems that can be solved using FEA include: stress analysis, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and dynamic system analysis5. The Finite Element Method (FEM) more specifically breaks the modeled system into a finite number of smaller pieces referred to as elements. Each element in the modeled system carries with it specific aspects of the modeled system useful in the solution process (such as component geometries, material properties, boundary conditions, etc.) depending on the problem posed by the analyst. The elements in the model are then joined to one another by points at the element boundaries referred to as nodes. The FEM simultaneously interpolates quantities