A broken stratum
is a complex stratum often encountered during
drilling. Under erosion of the drilling fluid and disturbance of the
drill pipe string, the rock in the well wall of the broken stratum
is prone to collapsing and falling off, causing the well wall to lose
its stability. Improving the cementing force between the broken blocks
and forming a complete well wall are essential for overcoming this
instability. The present study combined microbially induced calcite
precipitation technology with solid-free drilling fluid technology
for the first time to formulate a drilling fluid to overcome the instability
of the well wall of a broken stratum. However, first and foremost,
the growth of microorganisms in drilling fluids must be elucidated.
To this end, experimental and theoretical analyses were performed
to examine Bacillus pasteurii growth
in drilling fluids composed of a single agent or combinations of various
materials, such as a zwitterionic coating agent (FA367), a biopolymer
(XC), a polyacrylate polymer (PAC-LV), and potassium polyacrylate
(K-PAM). Experimental B. pasteurii growth
data were then fitted using a modified Gompertz model. The mean square
error indicated that the generated model had a reasonable degree of
fit, and the bias and accuracy factors showed that the model could
predict B. pasteurii growth. Among
the different drilling fluid combinations used, suitable fluids for B. pasteurii growth were XC alone, XC, and PAC-LV
in the two-material-based fluid and FA367, XC, and K-PAM in the three-material-based
fluid. These results provide a solid foundation for the development
of microbial drilling fluids to solve instability problems in broken
geological formations.