An innovative experimental device for borehole ballooning

Abstract

The wrong judgment on borehole ballooning has a serious impact on safe and efficient drilling in the oil and gas drilling industries. In order to further investigate the characteristics of borehole ballooning, a new device is designed to research the effects of borehole ballooning under different conditions, such as different fracture opening pressures, rock types, and mud circulation pressures. The device consists of four units: a displacement unit, a triaxial clamping unit, a backpressure loading unit, and a control and data acquisition system. Based on this device, a series of experiments have been successfully carried out. The experimental results showed that the device can effectively simulate the typical characteristics of borehole ballooning, and it could provide theoretical support for further research of borehole ballooning.