Biopolymer Drill-in Fluid Performance for Different Rheological Models using Statistical Characterisation

Abstract

Appropriate selection of rheological models is important for hydraulic calculations of pressure loss prediction and hole cleaning efficiency of drilling fluids. Power law, Bingham-Plastic and Herschel-Bulkley models are the conventional fluid models used in the oilfield. However, there are other models that have been proposed in literature which are under/or not utilized in the petroleum industry. The primary objective of this paper is to recommend a rheological model that best-fits the rheological behaviour of xanthan gum-based biopolymer drill-in fluids for hydraulic evaluations. Ten rheological models were evaluated in this study. These rheological models have been posed deterministically and due to the unrealistic nature have been replaced by statistical models, by adding an error (disturbance) term and making suitable assumptions about them. Rheological model parameters were estimated by least-square regression method. Models like Sisko and modified Sisko which are not conventional models in oil industry gave a good fit. Modified Sisko model which is a four parameter rheological model was selected as the best-fit model since it produced the least residual mean square of 0.61 Ibf2/100ft4. There is 95% certainty that the true best-fit curve lies within the confidence band of this function of interest. Keywords: Biopolymer; Least-Square Regression; Residual Mean Squares; Rheologram

Rheological Study of Formate (Nacl) and Ethylene Glycol Based Drilling Fluid Using MATLAB

“…This agrees with the rheological parameters from the two earlier models indicating clearly that the amount of formate substance and ethylene glycol had a combined effect on the rheology of drilling fluids. [17] also observe a similar effect of volume on drilling fluid rheological parameters using KCl formate/polymer fluid. The shear stress of this model is also very close to the Herschel-Bulkley model, as these two models gave the best fit for the experimental data.…”

“…the high consistency index (K) value implies superior hole cleaning efficiency; therefore, a higher K value is appropriate for drilling operations. A reduction in the value n also indicates that the drilling fluid has a more excellent shear-thinning characteristic, which is favorable for optimal hole cleaning as observed [17].…”