Computational fluid dynamics study of yield power law drilling fluid flow through smooth-walled fractures

Abstract

Presence of natural fractures in sub-surface makes an oil well drilling operation very challenging. As one of the major functions of drilling mud is to maintain bottomhole pressure inside a wellbore to avoid any invasion of unwanted high-pressure influx (oil/gas/water), drilling a well through these fractures can cause severe mud loss into the formation and subsequent danger of compromising the wellbore pressure integrity. The aim of this paper is to carry out a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study of drilling fluid flow through natural fractures to improve comprehensive understanding of the flow in fractured media. The study was carried out by creating a three-dimensional steady-state CFD model using ANSYS (Fluent). For simplicity and validation purpose, the model defines fracture as an empty space between two circular disks. Moreover, it is considered that single-phase fluid is flowing through fractures. By solving the flow equations in the model, correlations to determine the fracture width and invasion radius have been developed for specific mud rheological properties. Prior to onset of drilling and at the end of lost circulation, similar correlations can be developed by knowing rheological properties of drilling fluid which will be very much helpful to take an instantaneous action during lost circulation, i.e., determining lost circulation material particle size and also be useful in the well development stage to determine the damaged area to be treated.

Generalized Newtonian flow analysis in the microchannel manufactured by SLA considering nano-scale stair effect

“…Tang et al 14 conducted computational simulations of spiral laminar power-law flow in the partially blocked annulus, and the Fluent is used for the analysis. Ahammad et al 15 studied the computational fluid dynamics of power-law fluid flow through smooth-walled fractures based on CFD software ANSYS Fluent.…”

CFD validation of condensation heat transfer in scaled-down small modular reactor applications, Part 2: Steam and non-condensable gas

“…Therefore, analyzing steam CHT of PCCS in the presence of NCG was essential. CFD and related simulation tools were widely used in fluid flow, heat transfer, and biomaterial applications (Khan et al, 2017;Ahammad et al, 2019;Saha et al, 2020;Hasan et al, 2021). Additionally, CFD and related simulation tools were commonly used in various nuclear reactor applications (Mahaffy et al, 2007;Shamim et al, 2016;Sharma et al, 2019;Ahmed, 2021aAhmed, , 2021bBhowmik and Suh, 2021).…”

Depth Prediction of Karstic-Fault Reservoirs Based on Wellbore Temperature Measurements and Numerical Simulations

“…In recent years, the development of numerical simulation processes has provided a convenient and effective means to study both temperature and flow fields [18]. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique was implemented to analyze the flow behavior of oil in wells and caves, because CFD makes it possible to numerically solve flow, mass, and energy balances [19]. This study found that in the previous related research reports, the adopted transient wellbore simulations had mainly focused on the mud circulation during the drilling and subsequent shut-in stages.…”