Directional Drilling System Response and Stability

Downton, Geoff

doi:10.1109/cca.2007.4389456

Cited by 34 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These resistances, theoretically, do not depend on the rock formation (Perneder et al 2012). Number g (which can be interpreted as the inverse of the bit lateral steerability) is related mainly to the length, geometry, and cutting structure of the bit gauge (Dupriest and Sowers 2009); g is of order O ð10Þ (Menand et al 2002), whereas v is typically at least one order of magnitude smaller than g.…”

Section: Bit/rock Interaction and Kinematic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Deep boreholes often exhibit spiraling patterns (Gaynor et al 2001;Sugiura and Jones 2008;Dupriest and Sowers 2009). One should avoid this drilling dysfunction, observed in many fields independently of the rock formation, the bit type, the drive system, or the borehole geometry, because it is associated directly with low rates of penetration, increased drag, smaller drift diameters, and damage to components and tools (Gaynor et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Some models and descriptions represent push-the-bit RSSs as an imposed eccentricity on the BHA (Neubert and Heisig 1996;Downton 2007;Sugiura and Jones 2008), whereas others lump the RSS into a known external force applied on the BHA close to the bit (Barr et al 1995;Dupriest and Sowers 2009;Detournay and Perneder 2011;Perneder 2013). Furthermore, the pads have a limited extension, which implies that the nature of the constraint changes when the full stroke is reached.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Furthermore, the pads have a limited extension, which implies that the nature of the constraint changes when the full stroke is reached. A related question is whether RSS pads should be modeled as fixed or soft nodes when computing the vibrational shape of the RSS (Dupriest and Sowers 2009). Consequently, modeling the RSS as a prestressed spring provides a natural transition between these two limit cases: a zero stiffness corresponding to an imposed force, and an infinite stiffness to an imposed eccentricity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, these pads were conceptualized as an extra pseudostabilizer close to the bit ). However, the actual effect of RSS design on the onset of spiraling is still not well-understood (Dupriest and Sowers 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Influence of Rotary-Steerable-System Design on Borehole Spiraling

Marck

Detournay

2016

SPE Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The paper investigates the influence of the design of push-the-bit rotary-steerable systems (RSSs) on the tendency to drill spiraled boreholes by analyzing the directional stability of the bit trajectory. In this model, differences in RSS designs are accounted for conceptually by assigning a lateral stiffness to the RSS pads. This simple device, which introduces a dependence of the force on the pads upon the deflection of the bottomhole assembly (BHA) relative to the borehole axis, enables exploration of the influence of the actuation mechanism, with the RSS behaving at the ends of the spectrum either as a soft or as a stiff node of the drilling structure.According to this analysis, low pad stiffness has little consequence on the general behavior of the system. However, as the pad stiffness increases, any perturbation in the borehole geometry sensed by the pads alters the drilling direction of the bit and triggers, under certain conditions, self-excited oscillations in the borehole geometry. By increasing the transverse rigidity of the BHA in the vicinity of the bit, stiff RSS pads thus enhance the propensity of a drilling structure to drill spiraled holes and generate, if the system is directionally unstable, borehole oscillations with pitch that corresponds to the distance between the bit and the pads. In contrast, a directionally unstable BHA equipped with RSS characterized by a low stiffness produces spiraled holes with a wavelength corresponding to the distance between the bit and the first stabilizer.

show abstract

Section: Bit/rock Interaction and Kinematic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Influence of Rotary-Steerable-System Design on Borehole Spiraling

Marck

Detournay

2016

SPE Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Robust output‐feedback control of 3D directional drilling systems

Magaña

Monsieurs

Detournay

et al. 2018

Intl J Robust & Nonlinear

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary This paper introduces a robust observer‐based output feedback control strategy that enables the generation of complex three‐dimensional borehole trajectories created by directional drilling systems, while avoiding undesired transient behavior. The model‐based controller relies on a set of nonlinear delay differential equations describing the borehole evolution. Herein, only local orientation measurements of the bottom hole assembly of the drilling system are employed. Controller and observer gains are synthesized by optimizing the location of the rightmost pole of the closed‐loop dynamics, using a spectral approach for delay differential equations. Moreover, the strategy is extended to cope with the uncertainty of key system parameters in the directional drilling process. The effectiveness of the designed controller is tested in an illustrative benchmark study.

show abstract