Methods and system for design and/or selection of drilling equipment based on wellbore drilling simulations
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of simulating drilling at least one portion of a wellbore using a rotary drill bit comprising:
- selecting a drilling mode from the group consisting of straight, kick off or equilibrium corresponding with the one portion of the wellbore;
inputting drilling equipment data including operational data selected from the group consisting of bit rotational speed, axial bit penetration rate and lateral bit penetration rate;
inputting wellbore data and formation data corresponding with the at least one portion of the wellbore;
applying a steer rate to the rotary drill bit as part of the simulation; and
simulating drilling the one portion of the wellbore using the drilling equipment data for the proposed set of drilling equipment, the wellbore data, and the formation data.
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Abstract
Methods and systems may be provided for simulating forming a wide variety of directional wellbores including wellbores with variable tilt rates and/or relatively constant tilt rates. The methods and systems may also be used to simulate forming a wellbore in subterranean formations having a combination of soft, medium and hard formation materials, multiple layers of formation materials and relatively hard stringers disposed throughout one or more layers of formation material.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method of simulating drilling at least one portion of a wellbore using a rotary drill bit comprising:
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selecting a drilling mode from the group consisting of straight, kick off or equilibrium corresponding with the one portion of the wellbore;
inputting drilling equipment data including operational data selected from the group consisting of bit rotational speed, axial bit penetration rate and lateral bit penetration rate;
inputting wellbore data and formation data corresponding with the at least one portion of the wellbore;
applying a steer rate to the rotary drill bit as part of the simulation; and
simulating drilling the one portion of the wellbore using the drilling equipment data for the proposed set of drilling equipment, the wellbore data, and the formation data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of simulating drilling a directional wellbore comprising:
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dividing a planned directional wellbore into portions selected from the group consisting of;
straight hole portion, kick-off portion and equilibrium portion;
inputting bit design data;
inputting formation data;
inputting downhole drilling conditions for straight hole portion drilling including bit rotational speed, rate of penetration and weight on bit;
simulating drilling the straight hole portion by selecting straight drilling as a drilling mode and using the bit design data and the downhole drilling conditions for the straight hole portion;
inputting downhole drilling conditions for kick off portion drilling including bit rotational speed, rate of penetration, weight on bit, tilt rate and bend length;
simulating drilling the kick off portion by selecting kick off drilling as a drilling mode and using the bit design data and downhole drilling conditions for the kick off portion;
inputting downhole drilling conditions for equilibrium portion drilling including bit rotational speed, rate of penetration, and weight on bit, tile rate and bend length; and
simulating drilling the equilibrium portion by selecting equilibrium drilling as a drilling mode and using the bit design data and downhole drilling conditions for the equilibrium portion. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of simulating drilling portions of a wellbore comprising:
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selecting a first set of drilling equipment for use in simulating drilling at least one portion of the wellbore;
inputting design parameters for the first set of drilling equipment;
selecting operating parameters for the drilling equipment from the group consisting at least of rate of penetration weight on bit, bit rotation speed and a desired bit tilt rate;
inputting formation data at a first location in the at least one portion of the wellbore;
inputting formation data at a second location in the at least one portion of the wellbore;
simulating forming a bottom hole of the wellbore by rotating the drilling equipment one full revolution without any penetration of the adjacent formation;
calculating spherical coordinates for the simulated bottom hole in a hole coordinate system;
calculating spherical coordinates in the same hole coordinate for all points of interest on the drilling equipment at a specified time; and
simulating drilling the bottom hole, by calculating a three dimensional interaction of all points of interest on the drilling equipment with adjacent portions of the bottom hole in the same spherical coordinate system. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of simulating drilling performance of equipment operable to form a wellbore with a desired trajectory comprising:
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(a) selecting a first set of drilling equipment with a prior history of satisfactorily drilling wellbores with a set of bit operational parameters and a bit tilt rate corresponding with the desired trajectory;
(b) determining formation data associated with the wellbore;
(c) selecting a drilling mode from the group consisting of straight hole drilling, kick-off drilling and equilibrium drilling corresponding with the wellbore;
(d) calculating steerability of the first set of drilling equipment based on a three dimensional simulation of interactions between the drilling equipment and adjacent portions of the wellbore under the set of bit operational parameters and the set of formation data;
(e) selecting another set of drilling equipment with the bit tilt rate under the set of bit operational parameters;
(f) calculating steerability of the second set of drilling equipment using the set of bit operational parameters and the set of formation data;
(g) comparing steerability of the first set of drilling equipment with steerability of the second set of drilling equipment; and
(h) if steerability of the second set of drilling equipment is not better than steerability of the first set of drilling equipment, selecting another set of drilling equipment and repeating steps (c) through (g) until a final set of drilling equipment is found with steerability better than steerability of the first set of drilling equipment. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A computer system for simulating drilling a wellbore through a subterranean formation comprising:
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at least one processing resource operable to communicate with at least one memory resource and at least one display;
computer instructions stored in the at least one memory resource for use by the at least one processing resource to simulate drilling at least one portion of the wellbore;
the display operable to show the results of a simulation performed by the computer system;
the computer instructions operable to convert a bottom hole of the wellbore into a spherical coordinate system;
the computer instructions operable to convert design parameters of the drilling equipment into a spherical coordinate system;
the computer instructions operable to simulate applying bit tilting motion, axial penetration and rotation forces to the drilling equipment; and
the computer instructions operable to simulate in three dimensions using the spherical coordinate system interactions between a rotary drill bit associated with the drilling equipment and a three dimensional simulation of the bottom hole of the wellbore.
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28. A system for simulating drilling a wellbore comprising:
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at least one processing resource and at least one memory resource operably coupled with each other;
a software application stored on the at least one memory resource;
at least one display operable to show results of a simulation performed by the processing resources using the software application;
the software application operable to simulate forces acting on a first set of drilling equipment including forces associated with tilting of a rotary drill bit during formation of a directional wellbore;
the software application operable to calculate side forces acting upon the drilling equipment based on the simulation; and
the software application operable to calculate a bit walk rate for a rotary drill bit associated with the first set of drilling equipment. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A system operable to design a rotary drill bit with desired steerability comprising:
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processing resources communicating with an input device, memory resources and at least one visual display;
the memory resources operable to store software, computer programs, algorithms, drilling equipment design data and downhole drilling conditions;
means for selecting downhole drilling conditions and drilling equipment design data for use in simulating drilling at least one portion of a directional wellbore;
the processing resources operable to;
(a) simulate drilling the at least one portion of a wellbore using the selected downhole drilling conditions and drilling equipment design data;
(b) calculate a bit steerability; and
(c) compare the calculated bit steerability to a desired bit steerability;
if the calculated steerability does not approximately equal the desired steerability, means for modifying at least one bit geometry of the rotary drill bit selected from the group consisting of bit face profile, cutter location, cutter orientation, cutter density, gage length and gage diameter; and
the processing resources operable to repeat steps (a) through (c) until the calculated steerability approximately equals the desired steerability. - View Dependent Claims (34)
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Specification