Systems and methods for modeling wellbore trajectories
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A well path, comprising:
- a kick-off point;
a hold section; and
a clothoid spiral between the kick-off point and the hold section, the clothoid spiral being based on;
one or more boundary conditions for the well path;
North, East and depth coordinates of the well path calculated using a general expression for the clothoid spiral; and
a measured depth of the well path calculated using the general expression for the clothoid spiral.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for modeling wellbore trajectories using curvature bridging functions. The systems and methods use a clothoid spiral as a bridging curve in the transition zones to reduce tubular stresses/failures in the design of multilateral well paths and extended reach well paths.
17 Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A well path, comprising:
-
a kick-off point; a hold section; and a clothoid spiral between the kick-off point and the hold section, the clothoid spiral being based on; one or more boundary conditions for the well path; North, East and depth coordinates of the well path calculated using a general expression for the clothoid spiral; and a measured depth of the well path calculated using the general expression for the clothoid spiral. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method for designing a well path with a clothoid spiral, which comprises:
-
defining a general expression for the clothoid spiral using a computer processor; defining one or more boundary conditions for the well path; calculating North, East and depth coordinates of the well path using the general expression for the clothoid spiral; calculating a measured depth of the well path using the general expression for the clothoid spiral; calculating curvatures in the well path using the measured depth of the well path; and calculating torsion in the well path using the measured depth of the well path. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A non-transitory program storage device tangibly carrying computer executable instructions for designing a well path with a clothoid spiral, the instructions being executable to implement:
-
defining a general expression for the clothoid spiral; defining one or more boundary conditions for the well path; calculating North, East and depth coordinates of the well path using the general expression for the clothoid spiral; calculating a measured depth of the well path using the general expression for the clothoid spiral; calculating curvatures in the well path using the measured depth of the well path; and calculating torsion in the well path using the measured depth of the well path. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method for designing a clothoid spiral section for a well path, which comprises:
-
defining a general expression for the clothoid spiral section using a computer processor; defining one or more boundary conditions for the well path; calculating North, East and depth coordinates of the well path using the general expression for the clothoid spiral section; and calculating a measured depth of the well path using the general expression for the clothoid spiral section. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
-
-
20. A non-transitory program storage device tangibly carrying computer executable instructions for designing a clothoid spiral section for a well path, the instructions being executable to implement:
-
defining a general expression for the clothoid spiral section; defining one or more boundary conditions for the well path; calculating North, East and depth coordinates of the well path using the general expression for the clothoid spiral section; and calculating a measured depth of the well path using the general expression for the clothoid spiral section. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
-
Specification