Systems and methods for modeling and triggering safety barriers

• US 8,886,504 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2012
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Landmark Graphics Corporation (Halliburton Company)
• Original Assignee: Landmark Graphics Corporation (Halliburton Company)
• Inventors: Standifird, William Bradley, Fowler, William Paul IV, Diaz-Aguirre, Edgar Eli
• Primary Examiner(s): Thangavelu, Kandasamy
• Application Number:
  US13/883,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20140041860A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,016 Days
• Field of Search: 703/10, 166/373, 166/358, 166/85.4, 702/6, 175/61
• US Class Current: 703/10
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 33/06 Blow-out preventers , i.e. apparatus closing around a drill pipe, e.g. annular blow-out preventers rotating blow-out preventers E21B33/085
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 44/00 Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G06G 7/48 Analogue computers for specific processes, systems or devices, e.g. simulators

Abstract

Modeling and triggering safety barriers. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium includes executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to model, using one or more models, safety barriers in one or more drilling rigs based on drilling rig safety barrier data. The processors are further caused to identify, based on the one or more models, a first impending invalidation of a first safety barrier. The processors are further caused to initialize, triggered solely by the instructions, a second safety barrier based on the impending invalidation.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

model, using one or more models, safety barriers in one or more drilling rigs based on drilling rig safety barrier data;

identify, based on the one or more models, a first impending invalidation of a first safety barrier; and

initialize, triggered solely by the instructions, a second safety barrier based on the impending invalidation.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to record, triggered by the impending invalidation, the drilling rig safety barrier data.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to test responsiveness of human input reacting to the impending invalidation.

4. The medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to activate, triggered by a second impending invalidation of a second safety barrier, a failsafe procedure.

5. The medium of claim 1, wherein initialization of the second safety barrier is triggered without human input.

6. The medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to activate, triggered by the one or more models indicating an unknown safety barrier status, a failsafe procedure.

7. The medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to prevent removal of a safety barrier when two or fewer models indicate validated safety barriers.

8. The medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the safety barriers is selected from the group consisting of:

riser;

casing;

wellhead;

surface equipment;

blowout preventer;

cementing; and

mud column.

9. A system, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing executable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

model, using one or more models, safety barriers in one or more drilling rigs based on drilling rig safety barrier data;

identify, based on the one or more models, a first impending invalidation of a first safety barrier; and

initialize, triggered solely by the instructions, a second safety barrier based on the impending invalidation.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to record, triggered by the impending invalidation, the drilling rig safety barrier data.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to test responsiveness of human input reacting to the impending invalidation.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to activate, triggered by a second impending invalidation of a second safety barrier, a failsafe procedure.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein initialization of the second safety barrier is triggered without human input.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to activate, triggered by the one or more models indicating an unknown safety barrier status, a failsafe procedure.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to prevent removal of a safety barrier when two or fewer models indicate validated safety barriers.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the safety barriers is selected from the group consisting of:

riser;

casing;

wellhead;

surface equipment;

blowout preventer;

cementing; and

mud column.

17. A method, comprising:

modeling, using one or more models and one or more processors, safety barriers in one or more drilling rigs based on drilling rig safety barrier data;

identifying, based on the one or more models, an impending invalidation of a first safety barrier;

automatically, without human input, initializing a second safety barrier based on the impending invalidation; and

outputting, using the one or more processors, to a display a status of at least one safety barrier indicated by at least one model.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising testing responsiveness of human input reacting to the impending invalidation.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising preventing removal of a safety barrier when two or fewer models indicate validated safety barriers.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of the safety barriers is selected from the group consisting of:

riser;

casing;

wellhead;

surface equipment;

blowout preventer;

cementing; and

mud column.