A semi-analytical solution technique for predicting circulating mud temperatures

Abstract

Accurate prediction of circulating fluid temperature in wellbore is required for proper drilling operations and design of the closed-loop systems. This study involves the improvement of the traditional analytical solution based on the assumption of constant input values. The presented solutions are derived from the analytical solution of the transient radial heat conduction. Application of the superposition theorem and combination of the analytical solutions established for each segment constituting the wellbore to account for temporal and positional variations are the main features of the semi-analytical solution presented in this study. In this respect, it can be asserted that the solution is also valid for variable mud/water circulation in deviated and horizontal wells.The presented solution is validated using the pertinent results of the traditional analytical solution. The results of the semi-analytical solution for realistic wellbore design reveal the possible deviations from temperature profile corresponding to analytical solution. The temperature profile as a result of the circulation with variable rate in a designed horizontal well is examined to test the presented semi-analytical solution. The trials indicate that the semi-analytical solution which is able to be implemented with plausible computational effort can be an alternative improvement for the traditional analytical solution.