CFD simulation of turbulent flow of drill cuttings and parametric studies in a horizontal annulus

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms of cuttings transport and investigating the effects of different parameters is necessary to design an efficient cuttings transport process. Improper hole cleaning leads to the accumulation of drill cuttings in the well annulus and causes many problems such as rotational speed reduction, stuck pipe, circulation loss, and drill bit abrasion especially in horizontal drilling. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were used for simulation of turbulent two phase flow in a horizontal annulus including a Herschel–Bulkley drilling fluid. The Lagrangian–Eulerian/discrete element method approach was adopted for description of the particle flow, interparticle and particle–wall interactions. Simulation results were compared and validated against published experimental data in the literature and j simulation results indicate that at constant drilling rate, the major factors that affects hole cleaning in horizontal wellbores are drill pipe rotational speed, drilling fluid rheology and velocity. Results of this study show the reliability of CFD analysis to simulate cuttings transport process which can minimize the difficult experimental measurements.