Effect of Solid Particle Concentration on Drilling Fluid Rheological Behavior and its Impact on Pressure Losses

Abstract

Abstract Solid particles in suspension in a fluid, like barite, lost circulation material (LCM), cuttings or cavings, influence the pressure losses that are experienced when pumping or moving a drill-string in a borehole. As the volume fractions of those different solid particles varies along the hydraulic circuit, it is desirable to estimate the impact of local solid concentrations on pressure drops. The influence of solid particles on the rheological behavior of fluid has mostly been studied for Newtonian fluids, but very little experimental work has been published for non-Newtonian fluids like drilling muds. For that reason, a series of measurements, made with a scientific rheometer has been conducted on a typical KCl/Polymer water-based mud. The experimental investigation covers the effect of particle concentration on the rheological behavior of the mix, in conjunction with the particle size. The change of rheological behavior is slow at low solid concentrations but increases exponentially with larger proportions of solid in suspension. Furthermore, the increase of effective viscosity is larger with fine particles than with coarser ones. Empirical formulas are proposed to describe how the original Herschel-Bulkley rheological behavior of a base fluid can be modified to incorporate the effects of the variation of solid concentrations in the fluid mix. All these results are based on measurements made with a scientific rheometer. As computerized and high precision rheometers are usually not available at the rig site, we describe a methodology to utilize standard model 35 rheometer measurements to estimate the pressure loss gradient as a function of the volumetric solid content.