Prediction and improvement of the solid particles transfer rate for the bulk handing system design of offshore drilling vessels

Abstract

Numerous experiments with a scaled pilot facility were carried out to compare the relative bulk transfer performance of three special devices for applications to drilling systems. The pipe diameter for bulk transportation was 3 in., which corresponds to around half of the actual system dimensions. Two different pressures, 3 and 4 bar, were considered to check the relative performance under different pressure conditions at a bulk storage tank. And to make a practical estimation method of the bulk transfer rate at the early design stages of the bulk handling system, a series of experiments were conducted for real scaled bulk handing systems of two drilling vessels. The pressure drops at each pipe element as well as the bulk transfer rates were measured under different operating conditions. Using the measured results, the friction factor for each pipe element was calculated and a procedure for transfer rate estimation was developed. Compared to the measured transfer rate results for other drilling vessels, the estimated transfer rates were within a maximum 15% error bound.