The effect of nanoparticles additives in the drilling fluid on pressure loss and cutting transport efficiency in the vertical boreholes

Abstract

The effect of nanoparticles of various chemical components and sizes on the rheological behaviour of drilling fluids, pressure loss and cuttings transport in the vertical borehole for a laminar flow regime is considered in the paper. The results of numerical and experimental studies are presented. Silicon, aluminium and titanium oxides nanoparticles are considered. A drilling fluid is Bentonite-water solution with a mass fraction of 5%. The particles concentration in the solution was varied from 0.25 to 2 wt percentages and the particles sizes ranged from 5 to 50 nm. The dependences of the effective viscosity and rheological parameters of the solutions on the nanoparticles concentrations, sizes and materials were obtained. It was shown that nanoparticles in drilling fluid increase cuttings transport by 17% and decrease the average slip velocity of the sludge particles in 1.7–2.0 times, but the pressure losses when pumping the drilling fluid increase in 2.5 times.