Understanding root cause of stick–slip vibrations in deep drilling with drag bits

Abstract

In search for the root cause of stick–slip, a mode of torsional vibrations of a drilling assembly, a linear stability analysis of coupled axial–torsional vibrations has been carried out. It has been shown that in a rotary drilling system with axial and torsional degree of freedom two distinct modes of self-excited vibrations are present: axial and torsional. These axial (torsional) modes of vibrations are due to resonance between the cutting forces acting at the bit and the axial (torsional) natural modes of drillstring vibrations. It has been demonstrated that although axial and torsional modes of vibrations do affect each other the underlying mechanisms driving these modes of vibrations are completely different. In particular, the only driving mechanism of the axial vibrations is the regenerative effect, while there are two distinct mechanisms that drive the torsional vibrations: (i) the cutting action of the bit, and (ii) the wearflat/rock interaction. Moreover, in the case of the torsional vibrations the regenerative effect plays only a secondary role. The results of the present study indicate that the axial compliance can play a stabilizing role. In particular, the stabilizing role of the axial compliance increases as the ratio of the torsional to the axial natural frequency of the drillstring vibrations decreases.