Investigation of drilling penetration mechanisms and early kick detection to improve drilling performance, efficiency and safety

钻探或岩石穿透是涉及一系列工程活动的基本活动，例如钻探用于石油资源的勘探和生产的井筒、用于矿业的金刚石岩心钻探和爆破孔钻探以及用于环境和岩土工程应用的威尔斯钻探。所有这些钻井活动都可以分为旋转钻井或旋转冲击钻井。旋转钻井由静态钻压、平均旋转速度和由此产生的钻头扭矩以及由钻井液循环产生的平均钻头喷嘴水力学来描述。旋转冲击钻井包括这些相同的参数加上冲击锤速率和产生的动态冲击力。钻井效率可以被描述为以尽可能少的成本尽可能快地到达钻井目标。这包括诸如钻速、比能（被定义为直到穿透岩石体积所消耗的能量的量）和钻头磨损率的分量，钻头磨损率在钻头的寿命中起关键作用，以及拉动（或起下钻）钻柱以更换钻头所需的低效非穿透时间的量。通过在过去几十年中进行的钻探研究，包括来自申请人的贡献，广泛接受的是钻探效率是岩石强度和岩石类型、钻探穿透机制的函数（取决于旋转与旋转冲击钻井的选择和钻头类型）、钻头磨损程度、井底压力和钻头水力学（其决定切屑清除的效率）、以及动态钻头-岩石相互作用和钻头-岩石顺应性（其影响穿透机制和切屑清除两者）。纪念大学的钻井技术实验室具有在代表性现场条件下模拟旋转和旋转冲击钻井的设施，同时测量一系列钻井参数，具有模拟井涌流体进入井筒和近井筒地质力学的能力，以及模拟钻柱动力学和摩擦、钻头-岩石相互作用、刀具穿透机制、和钻井系统疲劳。拟议的研究将利用这些DTL能力调查2个主要钻井领域，首先通过结合数值和实验研究改进旋转钻井和旋转冲击钻井的穿透机制，其次通过识别钻井时动态钻井参数的潜在变化或变化组合来评估早期井涌检测的潜力。这两个领域的研究将有助于提高钻井性能、效率和安全性，使钻井活动更具成本效益，降低危险性。**

Drilling or rock penetration is a fundamental activity involved with a range of engineering activities, for example drilling wellbores for exploration and production of petroleum resources, diamond core drilling and blasthole drilling for the mineral industry, and drilling wells for environmental and geotechnical engineering applications. All of these drilling activities can be categorized as either rotary drilling or rotary-percussion drilling. Rotary drilling is described by a static weight-on-bit, an average rotary speed and resulting torque-on-bit, and average bit jet-nozzle hydraulics resulting from circulation of drilling fluids. Rotary-percussion drilling includes these same parameters plus percussive hammer rate and resulting dynamic impact forces. Drilling efficiency can be described as reaching the drilling targets as quickly and with least costs as possible. This includes components such as rate-of-penetration, specific energy (defined as the amount of energy consumed per until volume of rock penetrated), and rate of bit wear which plays a critical role in the life of the bit and amount of inefficient non-penetrating-time needed to pull (or trip) the drill string to replace the bit. Through drilling research conducted during the past several decades, including contributions from the applicant, it is widely accepted drilling efficiency is a function of the rock strength and rock type, drilling penetration mechanisms (determined by the selection of rotary versus rotary-percussion drilling and bit type), level of bit wear, bottom-hole-pressure and bit hydraulics (which determine the efficiency of cuttings clearing), and dynamic bit-rock interaction and bit-rock compliance (which influences both the penetration mechanisms and cuttings clearing). The Drilling Technology Laboratory at Memorial University has the facilities to simulate rotary and rotary-percussion drilling under representative field conditions while measuring a range of drilling parameters, has the capability to simulate the entry of kick fluids into the wellbore and near well-bore geomechanics, and numerical methodologies to simulate drill string dynamics and friction, bit-rock interaction, cutter penetration mechanisms, and drilling system fatigue. The proposed research will utilize these DTL capabilities to investigate 2 major drilling areas, first by improving the penetration mechanisms for rotary drilling and rotary-percussion drilling through combined numerical and experimental investigations, and secondly to evaluate the potential of early kick detection by identifying potential changes or combinations of changes in dynamic drilling parameters while drilling. Both of these areas of investigation will contribute to improving drilling performance, efficiency, and safety, making drilling activities more cost-effective and less hazardous. **